‘Standoff’: Trump Transition Still Has NO Access to Agencies His Nominees Will Lead Amid ‘Unprecedented’ Delay – Report
President-elect Donald Trump finished naming his appointees and nominees over the weekend, but those individuals and their teams still have no special access to the federal agencies that they’ll soon be running, amid an “unprecedented” delay in signing documents and agreements between the Trump team and the Biden administration, Politico reported on Sunday.
After Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Kennedy’s advisers reached out to the department multiple times to start coordinating but were rebuffed. This is due to the president-elect’s decision to not yet sign the standard trio of ethics and transparency agreements with the federal government.
The problem is reportedly the result of the incoming Trump administration and the outgoing Biden administration failing to reach an agreement amid apparent negotiations over the requirements in the documents. The “unprecedented” delay has put the transition behind the normal schedule and has some members of Congress concerned, according to the report.
Not only does the delay prevent policy advisers from contact beyond what is available to the general public at the federal agencies they will soon be running, but it also prevents staff from obtaining cybersecurity support or the secure email servers needed for sensitive or classified transition-related work, according to Politico.
Per Politico:
Watchdog groups, ethics experts and former government officials say the delay in coordination with federal agencies, which typically begins by mid-November, means the new administration won’t be up to speed on the state of the career workforce and budget and what headaches may await them when Trump takes the oath of office on Jan. 20. The failure thus far to sign the memorandums has also troubled Biden officials, who are particularly concerned about the potential national security implications.
Without the agreements in place, Trump’s team can’t access any non-public government data — depriving it of a full view of efforts the White House and federal agencies are taking to safeguard against a range of threats. That includes classified elements of the administration’s involvement in conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, and details of high-level conversations with allies. The stalemate has also left the Trump transition largely in the dark on threats closer to home that could quickly mushroom into crises, like the continued spread of avian flu.
The outlet noted that until the “standoff” between the Trump transition team and the White House is resolved, the president-elect’s cabinet nominees will not gain classified insight into the inner workings of the departments they’ve been tasked with leading.
