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WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) – President Donald Trump faces pressure to cooperate with President-elect Joe Biden’s team ensure a smooth transfer of power when the new administration takes office in January.
General service administration is responsible for formally recognizing Biden as president-elect, which begins the transition. But the administrator of the Trump-appointed agency, Emily Murphy, has not kicked off the process and has given no indication of when she will.
This lack of clarity is fueling the question of whether Trump, who has not publicly acknowledged Biden’s victory and falsely claimed the election was stolen, will embarrass Democrats as they attempt to establish a government.
There is little precedent in the modern era of a president erecting such obstacles for his successor. The stakes are particularly high this year, as Biden takes office amid a raging pandemic, which will require a comprehensive government response.
“The national security and economic interests of the United States depend on the federal government making a clear and timely signal that the United States government will respect the will of the American people and engage in a harmonious and peaceful transfer of power,” tweeted Jen Psaki, a Biden transition aide. Sunday.
The advisory board of the Non-Partisan Center for the Presidential Transition also urged the Trump administration to “immediately begin the post-election transition process and the Biden team to make full use of the resources available under the presidential transition law.” .
Biden, who was elected the 46th president on Saturday, is taking steps to build a government despite questions of whether Trump will offer traditional aid.
It focuses first on the virus, which has already killed nearly 240,000 people in the USA. Biden on Monday announced details of a task force that will create a plan to try to contain the pandemic he plans to start implementing after assuming the presidency on January 20.
Former Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy, Former Commissioner of the Food Drug Administration, Dr David Kessler and Dr Marcella Nunez-Smith, Associate Professor and Associate Dean at Yale University whose research focuses on promoting equality health care for marginalized populations, are its co-chairs.
“Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most important battles our administration will face, and I will be informed by science and by experts,” Biden said in a statement. “The advisory committee will help shape my approach to managing the outbreak of reported infections; ensure that vaccines are safe, effective and distributed efficiently, equitably and free of charge; and the protection of populations at risk. “
There are also 10 members, including two former Trump administration officials: Rick Bright, who said he was ousted. as head of the Advanced Biomedical Research and Development Authority after criticizing the federal government’s response to the coronavirus, and Luciana Borio, who until last year was a biodefense specialist at the National Security Council.
The remainder of the panel includes experts with expertise in a number of areas, including Eric Goosby, then President Barack Obama’s global AIDS coordinator.
Biden also launched Agency Review Teams, groups of transitional staff who have access to key agencies in the current administration. They will collect and review information such as budget and staffing decisions, pending regulations and other work in progress from Trump’s current administrative staff in departments to help Biden’s team prepare for the transition. .
But that process can’t begin fully until the GSA recognizes Biden as president-elect. The definition of what constitutes a clear winner of the elections for the GSA is legally obscure, making next steps unclear, especially in the short term.
GSA leadership is expected to act independently and non-partisan, and at least parts of the federal government have already started implementing transition plans. Aviation officials, for example, restricted the airspace over Biden’s lakeside home in Wilmington, Delaware, while the Secret Service began using agents from his service. presidential protection for the elected president and his family.
There were other signs that some leaders were preparing for a new administration.
Biden’s advisers said the president-elect and the transition team had been in contact with Republican lawmakers. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of Trump’s closest allies, opened a Cabinet meeting on Sunday by congratulating Biden, a former vice president and longtime senator.
“I have had a long and warm personal relationship with Joe Biden for almost 40 years, and I know him as a great friend of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said.
George W. Bush, the only living former Republican president, called Biden “a good man, who won his chance to lead and unify our country.”
But other Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, have urged Trump to continue pursuing election-related lawsuits, making a bumpy transition more likely.
Biden began his first full day as President-elect Sunday attending Church of St. Joseph on the Brandywine near his home in Wilmington, as he does almost every week. After the service, he visited the church cemetery where several members of his family were buried, including his son Beau.
In addition, he spent most of the day inside his home while some of his employees spent hours on a conference call focused on transition planning.
Those plans could also be based on two Senate races in Georgia that qualified for a runoff on Jan.5. If Republicans take those seats, they are likely to retain a Senate majority and be able to slow down confirmation of key Biden Cabinet choices and complicate his legislative goals, including sweeping calls to expand access to health care. and strengthen the post-pandemic economy with green jobs and infrastructure designed to fight climate change.
It could test Biden’s campaign commitment to transcend the divisions of the Trump era and rule in a bipartisan fashion.
While Biden’s aides acknowledged that it would be easier for him to push through his proposals with Democrats controlling the Senate, Stef Feldman, his campaign’s political director, said Biden has been known in the past to have worked with Republicans to advance legislation.
“The president-elect’s plan will remain that of the president-elect, regardless of the Senate majority candidate, and he will work with his colleagues across the way to make it happen,” she said.
In his victory speech on Saturday, he vowed to be a president who “does not seek to divide, but to unify” and called on Trump supporters to “give themselves a chance”.
Those close to Biden say he will navigate the period ahead harnessing his sense of empathy that has become a hallmark of his campaign. Biden has often spoken of the pain he felt after the death of his wife and young daughter in a car crash in 1972 and Beau’s death in 2015 from brain cancer.
“My brother knows how to feel,” said Valerie Biden Owens, Biden’s sister and longtime senior advisor. “Joe’s strength has been resilience and recovery and that’s what we need as a country.”
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Associated Press writer Zeke Miller in Washington and Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.
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