US Congress to meet to certify Trump's election, four years after Capitol riot

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Congress is set to meet in snow-covered Washington on Monday to formally certify Donald Trump's election as president, four years after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol in a failed bid to block the certification of his 2020 loss.

Trump continues to falsely claim that his 2020 defeat was the result of widespread fraud, and had warned throughout his 2024 campaign that he harbored similar concerns until his Nov. 5 defeat of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

The joint session of Congress is set to go forward even as a winter storm bears down on the nation's capital, threatening to drop about 6 inches (15 cm) of snow and snarl travel.

Unofficial results show Trump winning 312 electoral college votes to Harris's 226. Republicans also captured a majority in the U.S. Senate and held a narrow edge in the House of Representatives, which will give Trump leeway in implementing his planned agenda of tax cuts and a crackdown on immigrants living in the country illegally when he is sworn in on Jan. 20.

Democrats are not expected to try to block certification of Trump's victory on Monday.

"We must renew our commitment to safeguarding American democracy," No. 2 House Democrat Katherine Clark said in a statement. "As elected leaders, our loyalty must be to the Constitution, first and always. We are here to honor the will of the people and the rule of law."

Trump has also said he plans to pardon some of the more than 1,500 people charged with taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, when a mob fought with police, smashing its way in through windows and doors and chanting "Hang Mike Pence," referring to Trump's then-vice president, in a failed bid to stop Congress from certifying Democratic President Joe Biden's victory.

In the Jan. 6, 2021, melee at the Capitol, rioters surged past police barricades, assaulting about 140 officers and causing more than $2.8 million in damage. Multiple police officers who battled protesters died in the weeks that followed, some by suicide.

As a result of that day's violence, Congress passed legislation late in 2022 bolstering guardrails to ensure that the certification process is administered in a legal manner.

Many of these changes were directly in response to Trump's actions leading up to and including Jan. 6, 2021.

For example, the new law makes clear that the vice president's role is largely ceremonial.

Any objections to a state's results must now be submitted by at least one-fifth of the members of the House and the Senate before triggering debates over the objections. The House has 435 members and the Senate has 100.

Previously, it had required just one member from each chamber to object to a state's certification.

Meanwhile, the law specifies that the choice of electors must occur according to state laws enacted prior to Election Day, with governors of the states submitting lists of electors. Trump and his surrogates in 2021 had attempted to recruit alternate electors sympathetic to his cause.

A large security fence has been erected around the Capitol complex ahead of Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone, Matthew Lewis and Mark Porter)