GSA permits Presidential Transition to Biden’s administration

In a letter sent by the administrator of GSA (General Services Administration) – Emily Murphy – the Biden administration has been informed that Trump’s team is ready for formal transition procedures last Monday night. This has come after two long weeks of waiting as Donald Trump and his team (including some GOP members who ended up backing him even if the most reasonable ones remained rational) refused to acknowledge Biden’s victory because of a fraud they have so far failed to prove.

In the letter, Emily Murphy clarified that she 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 her decision. As a reminder, the administrator refused such task for weeks because this necessary decision should have been taken long ago. “To be clear, I did not receive any direction to delay my determination.” She wrote. Despite having denied pressure, Donald Trump has it otherwise on his twitter account as he pretended (again) that she has been harassed, threatened, and abused – and he does not want to see this happen to her, her family, or employees of GSA. “Nevertheless, in the best interest of our Country, 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 president wrote in the same tweet.

The administrator clearly had in mind the Presidential Transition Act of 1963 – which empowers the GSA to provide transition resources to the president-elect, which it defines as the “apparent successful candidate” – claiming it “provides no procedures or standards for this process” and urging Congress to amend it. This decision should make $6.3 million set aside for the transition available to Biden along with $1 million for appointee orientation although the transition team is required to report their spending to the GSA. Without this, the Biden administration would in fact have to fund the transition on its own if the GSA remained silent because the clock was ticking faster every day. Thankfully, the transition should now be smoother and a more peaceful transfer of power so the nation could start the process of economic recovery and engage in a more responsible battle against the Covid-19 pandemic as a statement released by the Biden administration has noted after the letter.

Even after this vital decision which Donald Trump seems to accept, he still doesn’t want to let go of his eternal war against a fraud that he has failed to prove. On his Twitter thread, the president wrote that “Our case STRONGLY continues, we will keep up the good fight, and I believe we will prevail!” It’s no longer clear what the president has in mind at this stage since everything he came up with so far happened to not be enough to provide evidence of an electoral fraud. Besides, this behaviour is likely going to harden the transition and intensify tensions between republican supporters and their democrat counterparts. Joe Biden has since day one promised to be a president for all Americans even those who did not vote for him. Such task is not going to be easy if there are parts of the population who object the legitimation of his presidency.