The General Services Administration has cleared the way for a formal transition to President-elect Joe Biden, whose team now has funding and an official office for the transition culminating in the Jan. 20 inauguration. Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris also will begin receiving regular national security briefings.
The decision coincided with Michigan certifying its results and Pennsylvania expected to follow suit later Monday night. The GSA action makes millions of dollars in transition capital available to Biden’s team.
“As the Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration, I have the ability under the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, as amended, to make certain post-election resources and services available to assist in the event of a presidential transition,” Emily Murphy, whose duty is to ascertain the election winner, said in a letter sent Monday to Biden.
“I take this role seriously and, because of recent developments involving legal challenges and certifications of election results, am transmitting this letter today to make those resources and services available to you,” she wrote.
Murphy, who had come under fire from Democrats accusing her of blocking the transition funds out of loyalty to Trump, denied those accusations in her letter. Monday’s news prompted more members of the GOP to move toward acceptance of the result.
“President Trump’s legal team has not presented evidence of the massive fraud. which would have had to be present to overturn the election,” Bill Cassidy, a Republican senator from Louisiana told reporters. “I voted for President Trump but Joe Biden won.”
Trump said he had directed his team to cooperate, but will keep fighting the election results.
In a tweet, he wrote that Murphy and her team should “do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same.”
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