Harris and Trump transition efforts reflect their different approaches to governing
WASHINGTON — In a drab office suite just steps from the White House, seasoned political operatives are drawing up detailed plans for an administration in waiting. Another identical suite in the same government building is dark and empty.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump are clearly undertaking several transition efforts to be ready for the potential responsibility of taking over the federal government. It’s an under-the-radar effort for now that will come into sharp focus once a winner is declared.
But their approaches already appeal to their differing ideas about governing.
Harris’ team is led by the former U.S. ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Yohannes Abraham served as executive director of the Biden-Harris transition in 2020 and is running a meticulous operation.
The team reached an agreement with the Biden administration to use office space and other government resources and begin vetting potential key national security personnel. As a condition, the team released an ethics plan and promised to limit donations to $5,000 and release a list of donors.
Trump, on the other hand, has assembled a team of friends and family, including former Democratic presidential candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, as well as his adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and his running mate, JD. Vance. It is co-chaired by Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, and Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive who previously headed Trump’s Small Business Administration.
Trump has so far shunned federal support for his transition team. His aides still need to reach required agreements with the General Services Administration, which manages federal properties, and with the White House over federal office space, technology support and security clearance procedures.
While aides say they expect an agreement soon, others suspect it won’t happen until after Election Day if Trump prevails. According to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations, part of the delay stems from congressionally imposed ethics requirements and the limits on private contributions set forth in the Presidential Transition Act .
This law, which is intended to ensure that all major party nominees are ready to assume the presidency on Inauguration Day, calls on the GSA to enter into an agreement with eligible candidates by September 1 and that it White House achieves one before October 1. Both dates have long since passed.
Trump reached similar agreements with the Obama administration in 2016 during his first presidency in the White House, but the law was amended after the 2020 election to set limits on private contributions to the transition effort and tighten ethics rules .
A Biden administration official said the White House is “actively working with the Trump transition team” to reach an agreement.
Even if Trump does not follow the administration’s proposed road map, his transition work is progressing. Until now, their primary focus has been on personnel.
A number of allied outside groups, including the America First Policy Institute, where McMahon is chairman of the board, have spent years crafting policy guidelines, model decisions and legislation aimed at giving future Republican administrations an edge.
The Heritage Foundation has also put together extensive policy plans and a workforce database under the banner “Project 2025,” but Trump has distanced himself from the effort and criticized it as Democrats have adopted their more extreme proposals.
Trump and his campaign are deeply suspicious of the current administration, accusing them of launching investigations and indictments to hinder his election chances.
After a pair of assassination attempts, Trump has accused President Joe Biden of failing to provide him with sufficient Secret Service resources, forcing his campaign to reschedule and cancel rallies. Aides have also accused the administration of responding too passively to continued threats against Trump from Iran.
The Trump transition co-chairs said in a statement that they expect to sign all recommended memos of understanding soon.
In a statement, Lutnick and McMahon said Trump-Vance transition lawyers “continue to work constructively” with the Biden administration toward the required agreements, which they expect to sign. They said that “any suggestion to the contrary is false and deliberately misleading.”
They also said all transition personnel are required to sign their own ethics pledge.
The dragging of Trump’s team has consequences not only for the peaceful transfer of power, but possibly also for national security.
Only after the agreements are finalized can the transition team send the names of potential appointees to the FBI so the agency can begin the time-consuming process of vetting them for top-secret security clearances before Election Day.
Harris’ team is well on its way to assembling agency review teams — teams of ex-government officials and policy experts who will review top-to-bottom federal agencies to determine how to align their activities with Harris’ agenda.
If she wins, Harris will lead the first same-party presidential transition since 1989, when George HW Bush took over from Ronald Reagan.
Normally, all political appointees in the outgoing administration are expected to tender their resignations, allowing Harris to choose who to retain and replace. The ability to retain officials could be an advantage, especially if Republicans take control of the Senate. Retaining some officials already confirmed under Biden could limit messy personnel battles on Capitol Hill.
Trump’s decision to delay participation in the federally backed transition program exposes his team and national security to risks, said Max Stier, CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, which provides impartial advice on best transition practices.
Foregoing federal aid now, Stier predicted, would make it harder for Trump as president-elect to bring staff on board and scale up the massive undertaking needed to move the government in a new direction.
The delay also means Trump will miss out on the government’s top cybersecurity support, at a time when his campaign has already fallen victim to a cyberattack by Iran.
The end result “is who is actually going to be ready to keep us safe and run our government effectively,” Stier said.
For all the differences between Trump and Harris’ efforts, there are some common strategies: Neither team plans to make any personnel decisions before November 5. And both teams are laying low so as not to tempt fate or divert attention from their candidates before Election Day. .
Lutnick, one of Trump’s transition co-chairs, told The Associated Press that he has compiled lists of candidates for Trump to consider. He said he does not discuss the trial with the notoriously superstitious former president.
“What I do is paint. I consider myself a mosaic painter,” Lutnick said. ‘I will look for the best candidates for the role.’ He said his goal is to find “eight great candidates” who can win Senate confirmation for any vacancy he may later present to Trump.
He said he is following the model he used to rebuild Cantor Fitzgerald after Sept. 11, when the investment bank lost 658 employees, including top talent, in the attack on the World Trade Center. He said he learned from that experience that the best way to hire the best people was through word of mouth.
“You go to the world-class people you know and say, ‘Help me. Send me people you vouch for,” he said.
Lutnik said this year’s operation is “about as different as possible” from the 2016 effort, which was first led by former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. After winning, Trump fired Christie, ditched his plans and gave the job to newly elected Vice President Mike Pence.
In an interview with The Financial Times, Lutnick said he would recuse himself from the Heritage Foundation’s transition work for Project 2025.
“Project 2025 is absolute zero for the Trump-Vance transition,” the billionaire told the newspaper. “You can use another term: radioactive.”
Donald Trump Jr., who has not been involved in the team’s day-to-day work but is expected to increase his involvement after the election, has said he sees his primary role as vetoing those deemed disloyal to the agenda from his father. .
___
Colvin reported from New York.