Congress to certify Trump’s election on fourth anniversary of Capitol riot
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Vice President Kamala Harris to preside over joint-session formally recognizing her own defeat as spectre of mob violence on January 6 2021 looms large. Donald Trump’s victory over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in November’s presidential election will be formally certified by a joint-session of Congress on Monday, the occasion coinciding with the fourth anniversary of the Capitol riot of January 6 2021.
![[Rioters storm the West Front of the US Capitol on January 6 2021]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/18/20/175eb5974d9947ceb76e8cee73c339a8.jpg)
One of the darkest days in American history, the date will live in infamy for the violent scenes that erupted between Trump supporters and local law enforcement on the steps of the Capitol, clashes that resulted in the deaths of five people and left many more injured as the legislative complex was invaded and vandalized for the first time since British colonial soldiers set fire to the building in 1814.
The rioters from the so-called “Stop the Steal” movement, many of whom were armed, had been fired up by the 45th and soon to be 47th president’s false claims that he had been cheated out of a second term by a nationwide conspiracy to rig the 2020 vote in Joe Biden’s favor, which he continues to insist took place despite failing to produce any evidence to substantiate his version of events.
After listening to a Trump address at the Ellipse in which he ordered his supporters to “fight like hell”, they duly marched on the Capitol and brawled with outnumbered police officers, smashing windows and eventually forcing their way inside in an attempt to bring a halt to the same ceremony that will take place on Monday.
