Today Congress counted the states’ electoral votes and certified the results of the November presidential election. One of the last steps before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in a few weeks.
This perfunctory ceremony had the House and Senate meeting jointly with Vice President Kamala Harris presiding. For years, the certification of the Electoral College was the start of the peaceful transfer of power from the sitting president to the president-elect.
The process this year went smoothly and looked very different from what the world witnessed four years ago with the Capital riot.
“For much of our history, this proceeding was treated as pro forma, a routine act,” President Joe Biden wrote in an op-ed published by The Washington Post. “But after what we all witnessed on Jan. 6, 2021, we know we can never again take it for granted.”
What happened on Jan. 6, 2021?
The 2020 presidential election pitted Biden against Trump during a global pandemic. Biden came out on top.
Trump claimed the loss was due to election fraud, a claim that was repeated multiple times by speakers at what started as a protest and devolved into a riot in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, the day Congress was meeting to confirm Biden’s win.
That morning Trump reiterated the election fraud claim and told those gathered that, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” He also told those gathered to “fight like hell.”
Thousands of rioters breached the Capitol that day, leaving in their wake a path of destruction, injuries and death.
In the aftermath, Trump called the insurrection a “heinous attack,” but that particular phrase did not last. In the months leading up to the 2024 election, he praised the storming of the Capitol calling it a “day of love,” and has repeatedly referred to the more than 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants as “political prisoners” and “hostages.”
Trump has stated that he will be looking at the cases and start issuing pardons not long after he takes office again. He also stated that there may be “some exceptions” if an individual had acted “radical” or “crazy” during the assault.
When does Trump take office 2025?
Trump will take the oath of office for his second, and final, term as president on Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
How can I get tickets for Trump’s inauguration?
Tickets to Trump’s upcoming inauguration at the U.S. Capitol are free to the public. Tickets are distributed through members of Congress and are typically released to Congress members’ offices starting in early January, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies said in a Dec. 23 press release.
More than 220,000 tickets are set to be distributed to those offices all over the country, according to the JCCIC.
Can Trump run for president again after this term?
No.
How presidential terms work might be a bit confusing, but essentially, the Constitution only allows a person to hold the highest office in the United States twice (and it does not have to be consecutive) and the terms can not run indefinitely.
The 22nd Amendment states:
“No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.”
The U.S. hasn’t always had them, but presidential term limits are not something new either. They have been around for more than 70 years.
