The transfer of power to Donald Trump is shaping up to be, well, peaceful.
No mobs are assembling to disrupt Congress’ Jan. 6 counting of electoral votes.
No Democratic leaders are questioning the results of the election or concocting elaborate legal theories to thwart the outcome.
Amid it all are the Capitol Police, D.C. cops and Secret Service agents preparing to protect the Capitol on Monday and at Trump’s inauguration two weeks later.
And they’re here because they want to be, and if you ask most of them they were here because of Jan. 6.
It appears that Donald Trump’s takeover of the presidency will be, well, peaceful.
Congress’ January is not being disrupted by mobs. six electoral vote counts. There are no Democratic leaders contesting the election’s outcome or coming up with complex legal arguments to stop it. The biggest risk of obstruction appears to be from a storm system that could cover the area with a few inches of snow over night.
In a ceremony presided over by his defeated opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, who will serve as Senate president, Trump’s victory will be certified by late Monday afternoon if everything goes according to plan. Harris has stated unequivocally that she will carry out a simple handover of power. She will be following in the footsteps of all previous vice presidents, such as Mike Pence, who defied Trump’s insistence that electors from states he lost in 2020 not be counted.
Despite the fact that members have the option to object to any electors for possible constitutional or legal flaws, few Democrats have indicated that they will make such an attempt. Representative. Raskin, Jamie (D-Md. ), who in 2017 presented a token protest against Trump’s electors, declared that he would not make the same move this time and that Democrats would place a higher priority on “standing by the constitutional order.”. “.”.
The joint session on Monday is also the first to be governed by a 2022 law intended to thwart attempts to taint the handover of power and restrict lawmakers’ capacity to contest the outcomes. The already remote possibility of any objections impeding the proceedings is reduced by that law.
However, a deep-seated tension between those who witnessed the country’s democratic institutions crumble under Jan. is concealed by the generally serene atmosphere in Washington. 6, 2021, and those who want to distort its history, particularly as Trump gets ready to pardon a number of its offenders and tries to change the facts of the Capitol attack. More than 1,200 people have entered guilty pleas or been found guilty of the attack, and the Justice Department has charged over 1,500 others with involvement.
In spite of mounting pressure to halt cases pending Trump’s clemency rulings, judges in the federal district court in Washington are embracing their work and bringing more cases to trial and sentencing in honor of the attack’s fourth anniversary.
U. S. Royce Lamberth, the district judge, is a vocal supporter of the court’s Jan. One well-known defendant’s sentencing in six cases has been scheduled to take place during the joint session of Congress. U. S. . District Judge Tanya Chutkan is holding a hearing in anticipation of a January trial. Chutkan was previously scheduled to oversee Trump’s criminal trial for charges pertaining to his attempt to sabotage the 2020 election. 6 trial the following week. Additionally, U. S. A hearing in the lawsuit filed against Trump by Capitol Police officers and members of Congress for his involvement in inciting the violence four years ago has been scheduled by District Judge Amit Mehta.
People all over the city are supporting Jan. In an effort to pressure Trump into granting broad pardons, including those for the most severe crimes against police, six defendants are organizing a press conference. Trump connected his own fight against the legal system to the defendants’, demonstrating the improbable political power they have amassed over the past four years.
Others are organizing a stroll for Jan Ashli Babbitt. Six rioters tried to break into a room next to the House chamber but were shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer.
In recent days, House leaders have vowed to look into the Jan attack, and Republican leaders in Congress have no plans to commemorate the anniversary. A six-member select committee looked into Trump’s involvement in the assault two years prior. Speaker Mike Johnson and senior lieutenants reacted angrily when Biden recognized the panel’s leaders, Rep. Miss Bennie Thompson, a D. ) and Liz Cheney, a former GOP representative — with esteemed Presidential Citizens medals. Trump also took advantage of the opportunity to disparage Cheney, a longtime political foe, and hint at her possible legal action.
The D.C Capitol Police are in the middle of it all. Police officers and Secret Service personnel are getting ready to guard the Capitol on Monday and at Trump’s inauguration two weeks later. Four years prior, hundreds of them stood up to the mob at the Capitol, wondering if they would be allowed to return home that evening.
In the Jan’s trials, dozens of people have testified. Six defendants who previously opposed them testified about the chaos and fear they endured, and frequently still endure.
“You ask these officers, ‘Do you have confidence today?’” Thomas Manger, the chief of Capitol Police, stated during a press conference on Friday. “I was speaking with officers at a roll call this morning at seven o’clock. I requested a hand signal. “What percentage of you were present four years ago?” Approximately 50% of them put up their hands. The other half knew exactly what they were getting into when they arrived here. And they’re here because they want to be, and the majority of them will tell you that Jan brought them here. 6. . These officers wish to be at the forefront of the action taking place here. “”.
