Item: During the campaign, at his Madison Square Garden rally, Trump claimed that he and House Speaker Johnson had a “little secret” that would have a “big impact.” https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/28/us/politics/trump-secret-house-republicans-panic.html
Item: Yesterday Trump, for the first time, endorsed Johnson for Speaker in the next Congress.
Item: Yesterday Trump also nominated Matt Gaetz, a man with credible allegations of drug use and statutory rape against him, to be the United States Attorney General. Some Republican Senators quickly signaled the Senate may reject that nomination.
Item: Trump has demanded that the Senate allow him to make recess appointments that would him to skip the otherwise Constitutionally mandated Senate confirmation process. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/recess-appointments-short-circuit-senate-opposition-trump-nominees/story?id=115741507
Item: Reports are that Trump is coordinating with House Speaker Johnson to allow Trump to force Congress to adjourn under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution so that he can freely make the recess appointments he wants. https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/will-trump-pursue-bonkers-plan-to-adjourn-both-houses-of-congress/
Article II, Section 3 states that if the two Houses of Congress disagree on a time for adjournment that the President can order them to adjourn until “such time as he shall think proper.” Under the plan the Speaker Johnson’s House would propose an adjournment of both Houses to allow Trump to make the recess appointments. If the Senate didn’t go along Trump would invoke Article II, Section 3 to compel the House and the Senate to adjourn. He would then be free to completely skip the advise and consent mandates of the Constitution.
