CNN
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Former President Donald Trump’s team has exceeded two key presidential transition deadlines, breaking precedent that could have long-term national security implications.
With more than 100 days left until the new president is inaugurated and less than a month until election day, delays in planning the transition could pose challenges to a peaceful transition of power.
In an environment of extreme polarization and mistrust, Max Stier, president and CEO of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, said transition efforts “carry real risks. “optional,” he sternly warned.
“We need to engage, but if we don’t, we’re really putting our country at risk,” he said, referring to the Trump campaign, which has not yet entered into a formal transition agreement with the federal government. .
The next president will face major domestic and international challenges, including the aftermath of a devastating hurricane season, escalating conflict in the Middle East, and economic instability. The purpose of a presidential transition is to ensure that the new leadership is able to hit the ground running from day one.
“A smooth transition increases the likelihood of a smooth presidential inauguration,” said Chris Lu, former President Barack Obama’s executive director of transition in 2008.
Led by the White House Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration, transition planning began before Republicans and Democrats had chosen their 2024 candidates, despite Democrats deciding to make last-minute changes.
Representatives from Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump’s team have met separately with representatives from the Biden administration in recent weeks ahead of two deadlines to begin the process. The Trump transition team will be chaired by Linda McMahon, who led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term, and Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick. Harris selected the same person who led the process for President Joe Biden, Johannes Abraham, a former ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations based in Indonesia.
By September 1, both sides were expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with the GSA granting access to office space, communications, equipment, and IT support. The campaign is also expected to submit ethics plans and identify the first people who will need security clearances to begin receiving classified information during the transition.
“To date, GSA has entered into an MOU with the Harris Transition Team outlining space and service terms and stands ready to provide services to the Trump Transition Team once the MOU is signed and services are accepted.” said a GSA spokesperson.
The Harris team also submitted an ethics plan. The Trump team isn’t doing that.
“Much of what they need to prepare to run our government depends on having access to the information and resources that depend on that memorandum,” Stier said, adding that “the clock is ticking. “And that’s what they want,” he added. I don’t understand. ”
After the article was published, Trump and Vance’s 2025 co-chairs responded with a statement. “Trump and Vance’s transition contract lawyers are working constructively with the Biden and Harris administration’s contract lawyers to implement all agreements contemplated by the Presidential Transition Act,” Lutnick and McMahon wrote. We continue to be involved.” “Any suggestion to the contrary is false and intentionally misleading. Meanwhile, all transition staff have signed a robust ethics pledge as a requirement for participation. I look forward to signing.”
A White House spokesperson told CNN that the federal transition coordinator is “actively working” with the former president’s transition team to finalize a memorandum of understanding.
By October 1, the Harris and Trump campaigns were expected to sign another memorandum of understanding with the White House detailing terms of access to government agencies, including personnel, facilities and documents.
The Harris campaign and the White House signed a memorandum of understanding shortly after the October 1 deadline. President Trump’s transition effort has not yet been signed, but Steyer indicated that talks are ongoing.
But the delay is a sharp departure from how Trump’s team approached the transition in 2016, when former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie began leading the transition in May. Days after Election Day, Mr. Trump appointed Vice President-elect Mike Pence to replace Mr. Christie, but by then Mr. Christie was already working with the Obama administration to develop a blueprint with landing teams from federal departments. He was laying important groundwork for Mr. Trump.
The Biden administration began preparing for this transition in 2023, beginning with the appointment of a federal transition coordinator who will serve as the primary liaison between candidates and the eventual president-elect. Activity picked up in early 2024, and in April OMB issued a memo to each federal agency specifying what to do.
The Council of Agency Transition Directors, co-chaired by OMB Deputy Director Jason Miller and GSA Federal Transition Coordinator Amy Whiteman, has begun monthly meetings with career representatives from each agency.
While more than 2 million career bureaucrats typically move from administration to administration, political appointees (approximately 4,000) serve under a single president, resigning when a new administration takes office, but remaining in office if requested. Also possible by a new team.
All government agencies were required to identify succession plans for all senior political officials by September 15. Additionally, each government agency has until November 1st to prepare final briefing materials for the next president’s team.
