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President-elect Joe Biden will take office exactly four weeks from Wednesday, January 20, but in the meantime, outgoing President Donald Trump is still in the White House and has been busy plotting behind the scenes.
Trump is reportedly mulling over various ideas that will emerge in his last month in office, from the controversial to the far-fetched.
What he has been most obsessed with since his electoral defeat are his continuous attempts to subvert the electoral results, which have failed at all times to date. Trump has reportedly been asking for or encouraging new last-minute tactics, each more desperate than his previous efforts. The president has also reportedly been hatching ways to reward his loyal backers who may be in legal trouble, as well as increasing pressure on Joe Biden’s son Hunter, who is facing legal troubles of his own.
Here are four things Trump could do before the clock strikes noon on January 20:
Get Congress to reject the Electoral College
Despite the extreme futility of this idea, it doesn’t stop Trump and some of his Republican supporters from following it.
Congress will meet on January 6 to officially count the Electoral College vote, which took place on December 14 and turned out as expected: Joe Biden won 306 electoral votes to Donald Trump’s 232. Constitutionally, that vote made Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
During the joint session of Congress next month, any member can file an objection to the electoral vote result of any state. If a member of the House along with a member of the Senate objected to the votes of a state together, then the House and Senate would return to their respective chambers and debate the objection for two hours.
After the debate, each body would vote and if a majority of the House and Senate supported the objection, the electoral votes would be disqualified, something that has not happened since the enactment of the Electoral Counting Act of 1887.
The most recent vote on an objection occurred after the 2004 presidential election when Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer and Democratic Representative Stephanie Tubbs-Jones objected to George W. Bush’s victory in Ohio, arguing that there were voting irregularities in that state. . The objection was not confirmed.
Trump met with several Republican members of the House on Monday, including some who have publicly stated that they will oppose electoral votes from certain states. And Trump himself has been tweeting about it, including thanking Rep. Mo Brooks, who has spent the past three weeks organizing the objection effort.
Thanks to Representative Mo Brooks!
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2020
“The most important date … is January 6,” Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump told Fox News on Tuesday. “And I think there will be people who say that we do not agree with Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States. We believe that Donald Trump won these elections and that is his right ”.
So why is this effort extremely futile?
First, there are no current Republican Senators who have said they will join House members who raise objections. Those who have spoken have said that the idea will not go anywhere.
“I mean, in the Senate, he would go down like a draft dog,” John Thune, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, told CNN on Monday. “I just don’t think it makes much sense to put everyone through this when you know what the end result will be.”
Senator-elect Tommy Tuberville suggested last week that he would raise an objection, and will be sworn in three days before January 6, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, after belatedly congratulating Biden on his victory last week, he warned Republican senators not to object. on January 6, as the subsequent vote would put them in the politically tense position of having to publicly vote against Trump or oppose the will of the voters. It’s unclear if McConnell has reached out to Tuberville, whose comments were praised by Trump.
Tommy will be more popular than ever – a hero! https://t.co/dTAXJyENlr
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 18, 2020
However, it remains to be seen whether the new senator will actually oppose his leader in the chamber so soon after taking office.
Even if the objections did reach votes in the House and Senate, the Democratic House certainly would not endorse them, and enough Senate Republicans have said they would vote to reject that the challenges would “go down like a shot dog,” as Thune put it.
Special tips
Trump has asked and lobbied for an independent special counsel to investigate widespread election irregularities, the evidence of which to date has not been uncovered by state election officials or federal investigators.
“If I thought a special counsel at this stage was the correct and appropriate tool, I would appoint one,” Attorney General William Barr said Monday. “But I haven’t and I’m not going to,” added Barr, who will step down from office Wednesday and whose successor, Jeffrey Rosen, will have to deal with pressure from Trump on the issue when he takes over as acting attorney general.
Meanwhile, Trump reportedly wants to see a special counsel appointed to investigate Joe Biden’s son Hunter. The Justice Department is already investigating the young Biden’s tax matters, which came to light two weeks ago. And while a special counsel would make sure those investigations continue under Joe Biden’s chair, Barr said he “has no plan” to name one.
The investigation “is currently being handled responsibly and professionally within the department,” Barr said.
Attorney General William Barr is not accepting Trump’s wish for special court investigations [Michael Reynolds/Pool via AP]Sorry
In keeping with tradition, Trump is likely to issue numerous pardons and commutations in his last days and, also in keeping with tradition, some of them may generate controversy.
Trump has already pardoned his former National Security adviser Michael Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his 2016 conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States.
Among the names reportedly being considered for pardons or commutations: former / current Trump advisers Roger Stone, Steve Bannon and Paul Manafort; former NSA contractor Edward Snowden; and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
Where Trump is breaking tradition is his consideration of pardons, pardoning people who have not been charged with a federal crime but giving them immunity from future investigations. Trump has reportedly asked about such forgiveness for his family members, including his daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner. Additionally, Trump’s friend and attorney Rudy Giuliani has reportedly been lobbying for one as well.
And where Trump could erase tradition would be if he goes ahead and grants a preventive pardon, something that has sparked a debate among constitutional experts.
Richard Nixon considered this idea after finding himself in trouble over the Watergate scandal, but his legal experts concluded that it was not a feasible idea. Finally, his successor, Gerald Ford, pardoned Nixon after he resigned in 1974.
Even if Trump does forgive himself and sustain himself legally, it would only protect him from federal prosecution. There is an investigation into Trump’s business dealings being conducted by a local district attorney in New York that would not be affected by a reprieve.
Martial law
Could Trump involve the military in his efforts to hold onto the presidency? That’s an idea that has been publicly suggested by Flynn and was reportedly raised by Trump in a meeting Friday that included Flynn.
“He could also order, within the undecided states, if he wanted, he could take military capabilities and place them in those states and basically re-run an election in each of those states. It is not unprecedented, “Flynn said on Newsmax TV last week, incorrectly suggesting that invoking martial law to reject legal votes” is not unprecedented. “
Flynn’s comments prompted Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy and Chief of Staff General James McConville to release a joint statement Friday insisting that “the US military has no role in determining the outcome of the US elections.”
And during Trump’s Friday powwow, the idea was allegedly “rejected” by his top advisers.
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