Associated Press, Reuters and other media reported on the 26th, president-elect Donald Trump nominated White House Office director Susan Wills said the same day, donald Trump’s transition team has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Biden administration that “Will allow Donald Trump to formally begin a transition of power”. The Associated Press said the Memorandum of Understanding, mandated by Congress, allowed the transition team to work with federal agencies and access non-public information, giving the green light to talk to people from both sides, “This is a key step in ensuring an orderly transfer of power on the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20 next year.”. The memo was supposed to have been signed earlier and the Biden administration had repeatedly pressed for it, publicly and privately. Despite the successful signing, Donald Trump’s team avoided signing an ethics affidavit in the memorandum of understanding and shelved agreements with the Justice Department and the General Services Administration. “It’s a break with tradition,” Reuters said
President Biden
The two lawyers held more than six meetings
America’s new President has a tradition of signing deals with his predecessors to smooth the transition of power. The Associated Press says this lays the foundation for the White House and government agencies to share ongoing plans, actions and threats with the transition team, it reduces the risk that Donald Trump’s team will take over the entire federal government without a current administration briefing or document. Susan Wills said: “This will allow us to begin key preparations for the expected cabinet nominees, including the deployment of ‘Landing Teams’ to each department and Agency.”
According to the New York Times, the landing team is made up of transitional officials Donald Trump has appointed for each agency. Donald Trump’s transition team said Biden administration officials would begin briefing the “Landing Team” as part of the agreement. Wills said members of the group would be “Brought directly into federal agencies and departments with access to documents and sharing policies”.
The White House confirmed the new development. According to the New York Times, Biden and his aides had repeatedly promised to instruct the entire government to work with Donald Trump’s team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition. Over the past two weeks, White House officials have expressed concern that the Donald Trump team has not yet signed the agreement. Under the Presidential Transition Act, the Executive Office of the President has no later than October 1 to Memorandum of understanding with the candidate team, the GSA and eligible candidates should sign memorandum of understanding relating to support services before 1 September. (CNN) — in the latest round of CNN from the Biden Administration on Nov. 13, Donald Trump and Wills said they were willing to move forward, according to people familiar with the matter. A week later, Wills met with White House Office Director Zincz to stress the importance of starting the transition briefing for national security and other continuity efforts. The Associated Press said lawyers from the two sides recently held more than six meetings to finalize the agreement.
“Self-sufficiency” during the transition
However, Donald Trump did not fully comply with the transitional provisions. According to Reuters, the Donald Trump transition team did not sign up for part of the Memorandum of Understanding on ethical commitments and said it had its own ethical plan that would “Meet the requirements of a seamless entry into the Donald Trump administration”. Under the terms of the agreement, the White House required the Donald Trump team to publicly disclose its ethical commitment to the transition team, indicating that the financial circumstances of the team members did not constitute a conflict of interest, only in this way can access non-public federal information.
Donald Trump’s transition team then published its ethics plan on the GSA website, these include“Promising that members will avoid conflicts of interest, protect confidential information, and disqualify themselves from any involvement if they have been involved in lobbying in the past 12 months”. Reuters said the document did not commit Donald Trump himself to avoiding conflicts of interest or to holding only “Non-conflict assets”. In 2019, Congress amended ethics laws to require presidential candidates to develop and publicly publish ethics plans before an election, the New York Times said. “This is partly due to ethical concerns during the first Donald Trump administration.”
In addition, Donald Trump’s transition team refused to sign an agreement with the General Services Administration. The agreement provides the transition team with secure office space, government e-mail accounts and other support, the New York Times reported. It will also mean the release of up to $7.2 million in government funds to help cover personnel and other costs and provide government office space. But at the same time, the agreement requires the president-elect to indicate who is contributing to the transition and to set a limit of $5,000.
Susan Wills said the refusal to sign the agreement with the general services administration was “Not to waste taxpayers’ money by using government offices.”. Donald Trump’s transition team further said it would go its own way and be “Self-sufficient”.
So far, Donald Trump has not publicly funded the backers of his transition. Susan Wills was quoted by the New York Times as saying she had pledged that the transition team would not accept donations from foreign countries.
Reported that the White House said the transition team does not accept office space and government technology, which means sharing information with them will be more difficult. However, officials say they are looking for other ways to share information, “This could include sending people to provide briefings, setting up reading rooms in secure institutional spaces, and officials who want to share unclassified electronic information may ask the transition team to prove that their technology meets government standards.”
Another deal between the Trump team and the Justice Department is also still being negotiated. The deal allows the FBI to conduct background checks on nominees, Reuters said. A White House official said progress had been made even though the Justice Department had not yet signed the agreement. “Once signed, it will clear the way for the transition team to access confidential information,” the Associated Press said.
Into the next phase
Wills said the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding was the next stage in Donald Trump’s transition to government, following his selection of cabinet members. CNN analysts say that if the memorandum of understanding is delayed, Donald Trump’s preparations to crack down on immigrants will be affected. Ice, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, recently tried to assess how much additional resources and funding would be needed to implement the Trump administration’s promises of mass detentions and deportations of immigrants. But in the absence of formal transition talks, ICE officials can only assess the next year based on publicly available information and statements, the sources said.
On the 26th, Donald Trump announced a series of appointments, including international trade lawyer Jemison Greer as Trade Representative and Kevin Hassert as director of the White House National Economic Council. According to CNN, Greer was Chief of staff to former Donald Trump Trade Representative Lahitte Heather and was involved in issues including tariffs and the signing of the -MEXICO-CANADA agreement. Hassert Donald Trump, an economist, said in a statement Thursday that Hassert would “Help American families recover from the inflation caused by the Biden administration.”.