Congress to certify Trump’s election win on January 6 riot anniversary

Vice President Kamala Harris, who like Donald Trump in 2020 lost this year’s election, is set to preside over today’s election certification in her role as president of the Senate.

In a video posted on X today, Harris said, “The peaceful transfer of power is one of the most fundamental principles of American democracy. As much as any other principle, it is what distinguishes our system of government from monarchy or tyranny.”

The vice president added: “As we have seen, our democracy can be fragile, and it is up to then, each one of us to stand up for our most cherished principles, and to make sure that in America, our government always remains of the people, by the people and for the people.”

Watch the video below:

Attorney General Merrick Garland said law enforcement officers still “bear the scars” of the January 6 US Capitol riot and praised the Justice Department’s prosecution of more than 1,500 people charged in the attack.

“The public servants of the Justice Department have sought to hold accountable those criminally responsible for the January 6 attack on our democracy with unrelenting integrity,” Garland said in the statement on the fourth anniversary of the Capitol attack.

President-elect Donald Trump hasn’t been sworn in yet, but his looming return has already upended hundreds of pending prosecutions against his supporters who attacked the US Capitol four years ago today: January 6, 2021.

Trump has also disrupted the ongoing effort to arrest more rioters.

The historic effort by Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents to investigate the deadly Trump-inspired storming of the Capitol has led to more than 1,570 arrests in nearly all 50 states, making it the largest criminal probe in American history. New arrests are slowly still trickling in, four years later, including recent cases against a member of the Proud Boys and a rioter who tried to stab police with a flagpole.

But the political reality has already tanked morale inside the Justice Department division that handles these cases — and is hampering efforts to secure guilty pleas in about 300 pending cases, as defendants balk at negotiations, according to a federal law enforcement official involved in the sprawling investigation.

The official also said investigators have decided to use their limited time and resources to go after January 6 fugitives suspected of attacking police, meaning lower-level rioters who breached the Capitol but didn’t contribute to the violence will likely never be charged or held accountable.

Much — if not all — of that work will likely be undone once Trump assumes power later this month and fulfills his campaign promise to grant presidential pardons to Capitol rioters.

Read more here on the status of the DOJ’s January 6 legal efforts.

Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser said the city will support the federal government during the certification of the 2024 presidential election and former President Jimmy Carter’s memorial events as a winter storm hits this week.

It’s a busy few days in the capital, with Congress certifying the 2024 presidential election on Monday, and Carter lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s spokesperson said the House is expected to still meet on Monday to certify the 2024 presidential election despite the snowstorm.

The Capitol will be open to the public Tuesday night through Thursday, ahead of Carter’s funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral at 10 a.m., according to officials.

“Both of those events have been expected, and we expect that they will happen as planned, and we will support the federal government in all of their efforts,” Bowser said at a news conference Sunday.

Bowser downplayed the impact of so many events happening during the weather emergency, saying, “That’s a glut of activity, but it’s also a glut of resources.”

In a Washington Post op-ed published Sunday evening, President Joe Biden encouraged Americans to remember — and not rewrite — the history of January 6, 2021, as he recalled what transpired four years ago when a violent mob stormed the Capitol.

Biden described the chaos and violence that took place four years ago and said, “As president-elect that day, I spoke to the country and called for peace, and for the certification to resume.”

Biden also called on Americans to remember January 6, 2021, every year.

“And we should commit to remembering Jan. 6, 2021, every year. To remember it as a day when our democracy was put to the test and prevailed. To remember that democracy — even in America — is never guaranteed,” he wrote.

Late on a day of chaos and blood on January 6, 2021, it was unimaginable that Donald Trump — who summoned a mob to Washington and told the crowd to “fight like hell” — would get anywhere near the presidency again.

Yet on Monday, exactly four years after his supporters invaded the US Capitol, beat up police officers and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory, Congress will convene to again confirm another election.

The democracy that Trump tried to desecrate will enshrine his return to power.

A joint session of Congress to count the electoral votes from his November victory will rekindle chilling memories of the horror and fear felt by anyone who was in the US Capitol four years ago.

The ceremonial process that will clear the way for Trump’s swearing in as the 47th president in two weeks will also highlight an extraordinary moment in political history in a nation where Trump is more powerful and popular than he’s ever been. A plurality of voters decided that despite his egregious conduct four years ago, he was the best option to lead the country until January 2029.

January 6, 2025, will mark the most stunning political comeback in US history, and will usher in a new administration that could feature the president-elect’s most extreme stress test of the Constitution so far.

Read the full analysis.

Federal law enforcement will be on heightened alert during Congress’ certification of the 2024 presidential election Monday, according to a joint threat assessment obtained by CNN.

The counting and certification of votes on Capitol Hill “offers attractive potential targets to foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs), homegrown violent extremists (HVEs), domestic violent extremists (DVEs), lone offenders, hate crime (HC) perpetrators, and other individuals seeking to engage in potential acts of reportable targeted violence,” according to the assessment from the FBI, Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security and US Capitol Police.

While the Capitol grounds will be fortified with added security, “areas outside the security perimeter where large amounts of people gather likely are the most vulnerable locations for a mass casualty attack,” according to the joint threat assessment. “Nearby publicly accessible spaces, such as popular tourist areas and Metrorail access points, tunnels, pre-event gatherings, and post-event celebrations, may also be viewed as potential targets due to the ability to inflict significant casualties.”