Trump’s election is made official over scattered objections

WASHINGTON — For Donald Trump, all that’s left is the Oath of Office — and, likely, many tweets.

House Democrats’ efforts to challenge the electoral process failed Friday when no senators joined their objections as Congress certified Trump’s Electoral College victory.

The counting of the votes during a joint session, mandated by the Constitution, was the final hurdle Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence had to clear. Several House Democrats rose to voice objections to specific state results, but were unable to secure backing that would have erected a late obstacle.

Opponents cited voter suppression as a reason the results not be made legitimate.

Trump will be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States in 14 days. He secured 304 Electoral votes, while Hillary Clinton mustered only 227.

“It is over,” said Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., after a failed objection by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., to awarding Georgia’s 16 electoral votes for Trump. House and Senate Republicans clustered on the left side of the chamber roared their approval, stood and applauded.

Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee rose to object several times, and it appeared Republicans in control the chamber at times turned off her microphone.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who had said she would not encourage her members to object but would support such moves, pumped her fists to encourage some of her dissenting colleagues.

The GOP side was mostly full with members chatting and sharing laughs. Across the aisle, there were many empty seats — and the Democrats who did show up largely sat quietly with somber faces. Pages and staff occupied an entire Democratic section. Roll Call counted only seven Senate Democrats inside the chamber.

Biden loudly pounded his gavel and shouted over several objecting House Democrats, who answered by shouting the remainder of their objections. Each time, however, their pleas were shut down by the vice president and, a few times, booing Republican lawmakers.

Biden made a Trump-Pence victory official when he declared the “announcement of the state of the vote by the president of the Senate shall be deemed sufficient declaration.”

Following the session, House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters that had Russia intervened in the election by hacking computers on behalf of Clinton, the chamber’s galleries would have been packed with angry Trump supporters.