Formal Transition of US Power To Biden Begins After Lengthy Delay
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden focused on building his incoming administration and offered a message of healing on Tuesday as his transition team began contacting federal agencies to prepare for a handover of power in…
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden focused on building his incoming administration and offered a message of healing on Tuesday as his transition team began contacting federal agencies to prepare for a handover of power in January from President Donald Trump.
The Democratic former vice president has been moving swiftly to assemble his team and make Cabinet choices after defeating the Republican incumbent in the Nov. 3 election. Trump has waged a flailing legal battle to try to overturn the results, falsely claiming that the election was stolen from him.
“The election is over. It’s time to put aside the partisanship and the rhetoric designed to demonize one another. We have to come together,” Biden, due to office on Jan. 20, said on Twitter on Tuesday.
Trump has said he will never concede the election but after weeks of limbo his administration on Monday finally gave the green light for the formal transfer of power to begin. That process had been held up despite Biden emerging as the clear winner and world leaders recognizing him as the next president.
Monday’s announcement meant the Biden team qualifies for $6.3 million in funds and among other things can officially coordinate with the 17 agencies that are part of U.S. intelligence gathering, according to the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service.
The Biden team also gets access to federal office space, secure facilities for intelligence briefings and the succession plans for executive agencies. In addition, the State Department typically supports a transition team’s discussions with foreign leaders.
One of the first departments that Biden’s team reached out to was the Pentagon, underscoring the importance of emphasizing national security during the transition. Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Nov. 9.
In a small but symbolic move hours after the transition announcement on Monday night, Biden opened a “.gov” website available only to government agencies for his transition, launching buildbackbetter.gov.