Congress finalizes Biden's win after riot disrupts Capitol

Congress has just affirmed President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory over President Trump.

The counting of Vermont's three electoral votes put Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris over the 270-threshold needed to win the presidency.

Vice President Mike Pence, who presided over the count conducted by a joint session of Congress, announced that Biden had won the Electoral College vote after the House and Senate easily defeated Republican objections lodged against the votes sent by two states, Arizona and Pennsylvania.

The certification comes after pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol earlier Wednesday.

The joint session of Congress, which is normally a ceremonial step, was halted for several hours when rioters breached the Capitol.

Proceedings resumed at about 8 p.m. ET with Pence, bringing the Senate session back into order.

"Let's get back to work," Pence said.

Watch the moment Pence announced the results:

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly reported that an objection to Arizona's electoral votes did not reach debate. It did reach debate.

Congress has reconvened in a joint session to continue to count electoral votes after the Senate and House rejected objections to throw out Pennsylvania's votes for President-elect Joe Biden.

Four lawmakers designated as "tellers" — two from the House and two from the Senate — will continue to read the certificates of vote from each state. There are 12 states to go.

The votes are read in alphabetical order.

We expect Wisconsin to be challenged in the House, but there will not be a senatorial signatory to it.

Track the electoral vote count here. 

The House voted to reject an objection to throw out Pennsylvania's Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden. The challenge failed by a vote of 282-138.

The measure was also dismissed in the Senate, with a 92-7 vote tally.

The House and the Senate will now reconvene in a joint session to continue to count the remaining Electoral College votes. Track the electoral vote count here. 

Pennsylvania will be the last state that will be debated. We expect Wisconsin to be challenged in the House, but there will not be a senatorial signatory to it.

There are 12 states to go.

Remember: Any further objections must be made in writing and backed both by a member of the House of Representatives and a senator, from any state.

Objections that are entertained by the chair — that’s Vice President Mike Pence, whose duties include serving as president of the Senate — will force both the House and Senate to withdraw for debate in each chamber, which will be capped at a maximum of two hours.

GOP Rep. Jake LaTurner of Kansas has announced via Twitter that he has Covid-19. He is not experiencing any symptoms, according to the tweet.

He voted in person four hours ago on the House floor per this vote tally.

See his tweets:

The House just wrapped up its debate over an objection on Pennsylvania's electoral votes for President-elect Joe Biden.

The objection is expected to fail. It already failed in the Senate, the vote was 92-7.

Two members of the House confronted each other on the House floor over a push to strike another members' remarks from the record.

It began when Rep. Morgan Griffith, a Republican from Virginia, objected to what Pennsylvania Democrat Rep. Conor Lamb said during the Pennsylvania Electoral College challenge debate.

This is what Lamb said that led to GOP members objecting:

Rep. Andy Harris and Rep. Colin Allred yelled at each other to “sit down” “no, you sit down!” from across the floor.

They both then confronted each other in the aisle. At least a dozen other members bench cleared from their sides. Rep. Al Lawson of Florida, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, and a senior Democratic staffer helped break up the confrontation.

According to CNN's Kristin Wilson, who was in the room, the situation diffused fairly quickly but tensions were high.

The deputy Sergeant-at-Arms showed up in the scrum.

Watch the moment:

Former Republican Rep. Charlie Dent expressed his disgust Wednesday over rioters who stormed the US Capitol building and President Trump's rhetoric that helped sparked the unrest. 

In an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon, the former Pennsylvania lawmaker conveyed his anger with a pro-Trump rioter carrying a Confederate flag inside the Capitol building, calling it a "desecration."

"I always proudly took my constituents to a plaque right by the east-front Capitol, right by the front door. It's a plaque dedicated to the honorary first defenders from Allentown, Pennsylvania, in Redding, Pennsylvania ... who went to the Capitol, at the call of Abraham Lincoln, to defend the Capitol during the Civil War. ... The confederates never got there. They were there to protect against the rebellion. And here we are, watching Confederate flags running through the Capitol. To see this desecration to me, it's so upsetting as an American, as a Republican. How could this happen?"

Democratic Rep. Madeleine Dean on Thursday joined calls for President Trump's removal from office by means of the Constitution's 25th Amendment. 

"I certainly hope it is [possible]," the Pennsylvania lawmaker said speaking on CNN. "...I think this President has proved himself day after day, month after month, year after year to be unstable and unfit."

"In these waning days of this disgraceful presidency I hope we will be able to invoke the 25th Amendment," she continued.

If not now, "when would you do it?" Dean asked.

Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate GOP leadership team, said that today “we hit bottom,” before suggesting that the President Trump’s rhetoric led to the attack on the Capitol. 

Asked whether Trump hurt himself among rank-and-file Republicans with today's actions, Cornyn said he doesn't know because of Trump's strong support, but added that he thinks "this will, this will open up, I think, some backlash, because I don’t think anybody accepts this as a satisfactory outcome."