Trump's refusal to plan reforms could have serious consequences, the ruling party said

WASHINGTON (AP) – A right-wing group is warning of dire consequences if President-elect Donald Trump continues to back away from legal transition plans with the Biden administration – an inaction they say is already undermining the federal government's ability to provide security and inform incoming administrations.

Without planning, says Max Stier, president and CEO of the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, it's “impossible” to be “ready to govern on day one.”

The president-elect's transition is led by Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon, a former wrestling executive who led the Small Business Administration during Trump's first term. They said last month they expected to sign agreements that begin the formal transition process with the Biden White House and the General Services Administration, which acts as the federal government's landlord.

But those agreements have yet to be signed, and pressure is beginning to mount.

The delay has held up the federal government's ability to begin processing security clearances for hundreds of Trump's national security hires. That may limit employees who may work with sensitive information on Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.

It also means that Trump's nominees currently do not have access to government agencies, documents and personnel to prepare for the inauguration.

The agreements are required under the Presidential Transition Act, which was enacted in 2022. They mandate that the president-elect's team agree to an ethics program and limit and disclose private donations.

In that action, Congress set a deadline of September 1 for the GSA agreement and October 1 for the White House agreement, in an effort to ensure that the incoming administration is ready to govern when they take office. Both of these deadlines have long since come and gone.

Stier, whose organization works with candidates and those in transition, said in a call with the media on Friday that the new administration is “taking on the most difficult job in the world.”

“To do that successfully, they need to do a lot of work,” he said, adding that Trump's team “approached this, frankly, differently than any other transition before.”

“So far, they've gone through all the customs and, we believe, important agreements with the federal government,” Stier said.

In a statement this week, Lutnick and McMahon said Trump is “electing workers who will serve our country under his leadership and implement policies that make the lives of Americans accessible, safe and secure.” They did not talk about signing agreements to initiate this change. .

A person familiar with the matter said the ethics disclosure mandated by the convention and the donation limits were factors in the reluctance to sign the accords.

Trump's transition spokesman Brian Hughes said on Friday that “the team's attorneys continue to communicate with the attorneys of the Biden-Harris Administration regarding all the agreements proposed by the Presidential Transition Act.”

“We will let you know when a decision is made,” Hughes said.

The skepticism of the Trump group continued despite the fact that the chief of staff of the Biden White House, Jeff Zients, reached out to Lutnick and McMahon to reiterate the important role that the agreements with the administration of Biden and the GSA play at the beginning of the presidential transition.

“We are here to help. We want to change power peacefully,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “We want to make sure they have what they need.”

The unusual approach to the presidential transition process recalls the period immediately after Trump's 2016 Election Day victory. Days later, the president-elect fired the head of his reform party, the former Governor of New Jersey. Chris Christie, and threw out the revolutionary playbook he had. I have been compiling.

But Stier said, even then, Trump's team had signed preliminary agreements allowing the transition to begin — something that never happened this time around.

“The matter is not over yet. But it's too late,” he said. “And even if they were able to get these deals now, they're slow to do those.”