Pence rejects Trump's plea to stop Biden win

Trump rallied thousands of supporters outside the White House moments before Congress meets to affirm Biden’s November election victory.

Donald Trump on Wednesday launched a furious last-minute bid on the streets of Washington to reverse his election defeat, as Joe Biden was set to be certified president with an added triumph of his Democratic Party on track to win full control of Congress.

In a scene unprecedented in US democracy, Trump rallied thousands of supporters outside the White House moments before Congress meets to affirm Biden’s November election victory. Trump warned ‘weak’ Republicans not to certify Biden’s victory and put direct pressure on Vice-President Mike Pence, who will preside over the session. “We will never give up. We will never concede,” Trump told the cheering crowd.

“I hope Mike has the courage to do what he has to do,” Trump said, describing the US election as less honest than those of “Third World countries”.

But as Trump was still speaking and Congress opened the session, Pence — dutifully loyal to Trump over four years and quiet since the election — said he would not intervene. “The Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not,” Pence said.

• US Elections 2020