Thread: 2020 US Presidential Race

Live: Congress Resumes Electoral Vote Count After Rioters Cleared From Capitol | NBC News

Congress affirms Biden's Electoral College victory




Congress has just affirmed President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory over President Trump.


The counting of Vermont's three electoral votes put Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris over the 270-threshold needed to win the presidency.


The Senate and House rejected objections to throw out Georgia and Pennsylvania's electoral votes for Biden. Republicans also objected to Arizona, Nevada and Michigan's electoral votes, but the motions failed before they reached debate.


The certification comes after Pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol earlier Wednesday.


The joint session of Congress, which is normally a ceremonial step, was halted for several hours when rioters breached the Capitol.


Proceedings resumed at about 8 p.m. ET with Vice President Mike Pence, bringing the Senate session back into order.


"Let's get back to work," Pence said.


https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-ne...021/index.html

... and it's done

The house prayers are being read.

God bless the United States under the leadership of Biden and Harris

May you live long (especially you Joe ) and prosper.

At last. I'd love to be a fly on the wall of whatever room Trump's in.

The teller, senator Amy Klobuchar, reports: “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be the president and the vice president according to the ballots that have been given to us.”

Applause in the room.

Pence says Biden “has received 306 votes” and Trump “has received 232 votes.”

“The announcement of the state of the vote by the president of the senate shall be deemed as sufficient of the election of the president and the vice-president,” Pence says.

It’s done. Closing prayer.

Congress certifies Joe Biden as next US president hours after pro-Trump mob storms Capitol – live | US news | The Guardian

Trump acknowledges he will leave the White House -- in 4 am statement on aide's Twitter account

Lies right to the bitter end...

All the Q-tards on Twitter don't know what's going on and how this is part of the plan.

Originally Posted by Cujo

a fly on the wall of whatever room Trump's in.

A padded cell would be my preference.

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

Lies right to the bitter end...

I always remember when he addressed the UN ... and the World laughed to his face ...

So all there is for them to try and fuck up now is the inauguration.

Just as an aside, having watched most of this this afternoon, Pence came over very well. He did a good job (yes, I know he was severely circumscribed, but even though).

I’m hoping Pence can be president for a few days!

^
should have been done a long time ago....but for several reasons i don't see it happening at this point...

i don't think they could get the majority of the current cabinet...most of the sane people are long gone
there's probably not enough time for all the steps involved
it might end up being counterproductive... it would only feed the false 'deep state' narrative

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

So all there is for them to try and fuck up now is the inauguration.

Let's hope they're smart enough to make sure it's secure.

supporters broke into the Capitol, where one was shot dead by police. Three other people died from medical conditions, police said.

is it just me or does that seem really weird ?

Originally Posted by Cujo

Let's hope they're smart enough to make sure it's secure.

The mob will be practicing a new tactic so law enforcement can't ID and arrest them.


So no worries there will be more than enough security.

Originally Posted by Cujo

supporters broke into the Capitol, where one was shot dead by police. Three other people died from medical conditions, police said.

is it just me or does that seem really weird ?

Yup. Weird indeed.

Originally Posted by bsnub

He will lose the @POTUS tag on the 20th.

Yes but you can bet he will continue long after with his lies and inciting statements. He's a certifiable sociopath. Those easily dupped will continue to flock to the "cause".

Originally Posted by bsnub

He will lose the @POTUS tag on the 20th.

He does not use that one for the disinformation. Thats "The Real Donald J. Trump" is banned.

Originally Posted by Cujo

supporters broke into the Capitol, where one was shot dead by police. Three other people died from medical conditions, police said.

is it just me or does that seem really weird ?

The BBC says "medical emergencies." It's not a lot of information. Everybody dies of a medical condition. Everybody dies of a medical emergency.

Originally Posted by TheMadBaron

The BBC says "medical emergencies." It's not a lot of information. Everybody dies of a medical condition. Everybody dies of a medical emergency.

Some of the people who work in the Capital Building are old and some septuagenarian as well as old octos too.

Originally Posted by misskit

I’m hoping Pence can be president for a few days!

IMO, this is an interesting read on the topic...

