WASHINGTON — Fully aware that an effort by some Republicans in Congress to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory cannot succeed, top advisers to Donald Trump are urging him to use his final weeks in office to polish his legacy and preserve his political options.
They are pushing through pardons, rewarding campaign loyalists and plotting events to highlight the outgoing administration’s record on the economy.
Trump himself has vaulted back into the spotlight, criticizing the $2.3 trillion economic relief and budget package Congress passed overwhelmingly on Sunday as bloated and not providing enough help for people in need and vetoing a major defense bill.
His supporters are taking a longer view of how to proceed, figuring Trump will soon be out of office.
Stephen Moore, head of the conservative Committee to Unleash Prosperity and an outside economic adviser to Trump, pitched a “tribute to Trump” in the Rose Garden event to the White House for the week of Biden’s inauguration.
Moore said he is also looking to hold a rally in support of the president, with the goal of getting tens of thousands of people to attend. His group is also planning to release an “economic report card” on Trump’s presidency that includes statistics on unemployment from before the pandemic and highlights actions the administration took that were aimed at fighting poverty.
“It’s important if Trump wants to run for president again,” said Moore, “that he be someone who really reminds people of all his accomplishments.”
Inside the White House, efforts have primarily focused on wielding Trump’s power to grant pardons to people his allies have recommended for clemency and appoint trusted aides and friends to government positions.
Trump granted clemency to 20 people on Tuesday. More pardons are expected as soon as today. Criminal justice reform advocates said that they had submitted stacks of packets to White House lawyers for immediate consideration.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Presidential Personnel Office director Johnny McEntee were said to be focused on finding spots on prestigious government boards and commissions for loyalists.
“You don’t leave these commissions that Trump can appoint, you don’t leave those slots open for Biden to fill,” said Ken Blackwell, a senior adviser to Trump’s campaign. Meadows did not respond to a request for comment.
The White House announced on Tuesday that Trump was appointing a host of donors and trusted aides and allies, including former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who worked on impeachment messaging at the White House earlier this year, to serve on the boards of revered government institutions such as the Kennedy Center, Holocaust Memorial Council and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship board.
Also on the list: Derek Lyons, his staff secretary, Hope Hicks, a senior adviser and counselor, and Richard Grenell, a former ambassador and intelligence official.
Presidents often give their best fundraisers and senior aides positions on such boards on their way out, making the appointment of current staff to the unpaid boards one of the most public acknowledgments by the White House yet that Trump will soon be leaving office.
“One of the things as president you want to make sure to use all the opportunities to reward those who have been your supporters,” Martha Joynt Kumar, a presidential scholar and director of the nonpartisan White House Transition Project, said of the practice.“The Kennedy Center board is a particularly good one to be on because of their fine entertainment. You get to go to events there.”
Unrestrained by senior officials who would normally act as moderating influences or gatekeepers to the Oval Office — but have had not been seen at the White House for weeks prior to the Christmas holiday by colleagues — Trump has been spending his time calling friends and allies who are sympathetic to his unsubstantiated allegations of widespread election fraud.
Die-hard supporters of Trump in Congress are preparing to make their last stand when the legislative branch meets to affirm the Electoral College’s certification of the presidential election.
Any challenge to a state’s electoral vote count would need the support of at least one senator. Senate Republican Leaders, notably Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Majority Whip John Thune of South Dakota, have discouraged such a move.
Thune told a Senate press pool this week, “I just don’t think it makes a lot of sense to put everybody through this when you know what the ultimate outcome is going to be.”
Congress will meet Jan. 6 and open certificates that contain each state’s electoral votes, which were recorded Dec. 14. After a state’s result is announced, a member of Congress can object. To be considered further, both a House member and a senator must sign the objection.
Getting a House member is not expected to be difficult, since Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., has been leading an effort to keep Trump in office. Getting a senator to agree is the hard part so far.
Sen.-elect Tommy Tuberville, an Alabama Republican, has suggested the Senate could fight the result. Trump said he had spoken to Tuberville recently.
Trump’s staunchest allies were hopeful they could recruit Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, to challenge the electors from his home state.
But Johnson told reporters recently, “The collective judgment of that entire process, the certification of electors by the states and electoral college has shown Vice President Biden to be the president-elect.”
Even if an objection is accepted, it would take a majority vote by both the House and Senate to sustain it — and Democrats hold a House majority.
The president continues to charge publicly that he could win another term. But top campaign officials signaled Tuesday that discussions are taking place behind closed doors when they announced that they were relaunching their public affairs firm. Their focus will be on assisting Trump with endorsements and promoting his political interests.
Trump has in recent weeks threatened to recruit candidates to challenge Republicans who he feels have obstructed his efforts to reverse the results of the election, including Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Thune, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate. His daughter-in-law Lara, the wife of Trump’s son Eric, has also registered interest in a Senate run.
The president has not said what he will do after he leaves office, though he has hinted repeatedly at running for president again in 2024.
“Donald Trump’s presidency will be unique among equals. He will be comparatively active to the way he is now — holding rallies campaigning for candidates, weighing in on policy,” one person close to Trump, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations, said of his plans.
(David Lightman of McClatchy’s Washington Bureau contributed to this story.)
