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WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s campaign on Sunday (Nov. 8) urged Trump’s political appointee who heads the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to approve an official transition of power despite President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede.
Biden’s campaign warned that the national security and economic interests of the United States depended on a clear signal that the country would engage in a “quiet and peaceful transfer of power.”
Biden was declared the winner of the November 3 election by US television networks on Saturday, but Trump and his allies made it clear that they do not plan to budge anytime soon.
GSA Administrator Emily Murphy, appointed to the job by Trump in 2017, has yet to determine that “a winner is clear,” a spokeswoman said, delaying Biden’s team’s access to millions of dollars in federal funding and the ability to meet with officials. in intelligence agencies and other departments.
The spokeswoman declined to say when a decision could be made.
US Representative Gerry Connolly, who heads the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Government Operations, said Ms. Murphy should begin the process without delay.
“The Administrator plays a critical role in the peaceful transfer of power and in ensuring that vital government services are not disrupted. This is even more important in the midst of a deadly pandemic,” he said.
The United States has seen other narrowly decided elections, most notably in 1876 and 2000, but this election “was not historically close,” said William Antholis, a former White House official during the administration of Democrat Bill Clinton, who now directs the Miller Center at the University of Virginia. think tank.
Trump has little chance of getting tens of thousands of votes through recount, Antholis said.
Legal experts said the cases brought by the Trump campaign are unlikely to change the outcome of the election.
Biden’s transition team already has access to federal office space at the Commerce Department, as guaranteed by the Presidential Transitions Act, but cannot access funds for salaries, consultants and travel until the GSA acts, said Martha Joynt. Kumar, director of the White House. Transition project and author of a 2015 book on previous transitions.
Biden’s campaign has raised some funds for that purpose and gave a boost to the transition process given the former vice president’s long experience in government, he said.
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