WASHINGTON (AP) — A good governance group is warning of serious consequences if President-elect Donald Trump continues to avoid any formal planning for a transition with the Biden administration — an inaction that it says is already limiting the capacity of the federal government to provide security clearances and briefings to the new administration.
Without this planning, says Max Stier, president and CEO of the nonprofit Public Service Partnership, “it would not be possible” to “be ready to govern from day one.”
The president-elect’s transition is being led by Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, and Linda McMahon, a former wrestling industry executive who led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term. They said last month they planned to sign agreements beginning the formal transition process with the Biden White House and the General Services Administration, which essentially acts as the federal government’s landlord.
But these agreements have still not been signed and the pressure is starting to mount.
The delay is preventing the federal government from beginning to process security clearances for hundreds of potential Trump administration national security appointees. This could limit staff who might work on sensitive information between now and Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.
It also means that Trump appointees cannot yet access federal facilities, documents and personnel to prepare for taking office.
These agreements are required by the presidential transition law, enacted in 2022. They require the president-elect’s team to agree to an ethics plan and limit and disclose private donations.
In this law, Congress set September 1 for the GSA agreement and October 1 for the White House agreement, in an effort to ensure that new administrations are ready to govern when they take office . Both deadlines have long passed.
Stier, whose organization works with candidates and incumbents on transitions, said on a call with reporters Friday that a new administration “comes in with the responsibility of taking charge of the most complex operation in the planet”.
“To do this effectively, they absolutely have to have done a lot of work up front,” he said, adding that Trump’s team “has frankly approached this in a different way than any other transition before.” .
“So far, they have overstepped all traditions and, in our opinion, essential agreements with the federal government,” Stier said.
In a statement released this week, Lutnick and McMahon said Trump was “selecting personnel to serve our nation under his leadership and enact policies that make American lives affordable, safe and secure.” They did not mention signing any agreements to begin the transition. .
A person familiar with the matter said ethics disclosures and contribution limits imposed by Congress were factors in the hesitancy to sign the deals.
Trump transition spokesperson Brian Hughes said Friday that “the team’s attorneys continue to collaborate constructively with Biden-Harris administration attorneys on all agreements contemplated by the transition law presidential”.
“We will keep you updated once a decision is made,” Hughes said.
The Trump team’s reluctance persisted despite Biden’s White House chief of staff, Jeff Zients, reaching out to Lutnick and McMahon to reiterate the important role the agreements with the Biden administration and the GSA play in the start of a presidential transition.
“We are here to help you. We want a peaceful transition of power,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “We want to make sure they have what they need.”
The unorthodox approach to the presidential transition process is reminiscent of the period immediately following Trump’s Election Day victory in 2016. Days later, the president-elect fired the head of his transition team, former governor of New Jersey’s Chris Christie, and threw out a transition manual he had adopted. I had compiled.
But Stier said that even then, Trump’s team signed the initial agreements that allowed the transition to begin — which didn’t happen this time.
“The story is not over. But they’re late,” he said. “And even if they manage to get these deals done now, they’re late in getting them done.”
