Transfer of Power - Jan. 8, 2021
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We’re 12 days away from Jan. 20, the day the U.S. Constitution says all presidential power must transfer to the president-elect.
Although the United States has a history of contentious presidential elections, the actual transition of power has mostly been smooth. But Wednesday’s chaotic scene at the U.S. Capitol makes it clear Americans are in for a few hectic days before Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is sworn in as the 46th president.
This newsletter will follow all the developments in U.S. Congress and the White House until then.
Read on for the latest:
Two days after a mob of President Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying the election results for Biden:
More members of Congress are calling for Trump to be removed from office.
Discussions about the 25th Amendment have intensified.
Trump acknowledged he would leave office but says he won’t attend Biden’s inauguration.
Pence stays mum while House eyes impeachment
Vice President Mike Pence has not discussed invoking the 25th Amendment with Cabinet members, report McClatchy’s Michael Wilner and Francesca Chambers.
On Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the House will move to impeach Trump for a second time if he does not resign “immediately.” That has never happened in the nation’s history. McClatchy’s David Lightman reports that House Democrats on Thursday began circulating potential articles of impeachment that cite “abuse of power.”
The House impeached Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in 2019. The Republican-led Senate voted against removing him from office.
The potential new articles of impeachment say that Trump “has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office.”
Rep. Katherine Clark said the House Democrats are eyeing a vote as early as “mid-next week
If the House is successful, Trump would be the first president in history to be impeached twice.
Congressional fallout
Lawmakers are also drawing criticism for their actions leading to Wednesday’s violence as well as their reactions. Constituents and other lawmakers are going so far as to call for their removal from office.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri have continued to object to Biden’s Electoral College win, repeatedly claiming election fraud when election officials found there was none. Hawley notably gave a raised-fist salute to the crowd gathered outside the Capitol on Wednesday and sent a fundraising email as the scene descended into chaos.
Hawley’s political mentor, former Missouri Sen. John Danforth, blamed his protégé for sparking the insurrection. Danforth said his push to gather support for Hawley’s runs for attorney general and later the U.S. Senate was “the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my life,” reports Bryan Lowry for The Kansas City Star.
Amid calls for his censure and removal, the Missouri senator is already dealing with the fallout from his action: publication of his upcoming book, “The Tyranny of Big Tech,” was cancelled. The Kansas City Star’s Jonathan Shorman writes that Hawley called publisher Simon & Schuster a “woke mob” after its decision and told the company he would “see you in court.”
Cruz, who is also hearing calls to resign, told KHOU in Houston that he does “not remotely” accept any blame for what happened. “What I was doing and what the other senators were doing is what we were elected to do, which is debating matters of great import in the chamber of the United States Senate,” he said. “I joined with 11 other senators and we proposed to the Senate that Congress should appoint an electoral commission.”
Follow these journalists on Twitter for real-time updates:
@fran_chambers - Francesca Chambers, White House correspondent, McClatchyDC
@mawilner - Michael Wilner, White House correspondent, McClatchyDC
@Alex_Roarty - Alex Roarty, White House correspondent, McClatchyDC
@davecatanese - Dave Catanese, Washington correspondent for The Lexington Herald-Leader
@LightmanDavid - David Lightman, senior congressional correspondent, McClatchy
@alextdaugherty - Alex Daugherty, McClatchy political correspondent for the Miami Herald
@MurphinDC - Brian Murphy, North Carolina politics correspondent
@BryanLowry3 - Bryan Lowry, Washington correspondent for the Kansas City Star
This story was originally published January 8, 2021 at 2:33 PM.