The Trump Administration Finally Clears Way For Biden Transition To Begin. “I have always strived to do what is right,” GSA Administrator Emily Murphy.
WASHINGTON D.C. (Times Media Mexico) – GSA administrator Emily Murphy said Monday she would allow President-elect Joe Biden to begin his official transition, paving the way for his team to access briefings, office space, secure computers, and other government services needed for the transfer of power.
This gesture marks a formal recognition by Donald Trump’s administration that Biden won the Nov. 3 election, even though Trump has refused to concede and continues to make baseless allegations of voter fraud.
Emily Murphy, the current head of the General Services Administration, is the person in charge of the transition’s apparatus. Funds and tools.
Murphy’s letter to Biden came hours after Michigan’s four-member elections board voted to certify Biden’s win in that state by 154,187 votes. And on Friday, Georgia’s Republican governor certified his state’s results after a hand recount, which ended with Biden ahead of Trump by about 12,000 votes. Biden earned 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232, with 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency.
On Twitter, Trump said he gave the green-light to Murphy’s decision because it was in the “best interest of our country” still, Trump said he would continue contesting the results.
In recent days, multiple national security officials, business leaders, and even Republicans in Congress said the Trump administration’s delay in allowing the transition to begin posed a threat to U.S. national security.
Biden’s transition team has celebrated the move, calling it the “final decision” and a “definitive action” needed for an orderly transfer of power. “Today’s decision is a needed step to begin tackling the challenges facing our nation, including getting the pandemic under control and our economy back on track,” said Yohannes Abraham, executive director of the Biden-Harris transition team.
Abraham said Biden transition officials would begin meeting with the leaders of key federal agencies in the coming days to discuss the pandemic response, get an accounting of U.S. national security interests, and “gain a complete understanding of the Trump administration’s efforts to hollow out government agencies.”
Meanwhile, Trump portrayed it as a minor step. “Our case STRONGLY continues, we will keep up the good fight, and I believe we will prevail!” he wrote on Twitter. “Nevertheless, in the best interest of our Country, I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done concerning initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same.”
Still, there’s little question that Murphy’s written determination undermines Trump’s protests that the election was unfair and that Biden’s win is not legitimate.
Her formal announcement will release more than $6 million to the Biden transition team, which it can use to hire staff, pay for travel, and cover other expenses. Perhaps more importantly, Biden’s team will now automatically have access to briefings from critical federal agencies, including information on the COVID-19 response and the plans for a vaccine rollout.
The amount of work involved in a typical hand-over is monumental and will be even greater now, as the country grapples with the COVID pandemic and the economic crisis. Biden and his team need to get up to speed on national security threats, prepare a more than $4 trillion budget, and fill more than 4,000 political positions across dozens of federal agencies.
The GSA, which manages federal buildings and leases, plays a crucial role in ensuring a smooth transition from one president to the next. Murphy has said Trump did not pressure her to hold back the formal ascertainment. “Please know that I came to my decision independently, based on the law and available facts,” Murphy wrote in a letter to Biden. “I was never directly or indirectly pressured by any Executive Branch official – including those who work at the White House or GSA – concerning the substance or timing of my decision.”
Murphy has stated she has received threats online, by phone, and by mail directed at her safety, family, staff, and pets to coerce her to make this determination prematurely. “Even in the face of thousands of threats, I always remained committed to upholding the law.” She said.
