Green for Joe Joe Biden formally approved as US President after four die in night of chaos at Capitol

Hours after hundreds of President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a harrowing assault on American democracy, a shaken Congress on Thursday formally certified Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.

Late on Wednesday houses of Congress resumed their work on certifying Biden's Electoral College win, with debate stretching into the early hours of Thursday.

Congress certified enough Electoral College votes for Democrat Joe Biden to hand him the victory in the Nov. 3 presidential race over Republican President Donald Trump.

With Congress approving Vermont's votes, Biden officially won the 270 Electoral College votes that are the minimum for claiming the presidency.

After debate, the House and Senate rejected two objections to the tally and certified the final Electoral College vote with Biden receiving 306 votes and Trump 232 votes.

President Trump has issued a statement to CNN saying that the decision "represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history."

He also said that there will be an "orderly transition".

"Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th," Trump said in a statement.

"I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again," he added.

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Online Editors