Transfer of power - Jan. 12
Welcome to the Transfer of Power newsletter. There are 8 days until Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is sworn in as the 46th president of the United States.
Before we get started today, we’d like to issue a correction. We misspelled GOP consultant Michael Steel’s name in yesterday’s edition. We apologize for the error.
Here are some key developments in the U.S. Congress and the White House before Jan. 20, the day the U.S. Constitution says all presidential power must transfer to the president-elect:
The FBI is warning of plans for armed protests at all 50 state capitals and in Washington, D.C., in the days leading up to Jan. 20.
Thousands of National Guard members are being called up to protect Washington during the inauguration.
The military is investigating whether troops who participated in last week’s pro-Trump rally also took part in the violence inside the U.S. Capitol.
While heading to Alamo, Texas, President Donald Trump declined to say if he would resign, but said the House’s push for impeachment was “causing tremendous anger.”
Trump’s trip to Texas
In his first public appearance since the Washington riot, President Trump traveled to the Texas-Mexico border to tout construction of the border wall and his yearslong campaign against illegal immigration. Trump stated that the wall was “tremendously successful” in stopping people from crossing the southern border. The Associated Press reports that while the number was down at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, that number has crept back up.
Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP
The visit comes as remaining White House aides urge the president to use his final days in office to highlight what they see as accomplishments of his presidency. President-elect Joe Biden has said he’d halt construction on the border wall as well as try to reverse some of Trump’s restrictions immigration.
When reporters asked the president about his role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol, Trump refused to take responsibility and defended the speech he gave to supporters beforehand.
“It’s been analyzed and people thought that what I said was totally appropriate,” he said.
Trump also declined to answer a question about whether he would resign. He did comment on the impeachment action initiated by House Democrats: “It’s absolutely ridiculous. This impeachment is causing tremendous anger, and you’re doing it and it’s really a terrible thing that they’re doing.”
House presses on
Democrats have called on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to strip Trump of his presidential power and are pushing ahead with impeachment. With just more than a week before Trump’s term ends, the House was determined to hold a quick vote on measures aimed at pressuring the president to leave office earlier than Jan. 20.
“The goal for some Democratic lawmakers is to keep Trump from holding office ever again, barring a potential comeback for the outgoing Republican president,” write Francesca Chambers, David Lightman and Alex Roarty for McClatchy.
Although it’s unclear whether a congressional vote or action can bar Trump from holding office again, some Democratic Party strategists argue that sending a message to Trump about his role in the attack is worth the fallout that could overshadow the start of the Biden-Harris administration, McClatchy writes.
The House will try on Wednesday to impeach Trump for an unprecedented second time. If that were to fail, there’s another alternative for holding Trump accountable that Pelosi mentioned in a message to colleagues: the 14th Amendment’s Section 3.
It “bars anyone from holding certain state and federal offices who ‘shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion’ against the government unless Congress by a two-thirds vote allows them to serve,” writes the McClatchy team. But it may not keep Trump from ever holding federal office again.
McClatchy explains: “Among the issues is whether Trump could be deemed to have engaged in an insurrection — a prerequisite for triggering the section. The House impeachment resolution does not go that far, charging Trump incited an insurrection.”
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