Pentagon to begin providing support for power transition plan ‘immediately’ as Biden gets access to briefings & funding
The US Department of Defense said it would begin working with the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris transition team to facilitate a transfer of power after the General Services Administration gave a green light to initiate the process.
“The Department has received notice that pursuant to the Presidential Transition Act, the GSA Administrator is making certain post-election resources and services available to the Biden-Harris Transition Team,” Pentagon spokesperson Sue Gough said in a statement on Monday night, adding that the agency would start supporting the administration handoff “immediately.”
The DoD Transition Task Force will arrange and coordinate all DoD contact with the Biden-Harris team.
“This evening, DoD has been contacted by the Biden-Harris team and their designated lead for the DoD Agency Review Team and, based on the ascertainment by the GSA Administrator, we will begin immediately...” Pentagon spokesman Sue Gough said. @Newsy@DeptofDefense@JoeBidenpic.twitter.com/YuAw31BieK
— Terace Garnier (@TeraceGarnier) November 24, 2020
Earlier on Monday, GSA head Emily Murphy signed the official “letter of ascertainment,” which gives the new president-elect access to transition funds and high-level security briefings, among other things. Though Murphy refrained from signing the letter for some time amid a spate of legal challenges from President Donald Trump, who’s repeatedly charged widespread voter fraud in the November 3 election, she reversed course some two weeks after the race.
Also on rt.com Trump endorses ‘initial protocols’ for power transition to Biden, but won’t concede & vows to STRONGLY challenge election resultsTrump, despite vowing to continue challenging the election result in the courts, said it would be “in the best interest of our country” for Murphy to sign the letter, saying the GSA chief had been “harassed, threatened, and abused” over her previous reluctance to sign. It was nonetheless one of his more conciliatory statements since the contest concluded, in which time he has insisted again and again that Biden won only due to fraud, software glitches and other irregularities.
Though no formal winner has yet been certified in the 2020 election, several media outlets have called the race for Biden, who scored 306 electoral college votes, according to a tally by the Associated Press, or 36 more than he needed to clinch the win.
Also on rt.com Michele Flournoy might be breaking a glass ceiling as Pentagon chief, but even feminists aren’t buyingThink your friends would be interested? Share this story!
