Donald Trump Republican Joe Biden Democratic The count of the Electoral College ballots during a joint session of the 117th United States Congress, pursuant to the Electoral Count Act, on January 6–7, 2021, was held as the final step to confirm then President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election over incumbent President Donald Trump.

Amid the debate on Arizona's votes, rioters stormed the Capitol building, causing the count to be temporarily halted until officials could safely return to their chambers.

[14] The 12th Amendment mandates Congress assemble in joint session to count the electoral votes and declare the winners of the election.

[17] The session is ordinarily required to take place on January 6 in the calendar year immediately following the meetings of the presidential electors.

President Trump, his campaign, and his supporters engaged in numerous attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 United States presidential election.

[20] On December 18, 2020, a team of Trump allies met the president in the White House and urged him to issue a drafted executive order, "Presidential Findings to Preserve Collect and Analyze National Security Information Regarding the 2020 General Election."

According to the draft order, the military would seize voting machines; the Trump White House would delay the transition to the Biden administration while Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and the Defense Department decided whether the election had been fair; and Trump would appoint a special counsel to prosecute those involved in the election.

[21][22] On December 28, 2020, Republican U.S. Representative Louis Gohmert of Texas and the slate of Republican presidential electors for Arizona filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas against Vice President Mike Pence, seeking to force him to decide the election outcome.

[24][28][29] The next day, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Gohmert's suit in a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel.

[31] Trump had argued that Pence, instead of simply acting in his constitutionally prescribed role, could delay the count beyond January 6 and ultimately force the question of who won the election to either the House of Representatives or the Supreme Court.

"[33][34][35][36][37] Another proposed method was to reject results in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada and New Mexico by alleging that these states had sent competing sets of electors.

If the results from those seven states had been rejected, neither candidate would have had the 270 votes required in the Electoral College, and the House would have had to decide the election.

[38][39] This strategy, including the drafting of fake documents for the supposedly competing electors, was coordinated by Rudy Giuliani in December 2020.

As Brooks confirmed at the time, the purpose of the meetings was to strategize about how Congress could overturn the election results on January 6.

[51] The last time an objection was successfully filed was after the 2004 presidential election, when Senator Barbara Boxer of California joined Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio in filing a congressional objection to the certification of Ohio's Electoral College votes due to alleged irregularities.

"[54] Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who on December 15 acknowledged Biden's victory the day after the Electoral College vote, privately urged his Republican Senate colleagues not to join efforts by some House Republicans to challenge the vote count,[47] but was unable to persuade Hawley not to lodge an objection.

[56][57] Twelve additional Republican senators and senators-elect (Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson, James Lankford, Steve Daines, John Kennedy, Marsha Blackburn, Mike Braun, Cynthia Lummis, Roger Marshall, Bill Hagerty, Tommy Tuberville, and Kelly Loeffler) eventually announced that they would join Hawley's challenge, while acknowledging that it would not succeed.

[54] Neither Pence nor the senators planning to object made any specific allegation of fraud; rather, they vaguely suggested that some wrongdoing might have taken place.

[55] A spokesperson for President-elect Biden called the proposed objection effort a publicity stunt that would fail,[59] a statement echoed by Senator Amy Klobuchar, the top Democrat of the committee with jurisdiction over federal elections.

[54] A bipartisan group of senators condemned the scheme to undo the election for Trump;[59] Joe Manchin (D-WV), Susan Collins (R-ME), Mark Warner (D-VA), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Angus King (I-ME), Mitt Romney (R-UT), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) said, "The 2020 election is over.

[20] In addition to the formally organized events, the Proud Boys, other far-right groups, and white supremacists vowed to descend on Washington on January 6, with some threatening violence and pledging to carry weapons.

[20] Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio said that his followers would "be incognito" and "spread across downtown DC in smaller teams.

[75] Debate on the objection to Arizona's electoral votes resumed at 8:00 p.m., and both chambers spent some time condemning the storming of the Capitol.

An objection by Morgan Griffith (VA-9) to Lamb's words was denied over timeliness, during which Andy Harris (MD-1) and Colin Allred (TX-32) argued with each other, causing a disruption.

[89] The joint session resumed once again at 3:25 a.m.,[90] with the Secretary and the Clerk reporting the results of the vote, formally rejecting the second written objection.