Reuters - A shaken U.S. Congress Thursday formally certified Democrat Joe Biden's election victory hours only after hundreds of President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Immediately the White House released a statement from Trump in which he pledged an "orderly transition" when Biden is sworn into office Jan. 20 - although he repeated his claims he won the November election. On Wednesday, the Republican president had seemingly encouraged his followers to swarm the Capitol.
Congress resumed its work certifying Biden's Electoral College win late in the evening. After a debate stretching into the early hours of Thursday, the Senate and the House of Representatives rejected two objections to the tally and certified the final Electoral College vote with Biden receiving 306 votes and Trump 232 votes.
Vice president Mike Pence, in declaring the final vote totals, said this "shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected president and vice president of the United States."
Vice president-elect Kamala Harris will take office alongside Biden.
Meanwhile, Democrats had earlier completed a sweep of the two U.S. Senate seats up for grabs in runoff elections in the state of Georgia, giving the party control of the chamber and boosting the prospects for president-elect Joe Biden's ambitious legislative agenda.
The results give Democrats narrow control of both chambers of Congress, making it easier to appoint liberal-leaning judges and advance legislative priorities from coronavirus relief to climate change when Biden takes office.
Back on Capitol Hill, the outcome of the certification proceedings was not in doubt but was interrupted by rioters who forced their way past metal security barricades, broke windows and scaled walls to fight their way into the Capitol.
Police said four people died during the chaos - one from gunshot wounds and three from medical emergencies - and 52 people were arrested.
Some surrounded the House chamber while lawmakers were inside, banging on its doors and forcing suspension of the certification debate. Security officers piled furniture against the chamber's door and drew their pistols before helping politicians and staff escape.
Following Thursday's certification by Congress, he issued a statement via White House aide Dan Scavino, saying: "Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on Jan. 20."
Some prominent Republicans in Congress put the blame for the day's violence squarely on his shoulders.
"There is no question that the president formed the mob, the president incited the mob, the president addressed the mob. He lit the flame," House Republican Conference chairperson Liz Cheney said on Twitter.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who had long remained silent while Trump sought to overturn the election result, called the invasion a "failed insurrection" and referred to those who had stormed the Capitol as "unhinged."
Trump had tried to get Pence and other Republicans to do what they could to block the certification of the election - the final step before Biden takes office - even though they lacked the constitutional authority to do so.
After Pence made clear he would not accede to Trump's wishes, the president ripped his longtime ally on Twitter even as the Senate, with the vice president presiding, was under siege.
Two objections - to the vote tallies in Arizona and Pennsylvania - were voted down resoundingly in both the House and the Senate.
Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trump's staunchest allies in Congress, rejected an effort by his fellow Republicans to object to election results in hopes of setting up a commission to investigate Trump's unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud.
"All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough," Graham said on the floor of the Senate. "Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are lawfully elected and will become the president and the vice president of the U.S."
