Transfer of Power - Jan. 11, 2021
Welcome to the Transfer of Power newsletter. We’re following developments in the U.S. Congress and the White House until Jan. 20, the day the U.S. Constitution says all presidential power must transfer to the president-elect.
Here’s what’s happening 9 days before Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is sworn in as the 46th president of the United States:
The House is preparing to impeach President Donald Trump for the second time, but he still might not be removed from office. Sen. Mitch McConnell has said that the Senate would not move forward with a trial before Biden becomes president.
Biden has an avalanche of problems to address when he becomes commander-in-chief.
House moves toward impeachment
A day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote to her colleagues that “this President represents an imminent threat,” House Democrats introduced an article of impeachment Monday against President Donald Trump for “incitement of insurrection,” McClatchy’s Summer Lin reports. The earliest the House can vote on the article is Wednesday.
If the House votes to impeach, it’s unclear when the article of impeachment would be sent to the Senate for a trial. Sen. Rand Paul called the move “ludicrous” and cast doubts on whether the U.S. Senate would even conduct a trial, reports McClatchy’s Dave Catanese.
On Monday, Republicans blocked a House resolution calling on Pence to invoke constitutional authority to remove Trump from office. However, a roll call vote on that resolution is set for Tuesday, and is expected to pass.
Also on Monday, Biden said he had spoken to Senate leaders about splitting time between approving his key Cabinet nominations and dealing with a possible impeachment trial against Trump after he takes office.
Trump’s next steps
White House staff warned President Trump during the Capitol riot last week that he could be impeached or removed from office through the 25th Amendment of the Constitution due to his actions, reports McClatchy’s Francesca Chambers. He largely ignored many of their pleas to issue a sharply worded statement against the mob and say that anyone who broke the law would be prosecuted, according to sources familiar with the conversations.
After a flurry of resignations and waning confidence in Trump among White House aides, those who remained expected little activity in Trump’s final days in office. However, “Trump was said to still be working on last-minute executive orders and one last tranche of pardons” that he is planning to issue, reports Chambers.
“There’s still some final executive orders that some of us are pushing for Trump to make in his last 10 days or so in office on things like healthcare and energy production,” said Stephen Moore, an outside economic adviser to Trump.
A test for Biden
Some historians and political veterans say that the overlapping crises that Biden faces entering office is unlike anything a president has had to face since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, write Adam Wollner and Alex Roarty for McClatchy.
Jeffrey Engel, the founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University, said: “Among the cornucopia of problems presidents face, you can generally put them in three baskets: economic, political and security. Biden’s got trouble in all three ... Franklin Roosevelt had all three. Abraham Lincoln had all three.”
Biden himself acknowledged the tremendous tasks ahead of him, but still vowed “we’re going to get through this. Help is on the way.”
GOP consultant and former John Boehner aide Michael Steel said Biden “may be uniquely well-suited to the moment” given his past success negotiating with Republicans over his decades-long career. Biden may be able to deliver on his pledges of unity and address the issues in a bipartisan way, said Steel. Biden’s team maintains that bipartisan compromise is both possible and necessary just days before the inauguration. The inaugural theme is “America United.”
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 11, 2021 at 2:51 PM with the headline "Transfer of Power - Jan. 11, 2021."