Trump refusing to concede race
Likely to fire foes, pardon friends in final weeks
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has 10 weeks to exact revenge on his political foes, pardon his friends and make life difficult for President-elect Joe Biden, who bested him at the ballot box and turned him into something he hates: a loser.
Now a lame duck, Trump is continuing to push political norms and stoke partisan passions by refusing to concede, repeating the same falsehoods he made after the election – that he had won but Democrats “stole” the race through fraud, neither of which was true.
Among the president’s first moves may be dismissal of several senior administration officials whom Trump had appointed but whom he later deemed insufficiently loyal, or simply unwilling to do his bidding, infuriating the president and his inner circle.
Those believed most in danger include FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, who found no credible reason to investigate Biden and his family; Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who resisted sending active-duty troops to quell racial justice protests; and CIA Director Gina Haspel, who refused to deny reports that Russia paid bounties to the Taliban to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
But Trump’s authority is limited, as he repeatedly discovered in office when federal courts knocked down his executive orders, blocking his ability to make lasting change on several fronts.
In October, as coronavirus cases reached new records, Trump threatened to fire Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert. But Trump does not have direct authority to fire Fauci, who is a career civil servant, though he could try to test those limits.
“We’re going to have the most revealing episode about his character than we’ve probably seen in all four years,” said Miles Taylor, a former Trump administration official who, as “Anonymous,” wrote a 2019 book highly critical of his presidency. “If he sees a power that he has somewhere, he has an insatiable desire to use that power.”
Pardons offer the president the most absolute power during his lame-duck phase.
The most prominent possibilities include former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI but later tried to withdraw his plea, and Paul Manafort, Trump’s 2016 campaign manager, who was convicted of financial crimes.
Trump may try to protect himself and the Trump Organization, his family-run holding company, from potential prosecution once he leaves office.
Prosecutors in New York are investigating alleged banking and insurance fraud, while the IRS has spent years auditing a $70 million deduction.
“He’s going to use (the lame-duck period) strategically to basically try to protect himself and his family and his money,” said Andrew Weissmann, a former top prosecutor in special counsel Robert S. Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump’s 2016 campaign collaborated with Russia and obstructed justice.
That could include proactive pardons
for Trump’s grown children; current and former employees; and other figures close to Trump, including his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Trump may also try to pardon himself, a power that has never been tested in court.
The pardons would not limit all of Trump’s potential exposure. They would cover only federal crimes, not the investigations now underway by New York State Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.
Trump also has options on the policy front. He could issue executive orders in hopes of exciting his political base for another run at the White House in 2024.
But with few exceptions, they could be overturned with the stroke of a pen by Biden, just as Trump undid many of President Barack Obama’s executive actions.
“Executive orders, they’re the weak president’s last resort,” said Elaine Kamarck, a former Clinton administration official who runs the Center for Effective Public Management at the Brookings Institution, a left-leaning think tank. “They are just simply easily turned around by the next president.”
Trump is unlikely to pass any legislation in Congress before Biden is sworn in on Jan. 20 unless bipartisan support emerges for a COVID-19 stimulus bill.
Months of negotiations for an economic relief package stalled in late Oc
tober, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, who won reelection, has said he wants a deal this year.