Trump team signs deal to end transition ‘standoff’ with the Biden White House… with a few catches

Incoming White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles announced Tuesday that the Trump team had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with President Joe Biden’s White House to kick off the presidential transition after a three-week delay to get.

The announcement ends the standoff between the outgoing and new administrations, but Trump’s team indicated they will not handle the transition in the traditional way.

They will not sign a separate MOU with the General Services Administration, which has office space and secure IT support.

They pledged to adhere to their own pre-existing ‘Ethics Pledge’ and will continue to use private funding for the transition efforts – but said they would release the names of donors to the American public – and asserted ‘we will not require any additional government – and bureaucratic supervision.’

“The transition will not use taxpayer funding for costs related to the transition, which is consistent with President Trump’s pledge to save taxpayers’ hard-earned money,” the announcement said.

The White House confirmed to DailyMail.com that the MOU had been signed, but expressed reservations.

“While we disagree with the Trump transition team’s decision to refrain from signing the GSA MOU, we will follow the purpose of the Presidential Transition Act, which clearly states that ‘any disruption caused by the transfer of the executive branch could produce results detrimental to the security and well-being of the United States and its people,” said White House Spokesperson Saloni Sharma.

She added that the Biden White House felt they had little choice but to go along with the wishes of the new president’s team.

“The fact is that on January 20 at noon, President Trump and his team will take their seats,” she said in a statement. ‘We have 2 options. Option one is no transition, potentially endangering the security of the American people and our country.”

“Option two is a smooth transition with safeguards in the White House MOU to protect non-public information and prevent conflicts of interest,” she continued.

“Option two is the responsible course of action and in the best interests of the American people,” she added.

Trump’s team would sign three agreements to begin the traditional transition process — one with the White House, one with the GSA and a third with the Justice Department, so that the president-elect’s Cabinet picks could be vetted by the FBI, that has historically been necessary for Senate confirmation.

White House officials said Tuesday that the DOJ MOU “has not been signed, but progress has been made toward an agreement.”

The DOJ is “ready to process security clearance requests for those requiring access to briefing materials and national security information once the MOU is signed,” officials said.

Trump has long been skeptical of the so-called “deep state” and has suggested that his many indictments were proof that Biden’s DOJ was after him — so it’s not surprising that there was reluctance to reach a deal with the Justice Department to sign.

But one of the crucial findings of the September 11 attack report was that the protracted 2000 election – and delayed transition – contributed to President George W. Bush’s team being unprepared for the Islamic terrorist threat.

Incoming Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, pictured on the campaign trail in July, was quoted in Tuesday’s announcement following the Trump transition

One of the biggest reasons to initiate the transition is to give Trump’s people access to vital national security information so they are prepared for day number 1.

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren drew attention to the issue last week in a stern letter to the GSA, asking the organization to articulate the serious problems that could arise from Team Trump’s refusal to sign the agreements.

“From day one of his presidency, President-elect Trump has been undermining his administration’s ability to manage urgent national security threats, health and safety risks, and serious conflicts of interest,” she said.

In a follow-up statement to DailyMail.com, Warren said Tuesday’s announcement “fails to answer important questions about threats to national security and the FBI’s vetting of nominees, and increases concerns about corruption.”

‘They appear[s] “There are serious differences between the ethics agreement of the Trump transition and the letter of the law,” the Massachusetts Democrat said. “The reliance on private donors to fund the transition is nothing more than a ploy for well-connected Trump insiders to line their pockets while pretending to save taxpayers money.”

White House officials said Tuesday that the MOU would give incoming Trump officials access to non-public information, but it also created guardrails.

‘In the event that it is necessary to share classified information with a member of the transition team, the relevant government authority must determine that the member of the transition team has the security clearance necessary to access that information, the requisite knowledge has and has signed the agreement. required non-disclosure agreements,” officials said.