Transfer of power - Jan. 19, 2021
Welcome to the Transfer of Power newsletter. Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is sworn in as the 46th president of the United States tomorrow.
We’re tracking 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. Here’s the latest:
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris resigned her Senate seat early in preparation for her new role.
President-elect Joe Biden continues to make historic picks for his incoming White House staff and Cabinet, including choosing a transgender woman for assistant health secretary. Senate confirmation hearings for his nominees began today.
President Donald Trump will leave Washington with his popularity at the lowest point of his presidency and with the GOP no longer in power.
The inauguration will look different this year with limited in-person events. But there are several ways to watch the inauguration from home, including Spanish-language programming.
Amtrak canceled Northeast Regional trains south of Washington D.C on Tuesday and Wednesday amid heightened security concerns. Even President-elect Joe Biden won’t take a train to Washington for his big day.
A predictable and unpredictable ending
McClatchy writes that President Donald Trump will leave office much like how he came in: “with only a handful of loyalists and family members at his side.”
While some Republicans said that Trump’s behavior since the election “was a predictable end to a presidency that began with a dispute over his inauguration crowd size,” others said his rhetoric about the election and the rally that turned into a mob attacking the U.S. Capitol was “an unexpected ending to his presidency.”
While some Republicans and conservative leaders have seemingly abandoned him on his way out, an Axios-Ipsos poll shows that the base of the Republican Party still supports Trump. Nearly six in 10 respondents said he should be the 2024 presidential nominee.
Even Republican leaders who had supported Trump and saw his prospects of running for office damaged after the Capitol riot acknowledged that he remained popular with 74 million Americans.
As Republican strategist Ron Bonjean explained, “They never liked Washington anyway – they wanted him to take a wrecking ball to this place. And that’s literally what his supporters did.”
Some of those attackers who have been criminally charged have called on Trump to pardon them, but it’s unclear if the president is seriously considering their pleas. Several reports said Trump could grant pardons and sentence commutations to more than 100 individuals, including himself and his family members, as soon as today. The New York Times reported Trump spent this weekend reviewing clemency requests from individuals including rapper Lil Wayne and former New York state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
First order of business
While Trump may spend his final hours granting pardons, Biden is ready to begin his presidency with a wave of executive orders.
Biden’s first day is expected to include a proposal for an immigration bill that would provide an eight-year path to citizenship for approximately 11 million people living in the U.S. He is also expected to reverse other Trump immigration actions through executive actions. Immigration may be one issue where the Biden administration could find common ground with some Republican senators. Other administration priorities, including rescinding some of the 2017 tax cuts and increasing federal spending, might face more opposition, the Associated Press reports.
Credit: Alex Brandon, AP
Controlling and ultimately halting the spread of the coronavirus remains the central focus of the incoming Biden administration. And Biden plans to rescind Trump’s order to end the ban on travelers from Europe and Brazil when Biden takes office on Wednesday. Tuesday evening includes a tribute to the nearly 400,000 Americans who have died during the pandemic. Four hundred lights will be lit, each representing 1,000 Americans, at a ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial.
Follow these journalists on Twitter for more news:
@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