“If there is a lack of proper investigation into a nominee, I don’t think [the Senate Armed Services Committee] would allow the nomination to move forward.”
Despite multiple attempts by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s staff to begin transition activities at the Health and Human Services Department, they have not been able to move forward. The department reportedly isn’t talking to Kennedy’s people as the Trump transition team refuses to sign the usual ethics and transparency documents required of the General Services Administration (GSA) of the federal government, Politico reported.
Trump and his team are expected to file an ethics plan to the GSA that explicitly promises to avoid any conflict of interest while in government. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has already made the claim that Trump and his team are “breaking the law” by not completing the process.
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View on RumbleTrump’s intransigence over signing the documents have precluded his incoming administration from commencing formal talks with all federal government departments and agencies, meaning a transition plan cannot be put in place and Trump’s “landing teams” of policy experts can’t move in and prepare for post-inauguration. They can’t even set up email accounts or begin FBI background checks for security clearances.
The Trump transition team and the White House both acknowledged in a reply to Politico that both parties remain in discussion about signing the ethics and transparency agreements.
Observers say the lag in getting approvals moving which usually starts by mid-November means the Trump administration will be playing catchup after Jan. 20. The refusal to sign the documents has set off alarm bells with some Biden-Harris officials who say there might be ramifications for national security.
Without finalizing the process, members of the incoming Trump administration won’t be able to see documents or data that are classified to any degree. That would include a trove of material relating to the current crises in Ukraine and the Middle East.
It could also affect the confirmation of Trump’s nominees, who could be viewed with suspicion by some Senate Democrats. “If there is a lack of proper investigation into a nominee, I don’t think [the Senate Armed Services Committee] would allow the nomination to move forward,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) told Politico.
The outlet reported that one source close to the transition team said the Trump team is not in a hurry to sign the GSA agreements because preparations are coming together just fine at the Mar-a-Lago transition headquarters.
The Trump team’s lawyers “continue to constructively engage with the Biden-Harris Administration lawyers regarding all agreements contemplated by the Presidential Transition Act,” Trump spokesperson Brian Hughes told the outlet.
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