UPDATED 9:34AM 1/6/21
WASHINGTON (AP) – As Congress prepares to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, thousands of people have lined up before sunrise Wednesday to show their support for President Donald Trump and his baseless claims of election fraud.
The president is expected to address rally on the Ellipse, just south of the White House.
Trump’s remarks will come just hours before members of the House and Senate gather at the Capitol to accept the vote of the Electoral College.
On Tuesday, protesters gathered in Freedom Plaza near the White House in opposition to the electoral vote. The pro-Trump rallies have local officials and law enforcement bracing for potential violent street clashes.
This morning, Trump supporters prayed outside the U.S. Capitol (pictured right) in advance of today’s joint session.
Several Republicans are expected to object to the vote over alleged voter fraud, including Senator Ted Cruz and Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas.
Trump supporters gather near the Washington Monument by the White House for a rally and speech Wednesday to protest the certified results of the U.S. presidential election. pic.twitter.com/wDGCKiJT3K
— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) January 6, 2021
Meantime, former U-S Attorney General Bill Barr, along with a number of federal judges, including the U-S Supreme Court and multiple Secretaries of State say they saw no evidence of widespread fraud in the 20-20 election that would overturn the results.
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Original post:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trump descended on the nation’s capital Tuesday to cheer his baseless claims of election fraud a day before a congressional vote to affirm Joe Biden’s victory.
Just blocks from the White House, protesters — many without masks — gathered in Freedom Plaza to decry the vote in the Electoral College. As temperatures dropped to the low 40s and a steady rain swept onto the streets, hundreds remained in the plaza into nightfall.
“I’m just here to support the president,” said David Wideman, a 45-year-old firefighter who traveled from Memphis, Tennessee.
Wideman acknowledged he was “confused” by a string of losses from the president’s legal team in their attempt to overturn the results of the election and didn’t know what options Trump had left. “I not sure what he can do at this point, but I want to hear what he has to say,” Wideman said.
Trump tweeted his support for the protesters: “Washington is being inundated with people who don’t want to see an election victory stolen by emboldened Radical Left Democrats. Our Country has had enough, they won’t take it anymore! We hear you (and love you) from the Oval Office. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
O tempo esquentou em Washington DC.
Thats freak man.
Que Deus intervenha! 🙏https://t.co/MlPfevxH3p— Daniel Galhardo (@Anderso20790647) January 6, 2021
The speakers included former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, whom the president pardoned after he was twice convicted of lying to the FBI in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
“We stand at a crucible moment in United States history,” Flynn told the mostly maskless crowd. “This country is awake now.”
The president was expected to personally address his supporters in Washington on Wednesday during a rally on the Ellipse, just south of the White House. The protests coincide with Wednesday’s congressional vote expected to certify the Electoral College results, which Trump continues to dispute.
Anti-fascist protesters clash with police and #Trump supporters outside #DeploraBall in Washington DC night before #inauguration #disruptj20 pic.twitter.com/O0DpwzUn0S
— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) January 20, 2017
In a Tuesday evening tweet, Trump called on Democrats and fellow Republicans to look at the “thousands of people pouring into D.C.” In another tweet, he warned that antifa, the umbrella term for leftist militant groups that Trump has said he wants to declare a terrorist organization, should stay out of Washington.