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Agency officials in the Trump administration in charge of the transition are in the awkward place of playing effectively until the General Services Administration, an agency led by a Trump appointee, approves the election results, a process that is not normally the case. a problem.
A division of the Department of Energy is beginning to quietly prepare for the incoming Biden administration even though an official connection has not been established, according to a department staff member.
“We got a call yesterday and we talked a lot about this, and the direction we got was to wait for a transition, start planning for it, think about the things that the Biden team would probably want to see and start going through those documents and start thinking about how. we frame our programs and our work in a way that is attractive to the Biden administration, “the staff member told CNN.
The staff member clarified that this guide did not come from Trump appointees, but professional staff, and was purposely delivered in the form of a phone call and not a memo, so as not to have a paper trail.
“This is not the address of the current political appointees of the Trump administration, it is basically staff below the political level,” the staff member said.
State Department officials are increasingly anxious and frustrated as they are being prevented from interacting with Biden’s transition team. “It’s frustrating on the one hand, but on the other it also hurts morale in the department,” said a current official familiar with the hiatus that has been put in place.
The preparations that career diplomats make, as required by law, are already done. Office spaces for the transition teams, both the Department of State career officials assigned to work by the department and Biden’s State Department team, are vacant.
“They have done everything they can. Now they just wait,” said a source familiar with the process.
While department officials realize they have no choice but to remain patient, recognizing that they will eventually get to work with the incoming team, they also believe that the department needs a tremendous amount of attention and would like the Biden will enter as soon as possible. possible.
“I’m worried they are going to open the hood, and it’s going to be a lot worse than they expected,” said a second State Department official.
A Treasury staff member said the Treasury Department has been “running a standard transition process,” which began a month before the election. That process is ongoing, the source said, though there has been no communication yet regarding the landing crews of Biden’s transition.
Within the Department of Homeland Security, Mark Koumans, a veteran DHS official who is leading the transition effort for the department, recently reminded staff that until there is a statement certifying the election, staff should refrain from speaking directly to members. from Biden’s team and continue through the department’s transition office, a department official told CNN.
Democratic congressional aides who deal regularly with the agencies say their contacts have remained silent since the election, and one suspects they are concerned about losing their jobs or being the target of a leak search, particularly after the chief of Administration staff spread the word throughout the administration on Monday. that if he found out about someone looking for another job he would be fired, according to a senior official.
“The silence is still deafening,” said a DHS official when asked about the extent of leadership in the transition. The department appears to be in a “wait and see” mode, the official added, saying that any transactions with Biden’s team prior to official certification appear “unlikely at this time.”
Falsely suggesting a second Trump term
While Congressional Republicans are catching on to the fact that Biden won, some of Trump’s cabinet officials have remained loyal to his false claims, suggesting there will be a second Trump term.
“Obviously, if there is a transition here, we will make sure it is professional and cooperative,” Azar said.
The White House budget office is even directing agencies to prepare a budget for next year as if nothing is changing, according to a person familiar with the plans. Another person said that while there has not been a formal memorandum explaining this, the message to the agencies is to proceed normally.
The formal transition is likely to remain on hold until the election is certified by the General Services Administration in a process known as verification. That decision is made by GSA administrator Emily Murphy, appointed by Trump.
Congressional Democrats wrote to Murphy earlier this week requesting a briefing and saying he was “undermining the urgent need for a swift and effective transition of power amid a global pandemic that must focus on the safety and well-being of our citizens. “
Some Republicans have joined in his defense. Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia, the top Republican on the House Government Operations Subcommittee, wrote Murphy a letter on Friday saying it was premature to make a determination that Biden is president-elect.
Transition without a formal transition
“We are not interested in having a food fight with the GSA administrator or anyone. We just want access to intelligence information, threat assessments, ongoing work on Covid, so that we can prepare to rule. “Biden said. spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Friday.
But the delay has tangible effects.
Typically, an elected president would immediately begin receiving the same classified reports as the president. But so far those briefings haven’t happened for Biden, as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has not engaged with Biden’s team.
“Not only are they not getting access to classified information or funds already allocated, they are not getting their review teams into agencies, or getting the real picture of the budget in the agencies and the real picture of the staff,” Denis McDonough said. who was President Barack Obama’s chief of staff.
‘The next best thing’
Michael Chertoff, who served as Homeland Security Secretary under George W. Bush and helped transition the department into the Obama administration, said the department had run a simulation of what to do if a pandemic occurs, “to They could really get a feel for how things work on the government levers. “
“Much of the history of this past administration and the next few months is a disdain for how the government works,” Chertoff said. “It’s almost like a determination that they want to bankrupt the government and make it as difficult as possible for the government to do its job. The problem is that it leaves a lot of people dead, as we have seen with the virus.”
Since the firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper by Trump on Monday, Biden’s transition team is reaching out to former Pentagon officials who worked for former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis as they seek to gather information for an incoming Biden team, according to two. Former officials who have been contacted. by the transition team.
The talks are the result of the inability to interact with current Pentagon officials at this time, the sources told CNN. They come in an effort to develop the transition team’s understanding of what has happened in the department over the past four years. Politico first reported on the communications.
Biden’s team is also aware that even when they can speak to current defense officials after the General Services Administration approves Biden’s victory, those officials may not be eager to participate or be as forthcoming as those who they are already gone.
Communicating with former officials, explained one of the former officials, is “the best alternative.”
CNN’s Annie Grayer, Kylie Atwood, Vivian Salama, Ellie Kaufman, Gregory Wallace, Betsy Klein, Geneva Sands, Priscilla Alvarez, Kevin Liptak, Sarah Westwood, Jim Sciutto, Zachary Cohen, Alex Marquardt and Sarah Mucha contributed to this report.
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