Why hasn’t Trump’s transition team called the Pentagon
President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to have Mike Pence replace Chris Christie as the leader of his transition effort, and ongoing infighting in Trump Tower, is causing delays and confusion in Washington.
Election Day was eight days ago, but Donald Trump’s transition team has yet to contact the Pentagon, State Department or other federal agencies. And a move to purge some transition advisers and employees has further slowed the process of getting the incoming administration off the blocks.
So-called landing teams, which President Barack Obama installed at federal agencies within days of the election for his own transition, had been expected to arrive in DC Monday. But Vice President-elect Pence’s takeover of the team caused a cascade of delays.
Trump denies inquiry about security clearance for kids
Christie had signed the official document — a memorandum of understanding — with the Obama administration to run the Trump transition, meaning a new copy was needed with Pence’s signature. That paperwork didn’t arrive until Tuesday evening, White House spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine said.
Trump attends a news conference in 2005 that announced the establishment of Trump University. From 2005 until it closed in 2010, Trump University had about 10,000 people sign up for a program that promised success in real estate. Three separate lawsuits — two class-action suits filed in California and one filed by New York’s attorney general — argued that the program was mired in fraud and deception. Trump’s camp rejected the suits’ claims as “baseless.” And Trump has charged that the New York case against him is politically motivated.
Trump’s team will announce the first teams — for the Justice Department and national security agencies — Thursday, RNC spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters Wednesday night. Economic and domestic policy teams will be announced next week. But it was not immediately when those officials will actually arrive at agencies in Washington.The White House was still waiting Wednesday night on names from the transition of the individuals who will form the landing teams.
“Once we have received those names and related materials, those individuals will be able to receive the briefing materials we have prepared and begin to communicate with their Obama administration agency counterparts as we continue our work to facilitate the transition to the next administration,” Hoffine said.
In addition to the names, the transition will need to certify the individuals are free of conflicts of interest and paperwork from the team members that they meet the criteria of the transition code of conduct.
And transition officials going into the most sensitive agencies, like the national security community, will need a pre-clearance to go in, which requires an entry-level investigation, said David Eagles, director of the Center for Presidential Transition, a nonprofit dedicated to the smooth transfer of power and good governance. For less sensitive agencies, all that is required is a quick background check, similar to what the White House might conduct on anyone seeking entrance.
The State Department and Pentagon have said on the record they have had no contact with any member of the transition staff. Many of the remaining civilian agencies have said on background that they have not or have referred CNN to the White House statement from Hoffine.
Pence’s move to clean house in the transition team, removing selected lobbyists, people who have breached protocol, not lived up to standards or leaked information to the outside world, is also slowing things up. Several individuals who were leading agency teams according to an internal organizational chart obtained prior to the shakeup have been registered lobbyists, meaning new individuals will have to be identified.
Trump’s team says things are going well. “We’re going to get the transition team where we need it to be,” spokesman Jason Miller told reporters in Trump Tower on Wednesday. “It’s going to be a team that will be able to put in place the exact type of team that President-elect Trump wants to have in.”
