would continue to run the TAP Infrastructure Corporation while President. Reaction was quite negative from Progressive members of Congress and several Conservatives. Powers’ general counsel was called before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs and argued that there were no laws or regulations prohibiting a President from not continuing to run his small family business, and that several Presidents continued to run and own their family farms and shops while President in the past. Legislation was considered in both the House and Senate, but decisions by Congressional leaders derailed any further action.
With the United States Senate split 50-50 between the two parties and Vice President Stuart a Progressive, technically the Progressives could have claimed majority leadership at the beginning of the 123rd Congress during the January 4-19 period. President Trump, Vice President Stuart, Senate Minority Leader Senator Vicky Turner, and several other Progressive Senators met in mid-December, according to Trump presidential records, to discuss whether to claim majority leadership and to pursue the confirmation of Mary Chapman as a Justice to the United States Supreme Court and other legislation. Because of Senate cloture rules require two-thirds of the Senators present to vote to end debate or filibusters for a Supreme Court Justice, those in attendance decided not to force the issue. The Progressives quickly let the Conservatives organize the Senate as the majority party.
Senate confirmation hearings started in early January, and there were only a handful of questions about the nominees. Progressive Senators questioned the wisdom of having Steve Edward hold three Cabinet positions, but again, nothing could be found legally to prohibit these appointments. As President Kennedy had appointed his own brother Robert as Attorney General, there was little anyone could argue against the President-elect appointing his own children or their spouses to Cabinet positions. One nominee had several instances in failing to file proper tax returns and withdrew his nomination.
Meanwhile, the FBI recommended to the Attorney General that the two former members of Congress (they had resigned after their names were revealed by Fox News) who provided copies of classified transmails prior to the election to WikiLeaks be prosecuted for mishandling classified information, rather than charging them with treason. Attorney General James Cannon agreed with this recommendation, and the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia was assigned to pursue their prosecution. On January 18th, charges were filed and the defendants were held without bond.
Under Vice President Mitchell’s leadership of the transition team, over 50 positions requiring Senate confirmation had been unofficially nominated to the Senate prior to the Powers Inauguration. The Senate had proceeded with confirmation hearings on these nominations. Almost all White House Staff positions had been filled, and the transition team was working with the nominated Cabinet secretaries in filling lower-level positions.
On January 11th, Mitchell convened a meeting with all Cabinet secretaries and any named deputies, led by the policy implementation heads. Detailed discussions were held on the draft action plan for the first hundred days of the Powers Administration, with decisions made of who had responsibility for each action. There were decisions by legal counsel regarding which method could President Powers use to implement the actions, such as executive orders, legislation, or government regulation. The policy implementation heads classified this action plan, which would later cause problems as more than half of the named senior officials had yet to be granted interim security clearances.
The issue on the security clearances appeared to be confusing to most of the members of the Powers Administration. This was probably due to the lack of training on government policies and procedures by the transition team and the low percentage of staff that had ever been in government. This lack of training would also contribute to the larger number of ethical policy violations that would occur during the Powers administration. The progress in gaining security clearances was hampered by a lack of knowledge, reluctance of the nominees to submit all the required paperwork and records, and lack of cooperation by various individuals that the FBI was required to interview to verify information, according to FBI records when the House reviewed this issue later in May 2033. This slowness to complete security clearance investigations also contributed to the slowness in proceeding to Senate confirmation for nominees below the Cabinet level.
On January 18th, a major snow storm began hitting Minnesota and Wisconsin, and quickly spread to northern Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. The storm continued eastward, dumping six inches on New York City, a foot on Philadelphia and Baltimore, and six inches on Washington. In the early morning of January 20th, the District of Columbia and surrounding areas were literally closed down due to an ice storm because of a brief warming period. The District of Columbia National Guard, assisted by units from Virginia, was called out at 6 am to rescue individuals and clear roads. Another round of snow hit mid-morning, and all outdoor Inauguration activities were immediately cancelled. There was a news report that the President-elect had called the Mayor’s Office to complain.
Almost weekly during the time period of the Powers Administration, there was either a weather-related (floods, tornados, hurricanes, etc.) or natural (earthquakes, fires, etc.) disaster somewhere in the United States, that were significant to require a state Governor to call out the National Guard and ask for a federal declaration, assistance, and aid. Many of these were due to increased incidents of climate change, which the administration refused to recognize as occurring. In areas that supported the election of President Powers, aid and assistance was quickly and readily given. Otherwise, it was slow, unresponsive, or even ignored. We only reported in this volume on about a dozen major disasters that had significant effects on the United States or the Powers Administration.
THE FIRST ONE HUNDRED DAYS (January – April 2033)
Thayer Andrew Powers was sworn in as the 51st President of the United States at Noon on January 20, 2033 inside the Capitol Rotunda by the Chief Justice of the United States, Samuel Walker. William (Billy) Ronald Mitchell had been sworn in as the 54th Vice President of the United States prior to Powers taking the oath. Only about a third of the invitees were able to make it to the Capitol due to the snow. The event was shown on television lighted by battery powered lamps and candles, as the old Capitol coal plant’s equipment had frozen and there was only emergency lighting in the building. Power had been out since mid-morning for most of the District of Columbia, except for a few federal buildings like the White House.
At the beginning of Powers’ Inauguration speech, the network connections were cut and Americans were left with a blank screen until network moderators in New York, Atlanta, or Los Angeles appeared. Someone was able to re-connect the audio, and the American people listened to the new President like the public did for Roosevelt over the radio. Because the teleprompter stopped working almost immediately, President Powers pulled out some index cards and continued his speech, repeating many of his policies that he had campaigned on before the election. Afterwards, Powers and his two children, their spouses, and his grandchildren left the Rotunda for one of the House offices, signed the official paperwork, and were driven in a military Humvee convoy to the White House. All remaining inauguration activities were cancelled, including the seven balls. The White House was almost the only building in Washington with light, power, and heat.
President Powers had lunch with his children, their spouses, and his grandchildren, in the residence, and then walked down to the Oval Office about 3 pm. Liz Powers wrote in her memoirs later that her father was greatly disappointed in not having a proper inauguration, but he promised that he would make up for it in 2037. He was greeted by the Vice President and several members of his inner circle (it is unclear who exactly was in attendance), and provided with the paperwork for him to sign his initial Executive Orders and other documents.
It is believed that there was much discussion by legal counsel to President Powers as to the appropriatene
ss of the executive orders compared to other methods to implement policies, such as Congressional legislation or government agency regulations. However, the records retained on the Powers Administration are few, and the subsequent administrations discovered these specific records were destroyed with one paper copy kept at a secret off-sight location in Brazil by the President’s general counsel. Scholars and legal authorities, plus the federal courts, would argue for over a decade as to the validity of many of these Executive Orders signed by the President.
The new President signed 101 Executive Orders and about 250 other documents on the afternoon of his first day in office. Some of them were rather typical of any presidential administration, formerly designating who his key advisors are, officially nominating individuals for positions requiring Senate confirmation and those not requiring confirmation, several regarding emergency procedures and reporting arrangements, and appointing individuals to perform required duties or giving them the authority to act for the President. The unique organization of the Powers Administration with the