The administration has been slow-walking the transition process as the president vows to fight the results.
(nbcnews) After weeks of delay, the head of the General Services Administration informed President-elect Joe Biden on Monday that the official governmental transition process has been approved.
GSA Administrator Emily Murphy said in a letter that Biden, whom she referred to as “the apparent president-elect,” is now able to access millions of dollars in federal funds and other resources to begin his transition to power. In her letter, Murphy also denied that she had been under pressure from the White House to delay the process.
“I have dedicated much of my adult life to public service, and I have always strived to do what is right,” she said. “Please know that I came to my decision independently, based on the law and available facts. I was never directly or indirectly pressured by any Executive Branch official—including those who work at the White House or GSA—with regard to the substance or timing of my decision.”
Trump in a pair of tweets vowed to continue his legal fight to contest the election results but said, “I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same.”
The transition process had been stalled for weeks as Trump’s team waged a sputtering legal battle across the country to contest the results, leaving Biden out of the loop on the Covid-19 vaccine and other key issues.
Biden, on the other hand, began the process of filling out his Cabinet and announcing other senior roles amid the delay. He also held briefings with former top government officials and formed his own Covid-19 task force.
In a statemen, Biden transition adviser Yohannes Abraham called the news “a needed step to begin tackling the challenges facing our nation, including getting the pandemic under control and our economy back on track.”
“This final decision is a definitive administrative action to formally begin the transition process with federal agencies,” he said. “In the days ahead, transition officials will begin meeting with federal officials to discuss the pandemic response, have a full accounting of our national security interests, and gain complete understanding of the Trump administration’s efforts to hollow out government agencies.”
In a statement later Monday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the GSA letter “probably the closest thing to a concession that President Trump could issue.”
“Let us all now – Democrats and Republicans, the Trump Administration and the incoming Biden Administration – unite together for a smooth and peaceful transition that will benefit America,” he said. “The nation faces multiple crises that demand an orderly transition, and I look forward to working with President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris to get things done to help the American people.”
