Pence presides over vote acknowledging Biden win

Congress has certified Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory after a day of violence at the U.S. Capitol, with protesters storming the building.

Vice President Mike Pence, a Columbus native, presided over the joint session of Congress, announced the results:

Objections to vote counts in Arizona and Pennsylvania were rejected by both chambers. Four people died in Wednesday’s incident, one woman was shot, while three others died of medical emergencies.

Senator Lindsey Graham, speaking on the Senate floor, said this will go down as a “dark chapter of our history.” Graham told Pence, as the Columbus native presided over Congress, to “hang in there.”

Pence and cabinet secretaries are being called by Democrats to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office after yesterday’s violence at the U.S. Capitol. Representatives Ted Lieu of California and David Cicilline of Rhode Island are drafting a letter to Pence urging him to initiate 25th Amendment proceedings.

President Trump has banned Pence’s chief of staff from the White House after criticizing Pence for refusing to try and overturn the election. Marc Short said Trump blames him for advising Pence that the vice president didn’t have any authority to throw out the Electoral College results that gave President-elect Joe Biden a 306-232 victory.

Trump tweeted that Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.”