Transition: Agency could throw wrench into Biden transition

Pennington added that the General Services Administration doesn’t pick who wins the election, but instead “ascertains the apparent successful candidate once a winner is clear based on the process laid out in the Constitution.”

She declined to respond to CNN’s request for details on the threshold for an “apparent successful candidate.”

Back in early September, the Trump administration agreed to three documents, memoranda of understanding, with the Biden transition team, as laid out by the Presidential Transition Act. They were signed by the General Services Administration, the Department of Justice, and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. At the time, $9.62 million was allocated to the Biden transition team for pre-election services, which the team continues to receive.

Once Murphy makes the decision on a successful election winner, that would trigger the release of an additional $9.9 million in funds for post-election services, which includes $6.3 million for the incoming administration, $1 million for appointee orientation and training, and $2.6 million for outgoing services.

Among the items outlined in those MOUs, a transition official told CNN, were an agreement for the Trump administration to provide the Biden transition with office space, communications services, payment or reimbursement for certain activities, staff payroll, travel for the President-elect, expedited security clearance processes for national security nominees, and secure, compartmented national security briefings.

Former Obama White House communications director Jen Psaki, who is working with the Biden transition on nominations, called on the GSA to “quickly” ascertain Biden on Sunday.

Psaki added, “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.”

Additionally, the Center for Presidential Transition’s advisory board, a nonpartisan group, issued a statement Sunday evening, also calling on the Trump administration to “immediately” ascertain.

“Now the real challenge begins. We urge the Trump administration to immediately begin the post-election transition process and the Biden team to take full advantage of the resources available under the Presidential Transition Act,” the board said in a statement, which was signed by Bush administration chief of staff Josh Bolten, Bush administration Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, Clinton chief of staff Mack McLarty and Obama Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.

In the meantime, there are informal ways to continue the transition process, said Clay Johnson III, who ran George W. Bush’s transition in 2000 at a time when the election’s outcome was delayed by more than a month over the disputed results in Florida.

“(Dick) Cheney said, ‘We can’t wait to see who wins this thing, we have to assume we win it. Full speed ahead,’ ” Johnson recalled, adding that the Bush transition team was unsure if they would get government support and resources and when it would come. Instead, they raised private money and rented their own office space.

“Money to support a privately funded transition is easy to raise. (The Biden team) can raise millions of dollars in half a day,” Johnson said.

Bush’s team was not legally allowed to formally offer any positions or conduct background checks, so they instead held informal interviews and informal background checks, asking candidates to divulge any possible red flags in their records.