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Joe Biden in Wilmington, Delaware on Monday.
Photographer: Mark Makela / Getty Images
Photographer: Mark Makela / Getty Images
The General Service Administration recognized Joe Biden as the apparent winner in the presidential election on Monday, after weeks of inaction, and President Donald Trump called on his agencies and departments to cooperate.
“I recommend that Emily and her team do what needs to be done regarding the initial protocols and have told my team to do the same,” Trump said of Emily Murphy, the chief administration. general services. Still, he said he would continue to challenge the outcome of the election.
The designation triggers a formal transition process, giving Biden and his team access to current agency officials, briefing books, some $ 6 million in funding and other government resources.
“Due to recent developments involving legal challenges and certifications of election results, I have decided that you can access the post-election resources and services described in section 3 of the law upon request,” Murphy said in a statement. letter to Biden, citing the president’s 1963 Transition Act.
Photographer: Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call / Getty Images
The announcement is a “necessary step” to “bring the pandemic under control and get our economy back on track,” said Yohannes Abraham, executive director of the Biden-Harris transition, in an emailed statement. “In the coming days, transition officials will begin meeting with federal officials to discuss the pandemic response, get a full account of our national security interests, and gain a full understanding of the efforts of the Trump administration to hollow out government agencies.
For weeks, Biden’s transition team instead worked informally to set up a new administration, including assembling a coronavirus task force and consulting with public health officials outside of the federal government, emulating the approach taken by former Vice President Dick Cheney in the contested 2000 election.
Previously: GSA chief rejects Democrats’ request for transition briefing
Blocked from interacting with federal agencies, Biden staff instead sought out other experts from academia, state governments and Capitol Hill.
The biggest change now is that Biden’s transition team will be able to flood federal agencies with officials focused on preparing the way for his administration. They will have access to agency staff and to the briefing books collected earlier this year.
Fortunately, career federal officials have done a remarkable job preparing for this year’s transition by producing factual information on critical agency issues and appointing interim officials who will lead the agency’s operations through to that the new political appointments be confirmed, ”said David Marchick, director of the Center for the Presidential Transition. “They now need space to do their jobs.”
Trump praised the GSA administrator on Twitter. “I want to thank Emily Murphy of GSA for her unwavering dedication and loyalty to our country. She’s been harassed, threatened and abused – and I don’t want that to happen to her, her family or the GSA employees. Our case continues STRONG, ”he wrote.
Murphy, in the letter, which was reported earlier by CNN, told Biden that she had received “ theatrical threats online, by phone, and by mail to my security, family, staff. and even to my pets in an attempt to force me to make this decision prematurely.
She added that she was not “directly or indirectly pushed by an executive branch official” to make a decision on the presidential transition or take place.
– With help from Jennifer Epstein, Todd Shields and Jordan Fabian
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