Washington (AP) – After weeks of hanging, the transition between the government of incumbent Donald Trump and the elected US President Joe Biden can begin in the USA.
Trump announced on Monday evening (local time) on Twitter that he had instructed the authorities and his employees to cooperate with Biden. Shortly beforehand, the responsible authority had classified GSA Biden as the obvious winner of the election and declared that it had made this decision independently.
The General Service Administration (GSA) paved the way for Democrat Biden’s team to have access to ministries, agencies and confidential government information, as well as millions of dollars in salaries and other expenses, prior to the scheduled inauguration on Jan. 20. GSA chief Emily Murphy delivered the crucial letter to Biden after the important state of Michigan confirmed the Democrat’s victory there on Monday.
“Today’s decision is a necessary step to begin addressing the challenges our country is facing,” said Biden’s transition team. Above all, this also includes getting the corona pandemic under control. This continues to spread rapidly in the USA. On Monday, the authorities reported 169,190 detected new infections within one day, according to data from the University of Johns Hopkins (JHU) on Tuesday morning (CET). So far, more than a quarter of a million people have died in connection with the coronavirus in the USA – in absolute terms that is more than in any other country in the world.
However, Trump continues to refuse to admit defeat in the November 3rd election. He claims the victory was stolen from him through massive election fraud. More than 30 lawsuits by his lawyers have already been dismissed by the courts. Trump made it clear that he wanted to keep fighting and was once again confident of victory. Nevertheless, he recommended to the GSA and his team, “in the best interest of the country”, that they “do what must be done”.
It was “the most corrupt election in American political history,” he repeated on Tuesday night on Twitter. The short message service provided the message with a warning because it was a controversial claim.
The head of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, accused the incumbent president of “political well poisoning” in this context. Trump understood that he had lost the presidential election, Ischinger said on Tuesday on RBB information radio. Trump will continue to knit the myth that he had wrongly lost. He was placing the mortgage on his successor, Biden, of constantly having to fight the myth that half the American population was wrongly in office.
Before the official start of the transition process, Biden had announced who he would like to fill key positions in his future government with. He nominated his longtime advisor Antony Blinken as Foreign Minister. The homeland security ministry is supposed to be led by the Cuban exile Alejandro Mayorkas. Former Secretary of State John Kerry is slated to become the special envoy on climate issues in the White House National Security Council. According to media reports, Biden also wants to put ex-Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen at the head of the Treasury – as the first woman ever.
Biden’s team linked the personal details with a commitment to multilateral cooperation in times of crisis. “Historical challenges require historical, new approaches,” Kerry explained in a video. The new US administration will bring the world together to meet challenges that no nation can overcome alone.
During the transition period, every day is precious for Biden: The US President’s power is unprecedented, he has to be fully operational from day one, especially in matters of national security. As commander in chief of the armed forces, he is responsible for a good 1.3 million soldiers and has the codes to approve the use of nuclear weapons in an emergency. The president and his government are responsible for a budget of nearly five trillion US dollars (4.2 trillion euros).
In the transition period, the president not only has to put his cabinet together, but also quickly fill thousands of posts in the White House, ministries and authorities. Around 1200 personal details must be approved by the Senate.
The orderly handover of official business (“transition”) after a presidential election has been enshrined in law for almost 60 years. In doing so, Congress wanted to ensure that Americans could always count on having a functioning government. The US president is only elected indirectly by the people. The votes of the voters determine the composition of the electoral college that elects the president in December. For one, the majority of the 538 electorate is necessary – Biden has so far had 306 electorates behind him.
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