I am the FIRST!!!
regular 4 post ff
infinite scroll 4 pff
Your guide to Congress' certification of Biden's win
There's no doubt about the outcome — Congress will ratify Joe Biden's election win and he'll be sworn in on Jan. 20 — but that won't stop today's political theater that may drag late into the night.
- Here's our guide to watching the certification debate, with input from legislative aides, historians, election experts and Axios' Ursula Perano.
Details: The House of Representatives and Senate will meet in joint session in the House chamber at 1 p.m. ET to officially count and certify the 538 electoral votes ratified in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
- Expect objections (in alphabetical order) from members in both chambers to results from Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania. There may be other objections raised, but to be debated they must be raised in both chambers.
- Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Kelly Loeffler of Georgia and Josh Hawley of Missouri will be among the objectors to watch.
- Nothing's stopping President Trump from live-tweeting the proceedings — and he has summoned his supporters to the nation's capital for protests.
Why it matters: The debate won't change the election results. There are more than enough Republican senators and members of the House who have indicated they will recognize the certified votes from the states to ensure a majority vote to reject the objections.
- But it will shake many Americans' confidence in their democracy and delegitimize Biden's legitimacy in the eyes of voters aligned with Trump. It will also draw battle lines for the 2024 GOP presidential primary.
- It also could test the potential for future alliances between Biden and embattled Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, per Axios' Margaret Talev — if McConnell determines Democrats can help him manage this breakaway flank of his own party.
How it works: Vice President Mike Pence will serve as presiding officer. If he decides to delegate the job, which is not expected, it would fall to Sen. Chuck Grassley as the Senate President Pro Tempore.
Trump has been pressuring Pence to overturn the election results, but that is not within Pence's ceremonial powers.
- Pages will bring in ceremonial mahogany boxes full of the votes from the states, which are placed at the front of the chamber. Pence will then present the certificates of the electoral votes in alphabetical order.
- He'll hand each envelope to one of four tellers — who will be the ranking and minority members on the Senate Rules and House Administration Committees. They'll open the envelopes and read the vote totals.
- Pence will start with Alabama and end with Wyoming, stating that the certificate from each state “seems to be regular in form and authentic.”
- He has the power to recognize any lawmaker who objects.
- Any member may rise and object. If it is in writing and signed by both a member of the House and a member of the Senate, then the Senate leaves the House chamber and marches back across to the Senate chamber for debate.
- Each chamber separately debates each objection, with a two-hour limit, and holds a vote on the challenge. Then the Senate rejoins the House and the results of the votes are announced.
- Following the vote, they will move on to the next state and begin the process again.
- Once all votes have been recorded and counted, Pence will announce whether Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have received the required majority votes. If so, the announcement will be deemed "a sufficient declaration."
Timing: The process is expected to continue late into Wednesday evening, and could spill into Thursday depending on how long lawmakers want to draw out the objection process.
Go deeper: Read the Congressional Research Service guide to counting the votes
Top 3 Artists
Painters of all time
The following is a short list:
Leonardo Da Vinci

Renaissance painter, scientist, inventor, and more. Da Vinci is one of most famous painters in the world for his iconic Mona Lisa and Last Supper.
Vincent Van Gogh

Dutch post-impressionist painter. Famous paintings include; Sunflowers, The Starry night, and Cafe Terrace at Night.
The Power of Art: Rembrandt [BBC]
▬[♔] This is a full documentary upload from my old channel [♔]▬ An extraordinary look on Rembrandt's life and his work as an artist that captivated me greatly.The end!
Trump says he intends to give RNC speech on White House lawn
President Trump told the New York Post on Thursday that he plans to deliver his Republican National Convention speech from the White House lawn, despite bipartisan criticism of the optics and legality of the location.
Why it matters: Previous presidents avoided blurring staged campaign-style events — like party conventions — with official business of governing on the White House premises, per Politico.
Context: The coronavirus pandemic forced the RNC to pick a new venue for the president to deliver his speech after convention events in Jacksonville, Florida, were canceled.
- Trump also floated delivering the speech at the Gettysburg battlefield in Pennsylvania.
What he's saying: “I’ll probably be giving my speech at the White House because it is a great place. It’s a place that makes me feel good, it makes the country feel good,” Trump told the Post, adding it would also be easiest for law enforcement and the Secret Service.
- “We’d do it possibly outside on one of the lawns, we have various lawns, so we could have it outside in terms of the China virus."
Of note: “We could have quite a group of people. It’s very big, a very big lawn. We could have a big group of people," Trump responded when asked if he’d formally accept the Republican nomination for president with a crowd present.
Scoop: UAE cancels Israel meeting after Netanyahu opposes F-35 arms deal
The United Arab Emirates canceled a planned trilateral meeting with the U.S. and Israel last Friday to send a message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his opposition to a pending arms deal between the U.S. and UAE, three sources with knowledge of the matter tell me.
Why it matters: Just days after Israel and the UAE announced a landmark normalization deal, there has already been a spike in tensions.
The backstory: Israeli media reported that, as a condition of the deal, Netanyahu signed off on pending sales of F-35 fighter jets to the UAE. He denied those reports, and publicly came out against the potential arms deal.
- Israel's status as the only Middle Eastern country to possess the most advanced fighter aircraft in America's arsenal currently gives it a clear technological advantage over other militaries in the region.
- But the F-35 deal is a top priority for the UAE, which saw it as linked to the normalization accord with Israel.
Between the lines: The F-35 deal has been under discussion for some time, and Trump administration officials have said the normalization deal makes it more likely to proceed, while acknowledging their obligation to ensure Israel's qualitative military edge in the region.
- The Emiratis were under the impression going into the normalization deal that while Netanyahu may have reservations on the F-35 issue, he would not air them publicly, the three sources briefed on the matter say.
- They felt Netanyahu's statements — suggesting he had no knowledge of the proposed deal and insisting he'd oppose it — violated the understanding between them.
- They were particularly angry that he told members of his cabinet that he would raise his concerns about the deal with members of Congress.
- The Emiratis decided to send a message.
Driving the news: America's UN ambassador, Kelly Craft, invited her Israeli and Emirati counterparts to take part in a trilateral meeting last week at the UN.
- It was to be a ceremonial affair — in public, with photos and a joint statement.
- All sides confirmed their attendance and were planning the details, when the Emiratis suddenly told Craft and the White House they wanted to cancel it indefinitely.
The latest: The F-35 deal came up during Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s meetings in Israel today with Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials, and is expected to be discussed again tomorrow when Pompeo travels to Abu Dhabi.
Brian Hook, the U.S. envoy for Iran, who is traveling with Pompeo, told me in an interview that the Trump administration would achieve two objectives: protecting Israel’s qualitative military edge and helping the UAE defending itself against Iran.
- “The UAE and Israel face the common enemy of Iran. We are going to continue enhancing UAE’s defense posture in a way that preserves our security commitments to Israel," Hook said.
- "The UAE has agreed to normalize with Israel — it’s a new relationship. It creates space for more cooperation on security. Any conversations that are needed around Israel's qualitative military edge will take place."
What to watch: The Emiratis plan to hold off on further high-level public meetings with Israel until Netanyahu’s position is cleared up, the sources tell me.
Emirati officials declined to comment for this story, as did the White House and Israeli prime minister's office.
Go deeper: How the Israel-UAE deal came together



