President-elect Biden's team faces obstacle as key Trump official refuses to sign transition papers: Report
President-elect Joe Biden is prepared to run against time to set the transition ball rolling but the current Donald Trump administration is yet to settle with the reality. While Biden was set to launch his official transition team on Monday, November 9, in which he would name a medical team to tackle the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and also nominees for top cabinet posts, one important official in the White House transition effort was not ready to budge yet.
According to a report in the Washington Post: “A Trump administration appointee is refusing to sign a letter allowing President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team to formally begin its work this week, in another sign the incumbent president has not acknowledged Biden’s victory and could disrupt the transfer of power,” said the Post. The official — Emily Murphy, the administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) who was appointed by Trump in December 2017 — is in charge of federal buildings and paperwork that are required to turn over access to the government officials, budget for the transfer of power and also equipment for the incoming Democratic president.
While the tug-of-war continued despite Biden crossing the 270-figure mark to clinch the presidency, GSA spokesperson Pamela Pennington said an ascertainment was yet to be done and that the office will continue to abide by all requirements under the law. According to a report in the POLITICO that came out on Saturday, November 7, the transition scenario is getting more difficult with each passing day. “Making matters even more complicated, the law on the subject is vague and leaves it up to Murphy to determine when Biden is officially president-elect,” the report said.
Waiting till December 14 will see waste of precious time
It said while the Biden team did not comment on the situation, it added that Murphy could wait till December 14 when the electoral college will cast its votes in favor of the president and Biden gets his confirmation. But waiting that far would also hurt Biden’s transition effort at a time when the US is facing big public health and economic crises. The new president takes oath on January 20.
Under a 1963 law, it depends on the GSA’s politically appointed administrator to take a call when a winner is "ascertained."
Under the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, a candidate becomes “President-Elect” (for purposes of the transition rules) when the GSA Administrator ascertains that it’s “apparent” that they’ve won an electoral college majority.https://t.co/yJVqM6bd45
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) November 7, 2020
Methinks we’re there. pic.twitter.com/2JHAHLpKs4
The Post said Murphy has yet to write a letter favoring the transition and added that the Trump administration has no immediate plans to sign one either. The report said that this could lead to the first transition delay in modern history, with the exception of 2000 when the Supreme Court decided over a recount dispute between former president George W Bush and Al Gore. Gore had conceded on that occasion. The CNN also reported on Saturday that Trump has no plans to invite Biden to the White House in the near future, citing an informed source. It has been a tradition to see the outgoing and incoming presidents meet each other at the Oval Office whenever there is a transition of power.
A senior White House official said that no head of any agency is yet going to Trump on the question of transition. He suspected that those officials would be instructed not to work with or even have a communication line with the incoming administration of Biden. Biden’s transition team hopes that with the election being called for Biden, it expects the GSA to quickly ascertain Biden and Kamala Harris as the president-elect and vice president-elect, respectively, the Post reported. “America’s national security and economic interests depend on the federal government signaling clearly and swiftly that the United States government will respect the will of the American people and engage in a smooth and peaceful transfer of power,” it quoted the president-elect’s transition spokesperson.