Almost three weeks after Election Day, the Trump administration has finally formally approved to begin the transition progress to the incoming Biden-Harris administration. The announcement comes after Emily Murphy, the Trump-appointed head of the General Services Administration which leads transition, designated Joe Biden as the “apparent winner” of the 2020 election.
There is no doubt about the fact that President-Elect Joe Biden has won the 2020 election. All major news organizations, including Fox News, have called the race for over two weeks already. However, over the past few weeks, the president has filed lawsuit after lawsuit to try and overturn the election results, with the overwhelming majority of them being thrown out by the courts.
Before the transition to a new presidency can begin, the head of the General Services Administration (GSA), currently Emily Murphy, a Trump appointee, must sign the papers to begin ascertainment, the beginning of a transition process to a new administration. Murphy has held off signing the papers for a while now, to the outrage of Democrats, but on the evening Monday, Nov. 23, she finally did so.
This comes after Michigan formally certified its election results (even the most right-leaning partisan overwatch for the vote-certification board chose to abstain from voting rather than vote “no” to certify the results) for the President-Elect, a state which he won by over 154,000 votes. In addition, a major Trump lawsuit in Pennsylvania was dismissed by a judge.
By initiating the ascertainment process, it means that the federal government has officially recognized Joe Biden as the winner of the election. This allows Biden to begin making use of government data (including COVID-19 data) and contact federal agencies and officials, which will be particularly important with issues regarding national security, and vaccine distribution. It also allows them to spend $6.3 million available to help with the transition. One visible effect of the transition process beginning is that Joe Biden’s official campaign website, buildbackbetter.com, has now switched to an official, U.S. government domain at buildbackbetter.gov.
Even before the transition began, the incoming Biden administration has announced cabinet and top-level officials. For instance, Ron Klain has already been named the incoming White House Chief of Staff, while Antony Blinken is to be the Secretary of State and Janet Yellen is expected to be the Secretary of the Treasury.
The fact that the GSA has recognized Biden as the winner does not mean President Trump has conceded, though. The following tweet made not long after the GSA announcement, shows that the president still has every intention to continue the legal fight.
…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
However, the fact that his administration has now recognized Joe Biden as the next President of the United States is a major step forward in the 2020 election, and Joe Biden remains on track to be inaugurated as the 46th president at noon on January 20, 2021.
Check out the 2020 election coverage page for more.
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