Biden Says Transition Team Has Started Talks With Trump Admin After Delay
Written by SOURCE on November 25, 2020
This week, with Trump still refusing to formally concede despite losing the election, the General Services Administration informed Joe Biden and his team that the usual transition processes could now begin.
In a social distancing-friendly interview with Lester Holt on Tuesday night, Biden said key discussions immediately kicked off between his team and the current administration following the GSA news. And as for how the delay—as well as Trump’s apparent reluctance to acknowledge Biden as the incoming POTUS—could affect the work that must be done with regards to the pandemic, Biden expressed confidence in being able to get his people fully prepared over the next two months.
“Immediately, we’ve gotten outreach from the national security shop, to just across the board,” Biden said around four minutes into the NBC chat. “They’re already working out my ability to get presidential daily briefs. We’re already working out meeting with the [COVID-19] team in the White House on not only how to distribute a vaccine but a person being able to get vaccinated. So I think we’re gonna not be so far behind the curve as we thought we might be in the past. And there’s a lot of immediate discussion. And I must say, the outreach has been sincere. It’s not been begrudging so far and I don’t expect it to be.”
Biden added that he expects to begin receiving presidential daily briefs “very shortly,” though there has still been no talk with Trump.
“I believe that his Chief of Staff and my Chief of Staff have spoken but, no, I have not heard anything from President Trump,” he said, adding that—while it’s all a “slow start’—he’s “feeling good” about what can be done before year’s end.
Earlier this week, Barack Obama was asked by Speedy Morman during a special Complex interview about Trump’s refusal to concede.
“Oh, he’s gonna leave the White House,” Obama said. ‘He may not like leaving. He may not be a gracious loser. But he lost. And he will leave.”
