With President Trump still finding new ways to dispute the results of the 2020 election, the expected transition to a Joe Biden presidency has become a complicated mess.
At first, when the election was called for Biden by the Associated Press on November 7th, the Trump administration dug in and refused to cooperate with any of the regular transition processes. Only after consistent pressure from lawmakers and advisers did Trump agree to allow at least some of these traditional maneuvers to take place.
But the Biden team is complaining that the Trump administration is still obstructing his progress.
President-elect Joe Biden said Monday his transition team has run into “roadblocks” and “obstruction” from Trump administration leaders at key agencies, hindering the incoming administration’s efforts to prepare for the presidency.
But one of those agency chiefs, acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, pushed back on Biden’s critique, marking the latest row between President Donald Trump’s Pentagon and the president-elect.
“The truth is, many of the agencies that are critical to our security have incurred enormous damage,” Biden said during remarks in Delaware following a briefing from his national security and foreign policy agency review teams.
“Many of them have been hollowed out, in personnel, capacity, and in morale. Policy processes have atrophied or have been sidelined,” he said.
Biden would go on to blame the Department of Defense and the Office of Management and Budget for continuing to stall his transition.
The former Vice President said that the behavior of President Trump was “nothing short of […] irresponsibility”.