Can Trump be impeached and removed quickly enough to matter?[/QUOTE]

Yes, but Congress would have to roll back much of the pomp and circumstance it has developed around the process.
With his incitement of the attack on the Capitol building, Trump cleared the hurdle of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” which, along with treason and bribery, is a constitutional trigger for impeachment. Articles of impeachment could be finalized within minutes and voted on with minimal debate. The Senate could then immediately convene to try the president. The Constitution requires “ the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present” for conviction. It does not, however, require a lengthy trial or specific procedure, even though Congress has developed elaborate rules to govern—and elongate—the impeachment and trial process. The Senate played fast and loose with its own rules to facilitate Trump’s acquittal a year ago and could do the same in the other direction if its members had the will to secure a quick conviction.
But therein lies the main rub. The House and Senate would need to meet to change their rules and allow an expedited process. Could it be done? Yes. Would it be easy? Not so much.
There’s a lot of machinery to move for that to happen in a timely fashion, and the president only has 13 days left in office. The president’s most rabid supporters in both chambers could still delay the rule changes needed to see this process through with due haste. And principles of justice would demand that President Trump, even in these circumstances, be afforded an adequate defense, necessarily prolonging any trial.
A second Trump impeachment, followed this time by conviction, would probably include the Senate’s disqualification of Trump from any future federal office, including the presidency—an option that only the impeachment and removal process offers. But the impeachment route takes a few days, even in a fastest-case scenario. In this intervening period an angry, vengeful Trump could do great additional damage.

3. What about using the 25th Amendment?

Section 4 of the amendment creates a process by which the chief executive can be declared “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” The drafters of the 25th Amendment meant it to apply more to cases of true presidential incapacity—like a massive stroke or a coma—than to instances of very bad judgment. But because the relevant triggering criterion, the president’s inability “to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” is undefined in the amendment, a president who has proved himself persistently unable to perform the duties of the office can warrant Section 4’s application, even without obvious physical impairment. This is why entities from the Washington Post to the National Association of Manufacturers have called for a 25th Amendment solution right away. Law professor and 25th Amendment expert Brian Kalt explained in 2019 two scenarios in which activating Section 4 might be appropriate:

The first is a president whose impairment is severe enough that the helm is, effectively, unmanned, even if he is still somehow able to claim that he is able to discharge his powers and duties. This could arise for a number of reasons, such as a severe stroke, a psychotic break or moderate dementia. ...
Then there are cases in which the president might be not quite so incapacitated but, nevertheless, impaired to the point of teeing up a disaster. Consider, for example, an unhinged president who orders a capricious nuclear strike against another country—the problem here is not that the president is “unable” so much as all too able to wipe out millions of lives.

Neither of these scenarios quite fit the current situation, but the latter is now closer to reality than when Kalt wrote this for Lawfare. We believe that Trump’s unhinged post-election behavior, his manifest inability or unwillingness for weeks to distinguish reality from fiction about the results of the election, and his detachment from exercising the basic responsibilities of the office, would meet the “unable to perform” standard of the 25th Amendment. (The definitional issue is almost certainly one on which the vice president and principal executive officers would have the final say, with both houses of Congress playing a role in the event of a presidential challenge; the matter almost certainly cannot be reviewed in court.)
The 25th Amendment’s Section 4 puts the vice president up front in the decision to assess the president’s ability. Without the vice president’s assent, no declaration of disability can occur. If “a majority of ... the principal officers of the executive departments” (effectively the Cabinet) agrees with the vice president’s assertion of disability, then Presidential powers would transfer to the vice president temporarily for the duration of the disability. When the vice president and the majority of the principal officers transmit to the Senate’s president pro tempore and the House’s speaker their determination, the vice president becomes acting president.
The president can challenge the declaration. If he does, the vice president and majority of the principal officers of the executive departments can disagree with the president’s assertion of ability, and they have four days to again declare that he remains unable. The dominant understanding of the 25th Amendment is that the vice president continues as acting president during this four-day period. If the vice president and majority of the principal officers resubmit their determination of disability, the vice president remains as acting president until Congress “decide[s] the issue.” If Congress within 21 days (measured in various ways) “determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.”
For nearly four years, it has seemed exceedingly improbable that Vice President Mike Pence had it in him to work with Cabinet members to remove the man to whom he’s been fiercely loyal. But Wednesday’s terror—against the background of Trump’s incitement and his other untoward post-election behavior—goes beyond anything Pence has seen before (that we yet know of). Events could move him to put the country’s well-being before his subservience to the president. After all, unlike Trump’s actions in the Ukraine affair, his newest actions incited active insurrection.

https://www.lawfareblog.com/can-trump-be-stopped