Calls for Trump to work with Biden transition team
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump is facing pressure to co-operate with Presidentelect Joe Biden’s team to ensure a smooth transfer of power when the new administration takes office in January.
The General Services Administration (GSA) is tasked with formally recognising Biden as president-elect, which begins the transition. But the agency’s Trump-appointed administrator, Emily Murphy, has not started the process or indicated when she will.
That lack of clarity is fuelling questions about whether Trump, who has not publicly recognised Biden’s victory and has falsely claimed the election was stolen, will impede Democrats as they try to establish a government.
There is little precedent in the modern era of a president erecting such hurdles for his successor. The stakes are especially high this year because Biden will take office amid a raging pandemic, which will require a comprehensive government response.
“America’s national security and economic interests depend on the federal government signalling clearly and swiftly that the US government will respect the will of the American people and engage in a smooth and peaceful transfer of power,” Jen Psaki, a Biden transition aide, tweeted on Sunday.
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”.
Biden, elected the 46th president on Saturday, is taking steps to build a government despite questions about whether Trump will offer the traditional assistance. He is focusing first on the virus, which has already killed nearly 240 000 Americans. Biden was due to announce details late yesterday of a task force that will create a blueprint to attempt to bring the pandemic under control that he plans to begin implementing after assuming the presidency on January 20.
Biden has already named a former surgeon general, Dr Vivek Murthy, and an ex-Food and Drug Administration commissioner, David Kessler, as co-chairs.
Biden was also launching agency review teams, groups of transition staffers that have access to key agencies in the current administration.
They will collect and review information such as budgetary and staffing decisions, pending regulations and other work in progress from current Trump administration staff at the departments to help Biden’s team prepare to transition.
But that process can’t begin in full until the GSA recognises Biden as president-elect. The definition of what constitutes a clear election winner for the GSA is legally murky, making next steps unclear in the short term.
The GSA’s leadership is supposed to act independently and in a nonpartisan manner, and at least some elements of the federal government have already begun implementing transition plans.
Aviation officials, for instance, have restricted the airspace over Biden’s lake-front home in Wilmington, Delaware, while the Secret Service has begun using agents from its presidential protective detail for the president-elect and his family.
There were other signs that some leaders were preparing for a new administration. Biden aides said the president-elect and transition team had been in touch with Republican lawmakers.