The General Services Administration (GSA), the entity responsible for the federal transition process in the United States of America, informed Joe Biden that the Donald Trump administration is prepared to begin the formal transition process.
The news was advanced by CNN, who had access to a letter sent by the GSA administrator, Emily Murphy, to the President-elect earlier this month. Donald Trump confirmed with a post on the social network Twitter, where he says he “recommended Emily and her team” to do whatever “is necessary in relation to the initial protocols”. However, it ensures that the legal case to challenge the election results “remains strong” – and, as such, refuses to concede defeat to Joe Biden.
…fight, and I believe we will prevail! Nevertheless, in the best interest of our Country, I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 23, 2020
The GSA letter was sent after two of the most decisive states had certified Joe Biden’s victory. Last Friday, the Democrat was again declared the winner in Georgia after the state certified the results: he won with 2% more votes than Trump. On Saturday, Trump’s team of lawyers asked for a second recount of the votes. This Monday, the state of Michigan also gave the victory to Biden: it had 2.8% more votes and guaranteed all 16 electoral votes.
In a statement, the Biden-Harris transition team stated that Murphy officially declared Biden and elected vice president Kamala Harris as the “apparent winners of the election”, providing the new administration with the “necessary resources” for a “smooth and peaceful ”.
Today’s decision [segunda-feira] it is a necessary step to start facing the challenges that our country faces, including keeping the pandemic in check and getting our economy back to normal. This final decision is a definitive administrative action to formally start the transition process with the federal agencies ”, it reads.
The executive director of the Biden-Harris transition, Yohannes Abraham, also says “in the coming days” to obtain a “complete understanding of the Trump administration’s efforts to ’empty’ government agencies”.
This GSA decision “paves the way” for Biden to be able to access federal agencies and funds, so that he can begin to formally constitute the administration that will govern the country for the next four years. The inauguration is scheduled for January 20.
Despite giving instructions to his team to cooperate in the transition, Donald Trump promises to continue fighting to reverse the results, which he considers fraudulent since the first projections pointing to Biden’s victory were known. “Our case is still going strong, we will keep up the good fight and I believe we will prevail”, wrote on Twitter.
On Sunday, it was reported that lawyer Sidney Powell was removed from the Trump legal team, days after saying, without providing evidence, that the voting machines hired from the Dominion company and used in some states worked with a software created in due time under orders from Hugo Chávez.
A few hours after the initial announcement, Donald Trump again stressed that by making room for a transition he is not necessarily granting Joe Biden the victory – quite the contrary. “What does it have to do with allowing the GSA to do its preliminary work with the Democrats with continuing to pursue the various cases of what will go down in history as the most corrupt elections in American political history?” He wrote on Twitter.
“We continue to move forward with all our might. We will never compromise on fake newsletters and ‘Dominion’ ”, he added, referring to two frequent accusations of his campaign that, until now, suffer from evidence. For this reason, this tweet was marked with a note by Twitter, where it can be read “this statement about electoral fraud is the subject of dispute”.
What does GSA being allowed to preliminarily work with the Dems have to do with continuing to pursue our various cases on what will go down as the most corrupt election in American political history? We are moving full speed ahead. Will never concede to fake ballots & “Dominion”.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 24, 2020
Donald Trump’s decision, 16 days after Joe Biden was declared winner of the elections by media (which, since the end of the 19th century, because they have access to the numbers of votes, declare the winners of the elections before the official institutions, which will only be able to do so after the Electoral College votes in December), happened after several Republican voices, including some within the White House, urged him to take that step.
According to the Washington Post, that request was made by Jay Sekulow (Donald Trump’s personal lawyer), Pat Cipollone (from the White House team of lawyers) and his chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
No Senate, and only on Monday, four republicans joined those who had already urged the President to initiate the Transition process, all of whom are states that voted for Donald Trump in the November 3 presidential election: Rob Portman, from Ohio; Shelley Moore Capito, of West Virginia; Lamar Alexander, from Tennessee; Bill Cassidy, from Louisiana.
On Monday, journalist Carl Bernstein, co-author of the Watergate investigation, released a list of 21 Republican senators who “repeatedly expressed extreme contempt for Trump and his ability to be President of the United States.” In that list, Donald Trump included from more moderate Republican senators (like Susan Collins, from Maine) to those who more follow the President’s initiatives in his polls (like Rick Scott, from Florida).
Another voice that was raised, among those close to Donald Trump, was that of Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey. For this politician who was part of the President’s campaign in 2016 and who in 2020 came to prepare him for the debates against Joe Biden, he spoke in a “National embarrassment”.
“Listen, I have been a supporter of the President, I voted for him twice, but the elections have consequences, and we cannot continue to act here as if something had happened when it didn’t,” said Chris Christie.
Another ally of the President, the conservative radio commentary Rush Limbaugh, also expressed its displeasure this Monday, referring that the allegations of electoral fraud were not up to the expectations that Donald Trump’s team created around them.
“When you call a gigantic press conference like that, which lasts an hour, and authentic bombs are announced, it is good to have some bombs,” he said, referring to the November 8 press conference, led by Rudolph Giuliani , simultaneously with Joe Biden’s declaration of victory. “It would have been nice if this press conference had demonstrated more than what was given to us… I spoke to some people who were amazed by the nature of the press conference. Promise loud things and then nothing happened. And this is no good.”
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