Impeachment article has 200 cosponsors: US rep.

The joint session of Congress to confirm the Electoral College vote won by Biden is underway. 

What's usually a short, ceremonial event is expected to turn into a marathon affair. However, the end result will be the same -- Biden will still be the next president, set to be inaugurated in just two weeks.

Vice President Pence is the presiding officer and in an uncomfortable situation as most legal experts agree he does not have the constitutional authority to object to Electoral College vote counting yet President Trump -- down Pennsylvania Avenue at a "Save America" rally -- demanded Pence "have the courage" to intervene, Trump saying he will be "very disappointed." if he doesn't.

Moments before the session began, Pence released a statement through the White House making clear he does not believe he has the authority to intervene in the election

"It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution contains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not," Pence said.

The Vice President's job is to go through ceremonial mahogany boxes full of the votes from the states, ticking off each one alphabetically -- but this year, it won't be long until a senator objects.

When Pence gets to Arizona, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, a Trump loyalist, is expected to object, thus launching up to two hours of debate in each chamber. Thirteen senators and as many as 140 House Republicans have said they will make objections in the process, but it's still unclear how many states will be challenged. Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri has said he'll object regarding Pennsylvania. Hawley has also said he does not believe Pence has the ability to not accept the electoral certification.

-ABC News' Trish Turner

Trump, speaking at the Ellipse, just outside the White House grounds, before thousands of supporters Wednesday, repeated he will "never concede" -- and ramped up pressure on Vice President Mike Pence to try to overturn the outcome at a joint session of Congress just minutes away -- which Pence cannot do.

"We will never give up. We will never concede," Trump said from behind plexiglass to chants of "Fight for Trump."

"All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to re-certify, and we become president, and you are the happiest people," Trump said, teasing the 1 p.m. joint session of Congress to formally count the Electoral College votes.

"And Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us, and if he doesn't, that will be a sad day for our country," Trump added.

Trump said he would lead the crowd of supporters to the Capitol Building following his remarks.

"And we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. And we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness," he said.

"We’re going to see whether or not we have great and courageous leaders, or whether or not we have leaders that should be ashamed of themselves throughout history -- throughout eternity. They’ll be ashamed. And you know what? If they do the wrong thing, we should never, ever forget that they did. Never forget. We should never, ever forget," Trump said.

"We got to remember, in a year from now, you're going to start working on Congress, and we've got to get rid of the weak congresspeople. The ones that aren't any good. The Liz Cheneys of the world," he went on.

"Mike Pence, I hope you're going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country. And if you're not, I'm going to be very disappointed in you."

As Congress convenes for a joint session Wednesday to ratify the Electoral College vote confirming Biden’s win, a historic showdown looms large as a handful of Republican lawmakers have said they will challenge Biden’s win. 

More than 100 GOP lawmakers in the House and at least a dozen in the Senate are expected to join with President Trump in a last-ditch effort to challenge his election loss. 

Democrats are calling this an unprecedented attack on American democracy, upending what is traditionally a solemn and relatively routine process of counting the certified electoral votes from each states. 

The Republican lawmakers’ complaints, however, are not expected to shift the final outcome. 

The joint session convenes at 1 p.m. ET. 

-ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., one of the 13 Republicans who plan to launch objections to the electoral ratification Wednesday afternoon, said on Fox during an interview with Laura Ingram Tuesday night that he does not believe Vice President Pence has the ability to not accept the electoral vote count. 

Pence does not have the ability to overturn the election, despite tweets to the contrary from the president. 

"I don't think the Vice President counts under the law," Hawley said. "I mean, he's sort of just there." 

Hawley is a close ally of Trump but broke with the president on this issue. 

"This is really on Congress," Hawley said. "This is why it's important to object and why I intend to object." 

-ABC News’ Allie Pecorin