Pressure mounts on Trump to concede
DONALD TRUMP was last night facing growing pressure to co-operate with president-elect Joe Biden’s team to ensure a smooth transfer of power when the new administration takes office in January.
The General Services Administration is tasked with formally recognising Mr Biden as president-elect, which begins the transition. But the agency’s Trump-appointed administrator, Emily Murphy, has not started the process and has given no guidance on when she will do so.
That lack of clarity is fuelling questions about whether Mr Trump, who has not publicly recognised Mr Biden’s victory and has falsely claimed the election was stolen, will impede Democrats as they try to establish a government.
It comes as Mr Trump maintained his silence despite earlier threats of legal action to prove voter fraud, a stance now interpreted as less about trying to change the result as creating a diversion for a loss the president cannot grasp, and to keep his supporters on side. There is little precedent in the modern era of a president erecting such transition hurdles for his successor. The stakes are especially high this year because Mr Biden will take office amid a raging pandemic, which will require a comprehensive government response.
The advisory board of the nonpartisan Center for Presidential Transition also urged the Trump administration to “immediately begin the post-election transition process and the Biden team to take full advantage of the resources available under the Presidential Transition Act”.
Mr Biden, who was elected the 46th president on Saturday, is taking steps to build a government despite questions about whether Mr Trump will offer the traditional assistance.
He is focusing first on the virus, which has already killed nearly 240,000 people in the US, and has announced details of a task force that will create a blueprint to attempt to control the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Trump campaign aides, senior Republican officials and other allies have said the president’s threatened legal action is more about creating a more palatable exit strategy from the White House and keeping supporters on side than it is about proving electoral wrongdoing.
Mr Trump has vowed to take legal steps while refusing to concede to Mr Biden, and is making an aggressive pitch for donors to help finance any court battle. He and his campaign have levelled accusations of large-scale voter fraud in Pennsylvania and other states that broke for Mr Biden. So far they have been made without proof, but senior figures connected with the president say evidence of fraud is not really the point.