President That of Joe Biden The White House blocked the president-elect’s nose that of Donald Trump The team refuses to sign key transition documents, putting a positive spin on the decision through gritted teeth.

The Trump transition delayed completion of transition agreements, called memoranda of understanding or MOUs, which are necessary to begin key aspects of the transfer of power within the White House, the Department of Defense and the General Services Administration (GSA).

But on Tuesday, the Trump transition team and the White House issued contrasting statements on the now-signed memorandum of understanding. sign.

In an emailed statement to Mediaite, the Trump-Vance team said everything was going well:

Statement on the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Trump-Vance and Biden transition team at the White House

Susie WilesChief of Staff to President-elect Donald J. Trump, said: “Having completed the selection process for his new Cabinet, President-elect Trump is entering the next phase of his administration’s transition by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with President Joe Biden. White House. This commitment allows Cabinet nominees to begin essential preparations, including the deployment of landing teams to every department and agency, and complete the orderly transition of power.

WHITE HOUSE SLEEP FACTS

• The transition will not use taxpayer funding to cover transition-related costs, which is consistent with President Trump’s commitment to saving taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars.
• The Transition will not use government buildings or GSA-provided technologies and will operate as a self-sufficient organization. This organizational autonomy means a streamlined process that ensures the Trump administration is ready from day one.
• The Transition already incorporates security and information protection measures, meaning we will not need additional government and bureaucratic oversight.
• The transition has an existing ethics plan for those involved that will meet requirements for staff to smoothly transition into the Trump administration. In accordance with the Transition Improvement Act, this ethics plan will be posted on the General Services Administration website.
• Transition Landing Teams will quickly integrate directly into federal agencies and departments with access to documents and policy sharing.
• Pursuant to the agreement, Transition will disclose landing team members to the Biden administration.
• The agreement stipulates that the Trump-Vance transition will use private financing, which will, again, save money for American taxpayers. Transition donors will be disclosed to the public. In accordance with the Transition policy already in place, the Transition will not accept foreign donations.

But the White House spokesperson Saloni Sharma told Mediaite that while failing to sign the GSA deal is not ideal, it beats the alternative:

As President Biden has told the American people from the Rose Garden and directly to President-elect Trump, he is committed to an orderly transition.

President-elect Trump and his team will be in session at noon on January 20 – and they will be immediately responsible for a series of domestic and global challenges, both anticipated and unanticipated. A smooth transition is essential to the safety and security of the American people, who rely on their leaders to be responsible and prepared.

This is why, since September, the White House and GSA have repeatedly asked the Trump transition team to sign the GSA and White House Memoranda of Understanding, as both sides have made during previous transitions.

Trump’s transition team signed the White House memorandum of understanding. This will allow certain authorized members of the Trump transition team to have access to agency and White House employees, facilities and information.

As part of the White House memorandum of understanding, the Trump-Vance transition team agreed to important safeguards to protect nonpublic information and prevent conflicts of interest, including who has access to information and how information is shared. The memorandum of understanding also specifies that the Trump transition team will publicly post its ethics plan on the GSA website.

Trump’s transition team said it would not sign the GSA memorandum of understanding, which provides for transition services including: office space, secure email addresses and funding for transition staff and other transition activities. Accordingly, the Administration will not provide these GSA services.

While we do not agree with the Trump transition team’s decision to forgo signing the GSA memorandum of understanding, we will follow the goal of the Presidential Transition Act which clearly states that “any disruption caused by the transfer of executive power could produce detrimental security outcomes.” and the well-being of the United States and its people.

The fact is that at noon on January 20, President Trump and his team will be in place. We have 2 options. The first option is no transition, which could endanger the security of the American people and our country. The second option is to make a smooth transition with safeguards in the White House memorandum of understanding to protect nonpublic information and prevent conflicts of interest. The second option is the responsible solution and in the best interest of the American people.

A senior administration official told Mediaite that “to date, the DOJ memorandum of understanding is not signed but progress has been made toward an agreement.”

“The Department of Justice stands ready to process security clearance requests for those who will need access to briefing materials and national security information once the memorandum of understanding is signed,” he said. the official said, adding that “in the event that it is necessary to share classified information with a member of the transition team, the appropriate government agency must establish that the member of the transition team has the clearance to security and the need to know necessary to access this information.

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