Donald Trump still has full power of the president for 72...

Joe Biden will take over the White House on Jan. 20, but there will be few restrictions on the President’s powers from Mr Trump in the 72 days remaining.

“There is no legal change in Trump’s authority and power – he can do exactly what he did as president,” Bruce Wolpe, senior fellow at the United States Studies Center at Sydney University, told SBS News.

While it’s normal for a U.S. president to stay active in the past few weeks, few have turned to the job as unconventionally as Mr Trump, which has sparked speculation about what goals he will pursue before being replaced.

“We can expect almost anything,” said Wolpe, a former Democratic Congress official and chief of staff to former Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Mr Trump has announced plans to file a series of election fraud charges in the coming week for which there is no evidence yet, but here are some other things he could do.

Firefighters

At a rally in Florida last week, Mr Trump suggested that Anthony Fauci be fired. .

“Don’t tell anyone, but let me wait until shortly after the election,” he said after the followers started singing “Fire Fauci”.

Dr. Fauci – the country’s foremost infectious disease expert who is director of the National Institute on Allergies and Infectious Diseases – has questioned Trump’s repeated downplaying of COVID-19, which killed and infected more people in the US than anywhere else in the world .

It has also been reported that Mr Trump was considering firing FBI Director Christopher Wray, CIA Director Gina Haspel, and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, all of whom have pushed back against the President on separate occasions.

Mr. Wolpe said he wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Trump did “extensive shots”.

“If what he did after he was acquitted is a game book, he will seek retribution and vengeance against those he believes worked against him,” he said.

“I believe there will be extensive layoffs in the executive branch who he sees as unfriendly to his prospects for re-election.”

Mr Biden said he would go to Dr. Reinstall Fauci if somehow fired.

Since Dr. However, Facui does not report directly to Mr Trump, his discharge is unlikely and would be a complex process overlaid with civil defense measures that would have to go through the National Institute of Health.

Excuses from the president

There has also been speculation that Mr Trump might apologize to some of his staff or even himself.

Power – which derives from the US Constitution and is one of the most extensive available to a president – cannot be verified by other branches of government, and the president does not need to give a reason for giving power.

While pardons are usually punishable by those who have been prosecuted, pardons can cover behavior that has not yet led to legal proceedings.

“I think you are going to see major pardons from Trump and then the really interesting political issue is whether he will try to forgive people in his business, his family, and will he try to forgive himself?” Wolpe said.

However, the pardon is not absolute and only applies to federal crimes. This means that pardons, for example, would not protect Mr. Trump or his employees from investigations by prosecutors.

Mr Wolpe said no president had ever pardoned himself before and if Mr Trump tried it would likely end up in the Supreme Court.

“I would expect the prosecutor to take this to court and look into it, and that would eventually end up with the Supreme Court, I believe, because it is an issue that has never been resolved by law,” he said.

It is quite common for US presidents to issue pardons and commutations, another form of grace that leaves the conviction intact but obliterates the punishment in their final days in office.

For example, Barack Obama apologized to James Cartwright and reversed Chelsea Manning’s judgment. He also converted the sentences of 330 nonviolent drug offenders, the most acts of grace ever granted in a single day by a US president.

In recent months, Bill Clinton pardoned his brother and Democratic donor Marc Rich, while George HW Bush did the same for six officials involved in the Iran-Contra affair.

Earlier this year, Mr Trump commuted the criminal sentence of ally Roger Stone, who was sentenced to jail after being convicted on oath.

Conduct foreign policy

Outside of issuing executive orders, Wolpe said Trump’s final weeks were unlikely to have much of an impact on domestic affairs, but he could try to make a difference overseas.

There has been no shortage of foreign policy efforts in the Trump administration. These include renewed attempts to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, broker a peace deal in the Middle East, controversially relocating the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and pulling the US out of the Iranian nuclear deal.

“He undoubtedly has full authority over foreign policy, and he could try to do some diplomacy,” said Wolpe.

“A nuclear missile agreement negotiated with Russia has expired and he could try to get other nations in the Arab world to make peace with Israel. He could put more pressure on Iran as part of a goodbye kiss. ”

Mr Trump could also seek action against China, with which he has repeatedly come into conflict during his presidency.

Mr Wolpe, such a move would have implications for Australia.

“He could take very severe retaliation against China for its ability to do business in the US. He could even sanction Chinese officials, ”he said.

“If he goes this way, it will have direct consequences for Australia. Would Australia support retaliation against China, and if so, is Australia all-in with Mr Trump?

“And if it is Australia, I imagine the Chinese wouldn’t take it very cheaply.”

What about the coronavirus?

Given that COVID-19 cases have skyrocketed in the past few days, the impact of the pandemic on the U.S. is showing no signs of subsiding.

The US is fast approaching 10 million coronavirus cases and more than 237,000 have died from the virus in the country, according to Johns Hopkins University. About 10 million Americans who have become unemployed during the coronavirus lockdown remain inactive and federal aid programs have expired.

But despite the pandemic that has returned to a fever, Mr Trump has held back relatively for the past 48 hours and has been photographed playing golf.

Mr Biden has said that his top priority as President is getting the pandemic under control.

He will be pushing for masks to be worn nationwide, a change health experts say could save thousands of lives, but his legal authority to enforce such a mandate is unclear.

With Reuters.