The transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden can officially begin. That writes the head of the American government service General Services Administration in a letter.
President Trump has also officially given the green light, he reports on Twitter. He has instructed his team to assist in the transfer of power to Joe Biden. In the meantime, he vows to keep fighting for his election victory. The lawsuits continue.
With the commitment of Trump and the GSA, Biden will gain access to government agencies. For example, he can start filling some 4000 vacancies and coordinate the plans that will take effect from 20 January, the day of the transfer of power. The necessary government money for the transition is now also being released, despite both Trump and the GSA nowhere confirming that Biden has won the presidential election.
Don’t undermine
The latter is remarkable, says correspondent Marieke de Vries. “Now the transfer is started without acknowledging that Biden has won. Trump is doing so because he does not want to undermine ongoing lawsuits. In addition, he wants to show his supporters that he continues to fight for them.”
The November 3 US presidential election was won by Biden, but Trump has so far refused to cooperate in the transfer of power. In the aftermath, he raised several times in recent weeks that there was fraud in the elections, but he did not provide any concrete evidence. Authorities call these elections the safest election in the history of the United States.
Joe Biden has been politically active in the United States for nearly half a century. First as a senator since the 1970s and later as vice president under President Obama:
Despite this, there is still no official election winner. The head of the GSA does not mention this in the letter addressed to Biden either. Trump-appointed Emily Murphy writes that “due to recent developments surrounding lawsuits and the certification of election results, she is sending this letter today to make these resources and services available to you.”
“Implicitly she says that the lawsuits that Trump has brought to nothing,” says De Vries. “Meanwhile, in more and more states, Biden is being nominated as the election winner by mixed committees of electoral votes from both parties. Therefore, she now has no choice but to give the green light to the transition.”
Commenting, Yohannes Abraham, in charge of the transition in the Biden camp, said that a “necessary step has been taken to address the challenges our country is facing”. Those challenges include the corona pandemic and “getting the economy back on track”.