President Donald J. Trump and Joe Biden at the first presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020. (C-SPAN video screenshot)
The team assembled by Joe Biden's campaign to develop the transition procedures to take the reins of government in the United States, assuming he is "ascertained" to have won, might not be smooth.
It's because while the networks already have made up their minds as to whom they think will be president – the official ruling won't come until after the Electoral College meets Dec. 14, and the U.S. Senate confirms early next year.
But for mundane matters, like access to millions of federal dollars for said transition, it's up to the General Services Administration.
And that decision hasn't been made yet either.
The Free Beacon reported the acting deputy administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, John Barsa, said Monday there is no "transition" until the GSA certifies the election results.
"You should be aware, the only official announcement about an election result that matters is from the head of GSA, so until the head of GSA makes a determination as to who won an election, nothing changes. There is no transition in place," Barsa said.
The comment came in a telephone call with colleagues, a copy of which the Beacon obtained.
He said the GSA must "ascertain" the election winner to allow the transition effort to move forward.
On the same call, White House liaison Catharine O'Neill reiterated the administration's perspective that the election still is happening.
"The Electoral College has not voted yet, so we are still here, business as usual, working for the president, and making sure that everything that we’re doing is to serve the president of the United States," she said.
The formal procedure that winds up in the Senate is that states tally results and all 50 governors prepare their certificates of ascertainment, listing electors for the Electoral College.
Those are sent to the nation's archivist.
Then the Electoral College meets and votes, and the results are documented in certificates of vote, which are sent to the president, the Senate and more.
The Senate then approves the count, with the vice president presiding and asking for objections.
Democrats have been lashing out at President Trump for not giving up in the race, even though there are many states with active court cases alleging significant vote fraud and manipulation.
They want the GSA ruling so that can access "millions of dollars … office space in agencies and equipment" for their campaign for Biden.
"An ascertainment has not yet been made," GSA spokeswoman Pamela Pennington revealed.
One senior administration official said, anonymously, "No agency head is going to get out in front of the president on transition issues right now."
If the GSA administrator declares an apparent winner, nearly $10 million immediately is made available to Biden and his team.
Biden's team said in a statement that, "Now that the election has been independently called for Joe Biden, we look forward to the GSA administrator quickly ascertaining Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the president-elect and vice president-elect. America’s national security and economic interests depend on the federal government signaling clearly and swiftly that the United States government will respect the will of the American people and engage in a smooth and peaceful transfer of power."
However, the ones "independently" declaring Biden the victor are the news media, who have been campaigning for Biden, and harshly criticizing President Trump, for four years already.
Robert C. MacKichan Jr., a lawyer who previously served in the GSA, pointed out that because Trump is contesting the media's decision to anoint Biden the winner, and Electors haven't voted, it's too early to have the GSA make the call.
It's a 1963 law that calls for the GSA to make such decisions, but when the money is gone, it cannot be recouped.
In the contested election of 2000, the Clinton-era GSA refused to provide services to incoming President George W. Bush until a Supreme Court decision settled the fight, weeks after the election.
If Biden is, in fact, the race winner, he'll need to appoint an estimated 4,000 supervisors for the nation's two million federal workers.
Some 1,200 of those require Senate approval.
The fact that there are government processes for determining a winner seemed to be a shock to some in the media.
An interviewee was on Fox News, explaining, "Remember, just because CNN or even Fox News says somebody is president doesn't make them president."
Anchor Sandra Smith looks stunned. "WHAT??" she said. "What is happening. Trace we've called it."
Sandra Smith, off-air, reacts to her colleague Trace Gallagher indulging a nutjob who denies the outcome of the election even after Fox News had called it for Joe Biden: pic.twitter.com/gZ4nrnVHab
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) November 9, 2020
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