Watch Biden certifying Trump’s electoral college win in 2017 as Republicans aim to block his win

Footage from 2017 shows President-elect Joe Biden certifying Donald Trump’s Electoral College win, as Republicans prepare to block his victory in 3 November election in Congress on Wednesday.

On 6 January 2017, Mr Biden, who was at the time the vice president under the Obama administration, presided over a joint session of Congress where members officially certified Mr Trump’s election win.

During the course of the certification, several House Democratic officials attempted to object to the electoral votes from multiple states, according to CNN.

Each time that a Democratic representative attempted to object to the electoral votes, the efforts were gavelled down by Mr Biden because they did not follow the rules that state a member of the House and Senate need to both object in writing.

The first objection came at 1:09pm from Democratic representative Jim McGovern, from Massachusetts, who claimed that the votes were not certified lawfully, “especially given the confirmed and illegal activities engaged by the government of Russia”.

Mr Biden rejected the objection for not having a signature from a senator, before having to do the same just five minutes later, as Jamie Raskin of Maryland attempted to object to 10 of Florida’s 29 electoral votes.

Just one minute later, Mr Biden rejected an objection from Washington representative Pramila Jayapal before doing the same not long after from California’s Barbara Lee, once again citing the lack of signatures from a senator.

Mr Biden then began to lose his patience at 1:23pm as Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas stood up to reject, telling her: “The debate is not in order.”

Arizona representative Raul Grijalva then stood to object, but was told by Mr Biden: “There is no debate. There is no debate. There is no debate,” as the visibly angry vice president gavelled the objection away.

Ms Jackson Lee attempted to object two more times to state’s electoral votes, but was told: “There is no debate in the joint session,” as her microphone was cut off.

Just before the session ended at 1:40pm, California representative Maxine Waters, who objected to the certification of George W Bush's 2000 election, stood up and asked if any senators would sign her objection.

Some representatives booed as then House speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, laughed. No signatures were forthcoming and the election was certified by Congress.

On Wednesday, exactly four years since Mr Biden presided over the confirmation of Mr Trump’s electoral college votes, Republicans are planning to object to his confirmation as the 46th US president.

Around 40 House Republicans and at least 13 Senate Republicans have said they will object to the results in Arizona, Georgia or Pennsylvania during the joint session on Wednesday presided over by vice president Mike Pence. They have made baseless claims about voter fraud during 3 November’s election.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Mr Pence told President Trump that he does not have the power to himself overturn the vote, but the president responded to the claims, calling them “fake news”.

“The New York Times report regarding comments vice president Pence supposedly made to me today is fake news,” Mr Trump said in a statement wrongly dated 2020.

He added: “He never said that. The vice president and I are in total agreement that the Vice President has the power to act.”

Mr Pence does not have the power to alter the results sent to Congress, but can preside over objections from senators and representatives on Wednesday.

President Trump continued to publicly pressure Mr Pence to overturn the election results on Wednesday morning, in the build up to the joint session, telling him: “Do it Mike”.

Several high-profile Republicans and Trump allies, including Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Rules Committee chairman Roy Blunt, have urged representatives and senators to not object at the vote on 6 January, warning that it could harm the party politically.

Even if senators and representatives force a debate on objections, the motions are unlikely to make it past the Democrat-controlled House.

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