Congress certifies Trump won the election without challenge, in stark contrast to the 2021 violence

By Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick, Farnoush Amiri and Matt Brown

Congress certified President-elect Donald Trump as the winner of the 2024 election in proceedings that unfolded Monday without challenge, in stark contrast to the Jan. 6, 2021, violence as his mob of supporters stormed the Capitol.

Lawmakers convened under heavy security and a snowstorm to meet the date required by law to certify the election. The whole process happened swiftly and without unrest. But the legacy of Jan. 6, 2021, leaves an extraordinary fact: The candidate who tried to overturn the previous election won this time and is legitimately returning to power.

Vice President Kamala Harris, presiding over proceedings as the role of her office, read the tally, including of her own defeat.

The chamber broke into applause, first Republicans for Trump’s 312 electoral votes, then Democrats for Harris’ 226.

Within half an hour the process was done.

But as lawmakers gathered, layers of tall black fencing flank the U.S. Capitol complex in a