US Congress confirms Trump's victory

Early yesterday morning (Vietnam time), the US Congress, chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris (in her role as President of the Senate), confirmed that Mr. Donald Trump was elected and became the 47th President of the United States.

Four years after the chaos at the Capitol during the confirmation of Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump, the US Congress yesterday recognized Trump's victory, according to AFP. The person presiding over the counting of electoral votes was Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate who lost on Election Day, November 5, 2024.

Ms. Harris announced Mr. Trump's election results in Congress

"Mr. Donald J Trump of Florida received 312 votes. Ms. Kamala D Harris of California received 226 votes," Ms. Harris, in her capacity as President of the US Senate, announced the results after the electoral vote count was completed. With this result, Ms. Harris announced that Mr. Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance will proceed to be sworn in on January 20.

The joint session of the House and Senate continued at the Capitol despite a snowstorm that hit the US capital. Speaking to the press afterward, Ms. Harris affirmed that this was an important day, witnessing one of the most core pillars of American democracy: the peaceful transfer of power. On this day four years ago, then-Vice President Mike Pence declared Mr. Biden's victory despite Mr. Trump, as president, asking his vice president to refuse to certify this.

Ms. Harris bangs the gavel to certify Mr. Trump's victory.

Republicans also won control of both houses of Congress, providing the support needed for President-elect Trump to push through his agenda after returning to the White House. In his latest move since being elected Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson is implementing an ambitious strategy to respond to Trump's request to pass his agenda with a "big, beautiful bill."

The Hill newspaper quoted Mr. Johnson as saying that the new bill would include provisions on border security, energy, manufacturing and tax policy. The bill also requires raising the national debt ceiling and aims to be passed by the House of Representatives as early as the first week of April.

However, observers are skeptical about the possibility of completing the progress as Chairman Johnson proposed, as the Republican Party currently holds a narrow majority of 219-215 over the Democratic Party. This majority is expected to be shortened in the coming months when two members must resign to join the new Trump administration.

In another development, Judge Juan Merchan of the New York court on January 6 rejected Mr. Trump's request to postpone the January 10 trial, which is expected to have an official verdict on the hush money payment case against a former adult film actress before the 2016 US election, according to Reuters. Mr. Trump's legal team also deployed to prevent the release of the full report of special prosecutor Jack Smith on the allegations of interference in the 2020 election results.

Tencent, CATL on Pentagon's "blacklist"

Yesterday (Vietnam time), the US Department of Defense announced the addition of Chinese technology giants, including Tencent and battery maker CATL, to the list of companies working for the Chinese military, according to Reuters. Tencent is the operator of the "super app" WeChat that operates across gaming platforms, content streaming and cloud computing services. CATL produces more than a third of the world's electric car batteries, and is used in electric vehicles from many famous brands, from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda to Hyundai. Shares of the two companies fell sharply in yesterday's trading session after the above announcement.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/quoc-hoi-my-xac-thuc-chien-thang-cua-ong-trump-185250107211511128.htm