Washington-Donald Trump faced one of the darkest days of his presidency Wednesday with Congress poised to certify Joe Biden’s White House victory and Democrats on track to take control of the Senate with a pair of stunning upset victories in Georgia.
Thousands of Trump supporters, fueled by his spurious claims of voter fraud, were flooding the nation’s capital, meanwhile, to protest the certification.
Trump is scheduled to address his backers at 11:00 am (1600 GMT) at an outdoors event in chilly Washington, two hours before Congress meets in a joint session to certify the Electoral College results that determine the winner of the White House race.
With political tensions running at fever pitch, there was a heavy police presence in downtown Washington and many business owners, fearing clashes, have boarded up doors and windows.
“They stole our election,” said Katherine Caldwell, a 61-year-old woman from Oregon wearing a white cowboy hat that read “Trump Is My President.”
Certification of the Electoral College vote at a ceremony presided over by the vice president is usually just a formality.
But more than 100 Republican members of the House of Representatives and at least a dozen Republican Senators have said they plan to lodge objections to certification at the joint session of Congress which opens at 1:00 pm (1800 GMT).
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