PRESIDENT TRUMP WILL USE HIS POWER TO STALL THE BIDEN TRANSITION

 

…Trump giving a “thumb’s up” to his supporters, after learning that he had lost to Biden

 

Yes, if things don’t change, Trump may need to be physically removed

 

It must be noted that the most contentious political transition in this nation was when the nation was in a similar difficult position, as it is today. 

In 1932, the country was deep in a Depression, and just as with the Trump operation, the Hoover administration had done nothing to assist the nation’s citizens to end the dire situation.  That was when the nation had once again changed the administration over to the Democrats by electing FDR.

The head of the General Services Administration (GSA), the low-profile agency in charge of the transition, has a little-known role when a new president is elected: It is their responsibility to sign paperwork officially turning over millions of dollars, as well as to give access to government officials, office space in agencies and equipment authorized for the taxpayer-funded transition teams of the election winner.

It amounts to a formal declaration by the federal government, outside of the nation’s media, of the winner of the presidential race.

But by Sunday evening, almost 36 hours after it was projected that Joe Biden was the winner, the GSA Administrator, Emily Murphy had written no such letter.  And of course, the Trump administration, in keeping with the president’s failure to concede the election, has no immediate plans for Ms. Murphy to sign one.

This could lead to the first transition delay in modern history, except for the one in 2000, when the Supreme Court made the decision on a re-count dispute between Al Gore and George W. Bush in December of that year.

But even though the race has not been certified, once the race has been determined and notified by the necessary state elections, the transition is usually started without the official certification, or the formal vote of the Electoral College on December 14^th, as per the US Constitution.

In order to slow down the process, the following statement was made by Pamela Pennington, a spokeswoman for the GSA, who said in an email: “An ascertainment has not yet been made, and its Administrator will continue to abide by, and fulfill, all requirements under the law.”

The GSA statement left experts on federal transitions to wonder when the White House expects the handoff from one administration to the next to begin.  The reality is that it will obviously only be when the president has exhausted his legal avenues to fight the election results, or after the formal vote of the Electoral College.  There are now 72 days, until the Biden inauguration on Jan. 20.

“No agency head is going to get out in front of the president on transition issues right now,” said one senior administration official, who once again, spoke on the condition of anonymity, because as usual, he was not authorized to speak publicly. This official predicted that agency heads will be told to not talk to anyone in the Biden team.

The decision has turned attention to Ms. Murphy, whose four-year tenure has been marked by several controversies involving the president, an unusually high profile for an agency little known outside of Washington.

“Her action now has to be condemned,” said Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), who leads a House oversight panel on federal operations. “It’s behavior that is consistent with her subservience to wishes of the president himself, and it is clearly harmful to the orderly transition of power.”

The delay has implications both practical and symbolic.

By declaring the “apparent winner” of a presidential election, the GSA administrator releases computer systems and money for salaries and administrative support for the mammoth undertaking of setting up a new government.  For this year, that is $9.9 million.

Transition officials get government email addresses. They get office space at every federal agency. They can begin to work with the Office of Government Ethics to process financial disclosure and conflict-of-interest forms for their nominees.

And they get access to senior officials, both political appointees of the outgoing administration and career civil servants, who relay an agency’s ongoing priorities and projects, upcoming deadlines, problem areas and risks. The federal government is a $4.5 trillion operation, and while the Biden team is not new to government, the access is critical, experts said.

This is all on hold for now, and it will stay on hold for as long as Trump is not conceding that Biden has won, at least until the Electoral College vote on Monday, Dec. 14

“Now that the election has been independently called for Joe Biden, we look forward to the GSA Administrator quickly ascertaining Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the President-elect and Vice President-elect,” a Biden transition spokesman said in an email. “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.”

As the campaign wound down, President Trump gave signals that he would not easily hand over the reins to his successor, if there even was one.  But for people who have been through them, a presidential transition is a massive undertaking requiring discipline, decision-making and fast learning under the smoothest circumstances. Each lost day puts the new government behind schedule.

“The transition process is fundamental to safely making sure the next team is ready to go on Day One,” said Max Stier, president and chief executive of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, which has set up a presidential transition center and shares advice with the Biden and Trump teams. “It’s critical that you have access to the agencies before you put your people in place.”

The Biden team can move forward to get preliminary security clearances and begin FBI background checks on potential nominees requiring Senate confirmation.

Another senior administration official who was again, not authorized to speak publicly, said each agency has drafted detailed transition plans for a new administration, but they will not be released to the Biden team until a winner is formally declared.

Trump has been resistant to participating in a transition, fearing it is a bad omen, but has allowed top aides to participate as long as the efforts do not become public, administration officials said. He is unlikely to concede he has lost or participate in traditional activities, the officials said.

In a call with administration officials, Mary Gibert, the head of the presidential transition team at the GSA, told colleagues the agency was in a holding pattern and not to host people from Biden teams until there is “ascertainment.” She gave no specific timeline on when it was expected.

The delay has already gummed up discussions on critical issues, including plans to distribute a possible coronavirus vaccine, this official said.

The GSA has been part of transition planning since the Presidential Transition Act was signed in 1963. Since then, the agency has identified the winner within hours or a day of media projections, and weeks before the results were made official by the Electoral College.

Chris Lu, who served as former president Barack Obama’s transition director in 2008, recalled that after Obama was declared the winner over the late senator John McCain on Nov. 4, he went to sleep to get up early the next morning to open the transition office. He missed the call from GSA’s acting administrator, Jim Williams, informing him that he had signed over transition resources to the Obama team.

“Jim made the call at 1 a.m.,” Lu said. “There was simply no controversy involved.”

Robert C. MacKichan Jr., an attorney who served as GSA general counsel for presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, said that because Trump is contesting the election and the electors have not yet voted, it’s too early for Murphy to make a call. “Once the administrator issues the letter, the funds can be spent and can’t be recouped.”

“I don’t think, at this point, I would feel comfortable making that determination now,” MacKichan said. “It’s premature".

MacKichan said he was confident Murphy would handle a difficult situation fairly. “As an attorney and as a procurement official, I think she has the highest standard of integrity,” he said.

Regardless of her integrity, it will be Trump’s decision to direct the GSA to not do anything that would be a sign that Trump is agreeing that Biden beat him in the election.

You can be guaranteed that Donald Trump will stay in the White House and will never ever agree that he lost the election.

Copyright G. Ater 2020