GSA Trump Appointee Has Yet to Sign Transition Paperwork For Biden’s Team

It amounts to a formal declaration by the federal government, outside of the media, of the winner of the presidential race.

This election was different though; just 36 hours after the media projected Biden as the winner, GSA Administrator Emily Murphy had written up no such letter. And amidst Trump’s failure to concede the election, the Trump administration has no plans to sign one.

This could lead to a delay in the first transition in modern history, except in December 2000, when the Supreme Court decided a recount dispute between Al Gore and George W. Bush.

In an email, GSA spokeswoman Pamela Pennington said, “An ascertainment has not yet been made,” she said, “and its Administrator will continue to abide by and fulfill, all requirements under the law.”

Experts on federal transition were left wondering when the White House would expect the handoff from one administration to the next to begin when Trump has exhausted his legal avenues to fight the results or the formal vote of the electoral college on Dec. 14? As of Sunday, there are 74 days until the Biden inauguration on Jan. 20.

One anonymous senior administration official said, “No agency head is going to get out in front of the president on transition issues right now.” The official predicted that agency heads would be told not to talk to the Biden team.

The decision has turned attention to Murphy, whose four-year tenure has been marked by several controversies involving the president, an unusually high profile for an agency little known outside of Washington.

Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), who leads a House oversight panel on federal operations, said, “Her action now has to be condemned.” He added, “It’s behavior that is consistent with her subservience to wishes of the president himself, and it is clearly harmful to the orderly transition of power.”

The delay has implications, both practical and symbolic.

By declaring the “apparent winner” of a presidential election, the GSA administrator releases computer systems and money for salaries and administrative support for the undertaking of setting up a new government, which came to $9.9 million this year.

Transition officials get government email addresses, office space at every federal agency, and they can begin to work with the Office of Government Ethics to process financial disclosure and conflict-of-interest forms for their nominees. They also have access to senior officials, both political appointees of the outgoing administration and career civil servants.

The federal government is a $4.5 trillion operation. Experts say that though the Biden team is not new to government, the access is critical.

This is all on hold for now.

One of Biden’s transition spokesman said in an email, “Now that the election has been independently called for Joe Biden, we look forward to the GSA Administrator quickly ascertaining Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the President-elect and Vice President-elect.” He added, “America’s national security and economic interests depend on the federal government signaling clearly and swiftly that the United States government will respect the will of the American people and engage in a smooth and peaceful transfer of power.”

With campaigns coming to a close, Trump has shown signs that he would not easily hand over the reins to Biden. But for people who have been through them, a presidential transition that requires discipline, decision-making, and fast learning under the smoothest circumstances. Each day lost puts the new government behind schedule.

“The transition process is fundamental to safely make sure the next team is ready to go on Day One,” said Max Stier, president, and chief executive of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service. He said, “It’s critical that you have access to the agencies before you put your people in place.”

The Biden team can move forward to get preliminary security clearances and begin FBI background checks on potential nominees requiring Senate confirmation.

According to another senior administration official who was not authorized to speak publicly said each agency has drafted detailed transition plans for a new administration, but they will not be released to the Biden team until a winner is formally declared.

Offical’s say that Trump has been resistant to participating in a transition, claiming it is a bad omen but has allowed top aides to participate as long as the efforts do not become public. He is unlikely to concede he has lost or participate in traditional activities.

During a phone call with administrative officials, Mary Gibert, the head of the presidential transition team at the GSA, told colleagues the agency was in a holding pattern and not to host people from Biden teams until there is “ascertainment.” She gave no specific timeline on when it was expected.

Officials also say that the delay has already gummed up discussions on critical issues, which includes plans to distribute a possible coronavirus vaccine.

The GSA has been apart of the transition planning since the Presidential Transition Act was signed in 1963. Until now, the agency has identified the winner with hours or a day of media projections and weeks before the official results from the electoral college.

In 2008 Barack Obama’s transition director Chris Lu recalled that after Obama was declared the winner over late senator John McCain, he went to sleep to get up early the next morning to open the transition office. He missed the call from GSA’s acting administrator, Jim Williams, informing him that he had signed over transition resources to the Obama team.

Lu said, “Jim made the call at 1 a.m.,” adding that “There was simply no controversy involved.”

Robert C. MacKichan Jr., an attorney who served as GSA general counsel for presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, said that it’s too early for Murphy to make a call because Trump is contesting the election and the electors have not yet voted. Once the administrator issues the letter, the funds can be spent and can’t be recouped.

He said, “I don’t think, at this point, I would feel comfortable making that determination now,” adding that “It’s premature.”

MacKichan said he is confident that Murphy will handle the situation fairly, “As an attorney and as a procurement official, I think she has the highest standard of integrity.”

Former colleagues of Murphy say that she is a by the book person. They say that she is well-qualified and an expert on contracting with experience at both the agency, where she had previously served as chief acquisition officer, and on Capitol Hill, where she had been a staffer for multiple committees.

Since working for Trump, two issues of personal importance to Trump became almost constant sources of controversy for her: the lease his company holds with the agency for its D.C. hotel, located in the federally owned Old Post Office Pavilion, and the planned consolidation of the FBI headquarters.

Both projects have caused Murphy to defend Trump, and her actions have elicited criticism from the agency’s watchdog as well as from congressional Democrats.

Before Trump took office, the hotel’s lease was signed with the agency, and he had since resigned from his position with the company when he entered office. But he retained ownership of his business, allowing him to profit from the property while in office.

Many hearings were held by the Democrats so that they could get a better explanation of how the agency decided to allow Trump to keep the lease given that the Constitution bans presidents from accepting gifts or payments from foreign governments. Under Murphy, the GSA repeatedly declined to provide documents to House Democrats, including the monthly income statements it receives from Trump’s company.

The agency’s inspector general determined last year that the GSA “improperly” ignored concerns that allowed Trump’s company to keep the lease. GSA defended itself by saying that the investigation “found no undue influence, pressure, or unwarranted involvement of any kind by anyone.”