President-elect Joe Biden
The New York Post’s Joe Biden editorial board asks President Trump to ‘start thinking’ about Georgia’s second rounds rather than canceling Trump’s election to hold a demonstration in Georgia before the Senate’s second rounds. Five Republican senators must watch the Electoral College fight MORE said on Monday that his transition team encountered “obstacles” from political leaders in both the Department of Defense and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and asked the Trump administration to provide more information to prevent hiccups that opponents could get out of advantage during the transfer of power.
“My team needs a clear picture of our stance around the world and our operations to stop our enemies,” said Biden in comments after a meeting with national security and foreign policy advisers in Wilmington, Del. full visibility of the budget planning underway at the Department of Defense and other agencies in order to avoid any window of confusion or recovery that our opponents might try to exploit. “
“We encountered obstacles from political leadership in the defense department and the Office of Management and Budget. At the moment, we are simply not getting all the information we need from the outgoing administration in the main areas of national security, ”he continued. “It is nothing less than irresponsibility, in my view.”
Biden did not further expand what he described as “obstruction” by the Pentagon’s exit leadership, nor did he answer questions after his brief comments.
His observations provoked resistance from the Trump administration.
Acting defense secretary Christopher Miller defended the department’s cooperation in a statement released on Monday, saying that political and career officials “have been working with the utmost professionalism to support transition activities on a compressed schedule and will continue to do so in a transparent and collegial manner that maintains the Department’s best traditions. ”
“The Department of Defense conducted 164 interviews with more than 400 officers and provided more than 5,000 pages of documents – far more than initially requested by Biden’s transition team,” said Miller. “DoD’s efforts are already outpacing those of recent administrations with more than three weeks ahead of us and we continue to schedule additional meetings for the remainder of the transition and respond to any and all requests for information in our field.”
A senior administration official described Biden’s remarks as ridiculous, adding that the OMB team would not waste time helping the transition team to develop what would ultimately be failed proposals, appearing to confirm that there was a refusal by political leaders to cooperate. The official denied that cooperation issues had anything to do with national security.
A Defense Department spokesman said the Pentagon was “completely transparent” with Biden’s transition team in the fiscal year 2021 budget and provided top-notch information about the program for fiscal years 2022 to 2026, although the OMB has not yet authorized the disclosure of all details for the period 2022-2026.
Biden received a virtual briefing from members of his intended Cabinet, as well as from leaders of his review teams from national security and foreign policy agencies early Monday afternoon.
Biden transition team expressed concern earlier this month on the interruption of Pentagon cooperation after the meetings were canceled. The Defense Department said the meetings were postponed until after January 1 as part of a “mutually agreed” break during the holiday, but Biden’s team said there was no such agreement.
Biden said on Monday that the transition had received “exemplary cooperation from some agencies” and praised career personnel who will remain in government after political appointees have left their various positions.
Biden will open on January 20.
Cooperation between the current federal government and Biden’s transition team began in late November, when the General Services Administration formally recognized Biden as the apparent winner of the election, after weeks of delay.
President Trump
Donald Trump The New York Post’s editorial board urges President Trump to ‘start thinking’ about Georgia’s runoff instead of canceling the elections., who granted Biden access to his daily intelligence report, continues to contest the election results and falsely claims he won. Trump claims that there was mass and coordinated electoral fraud in the election, but his claims were not supported by evidence in court.
On Monday, Biden also made his first personal comments about the Christmas attack in Nashville, emphasizing the need for “continuous surveillance” and thanking the police and first aid.
“This bombing was a reminder of the destructive power that an individual or small group can muster and the need for continuous surveillance at all levels,” he said.
“I know that the hearts of all Americans are with the people of Nashville as they rebuild and recover from this traumatic event.”
—Updated at 18h56