President-elect Joe Biden on Monday ratcheted up pressure on the Trump administration to engage in a transition of power, mincing no words on the dire consequences if his incoming team faces further delays in working with federal agencies.
He also pointed out the absurdity that Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), the vice president-elect, still has access to classified intelligence briefings because she is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. But Biden himself is not able to get those briefings because Trump’s administration has yet to acknowledge that Biden won the election.
Biden generally refrained, however, from threatening Trump — “I am hopeful that the president will be mildly more enlightened before we get to Jan. 20,” he said at one point — and he said that the lack of cooperation so far was not yet significantly affecting his ability to build a team and chart a path.
“I find this more embarrassing for the country than debilitating for my ability to get started,” he said.
Biden’s attempt to increase pressure on Trump to behave like previous presidents came on a day that the man in the White House began with a declarative, if false, tweet: “I won the Election.”
Trump went on to criticize the Georgia recount being conducted by Republican officials; praise OAN, a competitor to Fox News, which angered him with a correct projection of Biden’s win in Arizona; suggest a challenge to Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, after he referred to Biden as the “president-elect”; and vent about Democrats and the news media.
Trump’s White House, meanwhile, has instructed senior government leaders to block any cooperation with Biden’s transition team.
Without entree into the workings and plans of the current administration, Biden said he would focus on meeting with business and labor leaders, staffing the White House and forming his Cabinet.
Two Democrats on Monday confirmed that Rep. Cedric L. Richmond (D-La.), one of Biden’s earliest backers, plans to join the administration. Richmond, a national co-chair for Biden’s campaign, was one of Biden’s most prominent African American supporters, frequently defending him and campaigning for him dating to the early days of the Democratic primary.
Richmond did not immediately respond to a request for comment. His plans were first reported by Bloomberg News and confirmed by two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to address internal conversations.
Biden also said Monday that Trump’s lack of cooperation had not stopped foreign leaders from calling to congratulate him.
“They’re calling with some degree of enthusiasm — everyone from the Holy Father to prime ministers across the globe,” Biden said. “So we’re moving along knowing what the outcome will be.”
“A vaccine is important. It’s of little use until you’re vaccinated. So how do we get over 300 million Americans vaccinated?” Biden said. “What’s the game plan? It’s a huge, huge, huge undertaking to get it done.”
Ideally, while some work may be underway within the Trump administration to plan for the distribution of a vaccine, Biden officials would be clued in so that their transition to running the program would be seamless. Similar coordinated handoffs have marked previous changes of power.
Top Biden advisers this week are hoping to meet with drug companies, including Pfizer and Moderna, which are developing some of the vaccines, but those meetings would take place outside of government channels and may not include details on government-run distribution. Ron Klain, Biden’s newly named chief of staff, said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the conversations would begin this week.
Source: Washington Post
