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Congress certifies Joe Biden's Electoral College win

07 January 2021
 Dan Ackermann

A joint session of Congress ended a day of siege on Thursday by officially certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College win in the November election, the final step ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration.

The bottom line: Despite some Republican lawmakers' challenges — and the brutal rampage of the Capitol by supporters of President Trump — the final votes in Congress confirm that Biden will be the 46th president of the United States.

The big picture: The vote came hours after the typically procedural process devolved into mass chaos, with armed, pro-Trump rioters storming the Capitol, forcing House and Senate lawmakers into multi-hour lockdowns.

  • The day's violent events impeded several Republicans' plans to challenge the Electoral College votes in battleground states.
  • Multiple House and Senate Republicans had planned to object to the Electoral College votes in at least three states: Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania — with an additional three on the table.
  • But the objectors only made it to Arizona and Pennsylvania, with several Republican lawmakers deciding to give up their challenges after the protests erupted inside the Capitol.

Between the lines: Although we knew from the start that the certification debate wouldn't change the election results, the day's events revealed how much work needs to be done to heal the country.

  • The Republicans who sought to object to the election results succeeded in shaking many Americans' confidence in their democracy, especially among those who believe Biden's presidency is illegitimate.
  • It also drew battle lines for the 2024 GOP presidential primary, and put a target on the head of many pro-Trump dissenters who refused to take part in undermining Biden's victory.

Vice President Mike Pence, who presided over the proceedings and ultimately announced that Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris received the required majority votes, is a top target.

  • His declaration —in which he fulfilled his constitutional duty — went directly against Trump's pressure campaign to overturn the election results.

What's next: The House and Senate will recess at the end of this week through the inauguration.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.