US president-elect Joe Biden yesterday began a new phase in his transition to the White House after US President Donald Trump’s administration gave the Democrat access to critical resources that would enable him to take the reins of power in January.
The General Services Administration’s (GSA) announcement on Monday that it would formally recognize Biden’s transition came after weeks of Trump falsely claiming that the Nov. 3 election had been marred by widespread voter fraud.
Trump, in a post on Twitter, offered support for the move.
Photo: AFP
Critics have said the president’s refusal to accept the results undermined US democracy and undercut the next administration’s ability to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Trump stopped short of conceding, it was the closest he has come to acknowledging that it is time to hand over power to Biden, who is to take office on Jan. 20.
The GSA announcement will allow the president-elect to access millions of dollars in funds and focus on putting together a leadership team.
It also paves the way for Biden and US vice president-elect Kamala Harris to receive regular national security briefings that Trump also gets.
Biden and Harris were yesterday expected to formally introduce their appointments to critical national security and foreign policy positions in Wilmington, Delaware.
Two Trump administration officials said the Biden agency review teams could begin interacting with Trump agency officials as soon as yesterday.
The Biden transition team said meetings would begin with federal officials on Washington’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, along with discussions of national security issues.
On Monday evening, Pentagon spokeswoman Sue Gough said that the US Department of Defense (DOD) had been contacted by the Biden-Harris team.
“DOD is prepared to provide post-election services and support in a professional, orderly and efficient manner that is befitting of the public’s expectation of the department and our commitment to national security,” Gough said.
While Trump on Monday said he backed GSA Administrator Emily Murphy’s decision, he and his advisers vowed to continue fighting the election results.
“Our case STRONGLY continues, we will keep up the good ... 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,” Trump said on Twitter.
Trump later said on Twitter that his team would move “full speed ahead” with challenging “what will go down as the most corrupt election in American political history,” adding that he would “never concede.”
Murphy’s decision to allow the formal transition followed weeks of failed legal efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the election in key battleground states.
Murphy, a Trump appointee, said she faced threats for not starting the transition earlier and told GSA employees in a letter that the decision to do so was hers alone.
Additional reporting by AP
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
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