REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
According to an expert on public policy, members of Donald Trump’s incoming administration may already find themselves behind on their jobs the moment that they take over for the outgoing President Joe Biden administration.
Appearing on CNN early Saturday morning, Professor Heath Brown of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice raised alarms that the Trump transition team has yet to submit much-needed documentation to the General Services Administration (GSA) which would allow senior members of the president-elect’s team to have access to information they will need on day one.
Speaking with host Victor Blackwell, Brown was asked, “So this agreement with the General Services Administration allows them to get some office space, get some money but also there are documents related to ethics agreements and anti-conflict of interest commitments. Is this abnormal, disruptive or is it more than that?”
“I think it’s very worrisome for two primary reasons,” Brown replied. “If the agreements aren’t signed that means the key information that the incoming administration needs about the major threats, challenges facing our country are not going to be shared in the same way as if the agreements were signed.”
“That’s a problem for all of these Cabinet positions and all of the sub -Cabinet roles to be ready for day one,” he warned. “They need information and that’s contingent to partner with federal agencies, and the agreements have to be signed to do that.”
“The second concern is that if the agreements aren’t signed, we’ll never know who’s funding this transition,” he added. “Those agreements establish caps on the amount of money that can be donated to the transition team as well as requiring public disclosure of who those donors are. If we don’t see those agreements signed, we’ll never know that information and I think many people would worry about that.”
