Donald Trump Tweets Presidential Transition May Begin

WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump has stubbornly refused to accept the results of the Nov. 3 election and has yet to concede, but he said on Twitter Monday that he is recommending that Emily Murphy, the director of the General Services Administration, and her team "do what needs to be done" to move the transition process ahead "in the best interest of our Country."

The president stopped short of conceding the election to President-election Joe Biden, and vowed to continue legal battles to overturn the results of the election and expressed confidence that "we will prevail."

Trump's campaign has been dealt a string of defeats in key battleground states as more Republicans lose patience with his baseless claims of voter fraud — something Trump claimed months before the election when he said, without evidence, that a massive vote-by-mail allowances for coronavirus social distancing would be fraught with fraud.

The Board of Canvassers in Michigan certified the election results, confirming the state's 16 electoral votes will go to Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris after they won the state by a margin of 154,000 votes. Two Democrats and one Republican voted for certification. A second Republican on the four-member board abstained.

The decision was closely watched after shenanigans last week after two Republicans on the board of canvassers in Wayne County, where Detroit is located, initially refused to certify the vote. The Trump campaign withdrew its lawsuit, saying it had served its purpose by slowing down the certification in Wayne County. Trump invited Michigan Republicans to the White House last week, but not for the purpose of asking them to “break the law” or “interfere” with the election, one of the seven state lawmakers who attended the meeting said.

In Arizona, local officials in Maricopa County, the state’s most populous county, certified the election a day after a Superior Court judge dismissed a second Republican lawsuit questioned the accuracy of the tabulated vote. County election officials had already completed the requested audit and no discrepancies were found, the judge ruled.

In Pennsylvania Saturday, a federal judge issued a stinging rebuke to Trump with the dismissal of a campaign lawsuit that sought to stop the state from certifying election results, calling it both legally flawed and lacking in evidence.

"In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populated state," U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Brann said in his opinion. "Our people, laws, and institutions demand more."

Trump said on Twitter early Monday evening that his campaign’s case “STRONGLY continues” and that “we will keep up the good fight.”

Murphy, a Trump appointee, said in a letter to the Biden transition team that she had never been directed to stonewall the president-elect and his advisers, and the transition can formally begin. It means Biden and Harris will have access to high level intelligence briefings on the coronavirus, national security and other matters.

Yohannes Abraham, the executive director of the Biden transition, was sharp in his assessment that the decision “is a needed step to begin tackling the challenges facing our nation, including getting the pandemic under control and our economy back on track.”

“In the days ahead, transition officials will begin meeting with federal officials to discuss the pandemic response, have a full accounting of our national security interests, and gain complete understanding of the Trump administration’s efforts to hollow out government agencies,” Abraham said in a statement.

Murphy had been under pressure to allow the transition to move forward as more Republicans, national security and business leaders said it was time for the process to move forward.

Retiring Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, who has repeatedly called for the transition to begin, released a new statement Monday saying that Trump should “put the country first” and help Biden’s administration succeed.

“When you are in public life, people remember the last thing you do,” Alexander said.

Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio on Monday called for Murphy to release money and staffing needed for the transition. Portman, a senior member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also said Biden should receive high-level briefings on national security and the coronavirus vaccine distribution plan.

Alexander and Portman, who have both aligned themselves with Trump, joined a growing number of Republican officials who in recent days have urged Trump to begin the transition immediately. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., also urged a smooth transition, saying in a statement Monday that “at some point, the 2020 election must end.”

Meanwhile, more than 160 business leaders asked Murphy to immediately acknowledge Biden as president-elect and begin the transition to a new administration. “Withholding resources and vital information from an incoming administration puts the public and economic health and security of America at risk,″ the business letters said in an open letter to Murphy.

Separately, more than 100 Republican former national security officials — including former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, former CIA Director Michael Hayden and former Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte — said in a statement that Trump’s refusal to concede and allow for an orderly transition “constitutes a serious threat” to America’s democratic process. The officials signing the letter worked under four Republican presidents, including Trump.

The statement called on “Republican leaders — especially those in Congress — to publicly demand that President Trump cease his anti-democratic assault on the integrity of the presidential election.”

Murphy "has been harassed, threatened, and abused — and I do not want to see this happen to her, her family, or employees of GSA," Trump said in the early evening tweet.

Murphy missed a deadline on Monday set by House Democrats to brief lawmakers about the delay in beginning the transition, which is usually a routine step between the election and the inauguration. A spokeswoman for the GSA said that a deputy administrator would instead hold two separate briefings for House and Senate committees on Nov. 30.

In response, the Democratic chairs of four committees and subcommittees said they could reschedule the meeting for Tuesday, but no later.

“We cannot wait yet another week to obtain basic information about your refusal to make the ascertainment determination,” the Democrats said in a letter to Murphy. “Every additional day that is wasted is a day that the safety, health, and well-being of the American people is imperiled as the incoming Biden-Harris administration is blocked from fully preparing for the coronavirus pandemic, our nation’s dire economic crisis, and our national security.”

Portman said it was “only prudent” for GSA to begin the transition process immediately.

“Donald Trump is our president until Jan. 20, 2021, but in the likely event that Joe Biden becomes our next president, it is in the national interest that the transition is seamless and that America is ready on Day One of a new administration for the challenges we face,″ Portman wrote in an op-ed calling for the transition to begin.

Murphy's ascertainment will free up money for the transition and clear the way for Biden’s team to begin placing transition personnel at federal agencies. Trump administration officials had said they would not give Biden the classified presidential daily briefing on intelligence matters until the GSA makes the ascertainment official.

“Now that GSA Administrator Emily Murphy has fulfilled her duty and ascertained the election results, the formal presidential transition can begin in full force,” said Max Stier, president and CEO of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service. “Unfortunately, every day lost to the delayed ascertainment was a missed opportunity for the outgoing administration to help President-elect Joe Biden prepare to meet our country’s greatest challenges. The good news is that the president-elect and his team are the most prepared and best equipped of any incoming administration in recent memory.”

Among those signing the letter from business leaders were Jon Gray, president of the Blackstone private equity firm; Robert Bakish, president and CEO of ViacomCBS Inc.; Henry Kravis, the co-chief executive of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., another private equity giant; David Solomon, CEO at Goldman Sachs; and George H. Walker, CEO of the investment firm Neuberger Berman and a second cousin to former President George W. Bush.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.