The purpose of these briefing materials is to explain what the next administration faces, what the problems are, what the administration has done to address them, and where we think its priorities should be in the future. “This will help inform the next administration of the current situation.” Valerie Boyd, director of the Partnership for Public Service Presidential Transition Center;
These materials focus less on policy and more on topics such as organizational structure, logistical information, budget processes and the allocation of political appointees. A senior administration official told CNN that the memo and briefing materials will serve as a “useful guide” to help organize the expected dialogue between the Biden administration and the incoming transition team.
Organizations like Stier’s have worked in recent years to institutionalize the transition process, but partisan anxiety looms large over how or whether such briefing materials will be used by future administrations. Questions have arisen.
Several Biden candidates who also served in the Obama administration have suggested that the experience of preparing for the 2016 transition provided both memories and lessons. Hours spent preparing memos and briefings could be paid for by an incoming administration that doesn’t want or need it.
“We waited for the call (from the Trump team), we waited for people to show up, and they never came. They never got our memo,” he said of both Biden and Obama. A senior official who served under him said: The person said the Trump campaign “hasn’t given any indication that they want to take advantage of what we’ve given them.”
In a scenario where Harris wins the election, much of the current administration’s institutional knowledge would remain in place, just as it was when Obama was re-elected in 2012.
“Right now, we’re in a bit of a strange situation where one side may not want a press conference. This is a friendly takeover, so the other side doesn’t actually need a briefing,” said former Democratic Party of Japan transition official. told CNN.
Every election cycle has its idiosyncrasies, and Democratic operatives point to 2008 as the last time a transition looked easy. Sources said the material was prepared as the Bush administration held a joint press conference with the Obama and John McCain campaigns and sought to continue relief programs the Obama administration assembled to stem the effects of the Great Recession. Not only that, but it was also fully utilized.
“We were facing rising unemployment and crises in the housing, financial and auto industries,” said Mr. Lu, Obama’s 2008 transition director. “Our first priority was to develop a comprehensive recovery plan that would allow us to begin stabilizing the economy once we took office.”
In 2020, Biden’s team implemented a pandemic-era transition plan almost entirely remotely. But Trump’s team has relied on a little-known process known as “verification” to significantly delay the incoming administration’s access to press conferences and other resources, and Biden officials say it is a key This is affecting the ability to obtain information on national security matters.
In 2000, when the Supreme Court was awaiting a recount in Florida, neither George W. Bush’s nor Al Gore’s team participated in the transition, but the 9/11 Commission report It was determined that it contributed to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Congress enacted amendments to the Presidential Transition Act in 2022 to address this issue, shifting some responsibilities away from GSA.
The revised law formally opens access to federal agencies to multiple qualified candidates if the election results are not known for five days, a move that both Trump and Harris teams have used to support transition efforts. It means to participate.
“Federal agencies must be prepared to provide equal access to information to the two candidate teams if the results of the Nov. 10 election are uncertain,” Boyd said.
Trump and Harris’ plan
President Trump also laid out plans to enact sweeping reforms, including converting thousands of career federal employees to politically appointed positions, CNN reported. Policy experts have warned that federal employees could be fired unless they prioritize loyalty to President Trump over serving the public interest.
These experts argue that such measures would hollow out and politicize the federal workforce, displacing many of its most experienced and knowledgeable employees, and opening the door to corruption and a spoils of political patronage system. It warns that it will happen.
One of the key questions facing Harris if she wins is whether and how she intends to use existing political appointees from the Biden administration, including Cabinet members. .
“There are several strong reasons why continuity would help her, including that any Senate-confirmed government and leadership in the Biden administration would need to be reconfirmed for the position in a potential Harris administration.” “Including the fact that there isn’t one,” Steer said.
That could be an advantage for Ms. Harris, given that the Senate is expected to be narrowly contested.
Three people familiar with the vice president’s plans said the vice president’s transition organization does not make personnel decisions before the election, and the composition of the Senate will have a significant impact on who the vice president chooses for specific roles. approved to give.
Harris has so far pledged to appoint Republicans to her cabinet.
This article has been updated with a statement from the Trump-Vance 2025 Co-Chairs.
