President-elect Donald Trump’s team has signed an agreement with the Biden White House unlocking key transition briefings and activities after a lengthy delay that stemmed, in part, from the Trump team’s concerns over a mandatory ethics agreement.
Trump transition officials could soon have access to agencies across the federal government, allowing the president-elect’s team to meet with outgoing officials and receive briefings on department activities.
But the team has yet to sign an agreement with the Department of Justice to begin processing the security clearances needed for staffers to access classified information during the transition period, White House officials said.
The Trump transition team made clear on Tuesday it’s doing things its own way, vowing to operate as a “self-sufficient organization.” That includes using its existing ethics plan and not using taxpayer funding or government buildings or technology provided by the General Services Administration for transition purposes. The team declined to sign a memorandum with GSA, due September 1, which would provide access to office space and secure communications, among other provisions.
“The Transition already has existing security and information protections built in, which means we will not require additional government and bureaucratic oversight,” it said in its statement.
The Trump team blew past the initial deadlines to sign the White House agreement, which was due October 1, and the GSA plan in part because of concerns over the mandatory ethics pledge vowing to avoid conflicts of interest once sworn in to office.
As part of the agreement signed Tuesday, Trump’s transition team posted an ethics plan on the GSA website, as required by the Presidential Transition Act passed by Congress.
White House agreement unlocks access to key agencies
The White House agreement serves as the gatekeeper for access to agencies and information and could lay the groundwork for Trump’s team to receive security clearances necessary to begin receiving classified information, although it was not immediately clear how that information sharing with the Biden administration would proceed.
“This engagement allows our intended Cabinet nominees to begin critical preparations, including the deployment of landing teams to every department and agency, and complete the orderly transition of power,” incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles said in a statement.
White House spokesperson Saloni Sharma confirmed that Trump’s team signed the White House agreement, adding that the Biden administration and the GSA “repeatedly made the case” to Trump’s team to sign the pair of agreements starting in September.
President Joe Biden and his chief of staff, Jeff Zients, had pressed Trump and Wiles to sign the agreements during their November 13 Oval Office conversation, people familiar with that conversation said, and Trump and Wiles expressed openness to moving forward. Zients, a person familiar said, met once more with Wiles on November 19 to stress the importance of starting transition briefings for national security and other continuity purposes.
The lack of a memorandum of understanding may also have been taking a toll on prep for one of Trump’s biggest priorities — cracking down on immigration.
Over recent weeks, Immigration and Customs Enforcement — an agency that will be key to Trump’s mass deportation plan — was trying to assess what additional resources and funds it would need to execute the president-elect’s pledge to detain and deport migrants at large scale, according to two sources familiar.
But in the absence of formal transition talks, ICE officials were basing assessments on the information and statements that were publicly available as they tried to outline the year ahead, the sources said.
The agency has historically been underfunded and will likely need more money from Congress. How much, however, remained unclear without formal information sharing, leaving a critical federal agency and congressional appropriators in the dark.
The Trump team, meanwhile, was also drawing up plans without a clear sense of ICE’s resources. A source close to transition planning told CNN they didn’t have a clear sense of ICE’s budget, which is crucial to planning.
With the White House agreement in place, members of the Biden administration can now begin to prepare their incoming counterparts for a handoff on January 20.
The signed agreement “will allow for certain, authorized members of the Trump transition team to have access to agency and White House employees, facilities, and information,” according to Sharma. White House officials said that federal agencies will receive guidance on facilitating secure information sharing with Trump’s team.
“The fact is that on January 20 at 12 pm, President Trump and his team will be in seat. We have 2 options. Option one is no transition, potentially risking the security of the American people and our country. Option two is conduct a smooth transition with safeguards in the White House MOU to protect non-public information and prevent conflicts of interest,” Sharma said. “Option two is the responsible course and in the best interest of the American people.”
One watchdog group that had previously raised increasingly dire alarms about the threat to national security in the absence of the agreement expressed approval Tuesday.
“This agreement unlocks direct access to information from federal agencies, which is vital for the incoming administration to be ready to govern on Day One and critical to the transition’s success,” Max Stier, the president and CEO of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, said in a statement.
But Sen. Elizabeth Warren raised questions about the Trump team’s agreement.
“This announcement fails to answer key questions about national security threats and FBI vetting of nominees, and increases concerns about corruption,” the Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement.
“There appear to be serious gaps between the Trump transition’s ethics agreement and the letter of the law. The reliance on private donors to fund the transition is nothing more than a ploy for well-connected Trump insiders to line their pockets while pretending to save taxpayers money,” she added.
Trump team doesn’t sign GSA agreement
The Biden White House did “not agree” with the decision to forego the GSA agreement.
“While we do not agree with the Trump transition team’s decision to forgo signing the GSA MOU, we will follow the purpose of the Presidential Transition Act, which clearly states that ‘any disruption occasioned by the transfer of the executive power could produce results detrimental to the safety and wellbeing of the United States and its people,’” Sharma said.
There are certain safeguards in the signed White House memorandum, White House officials said, aimed at bolstering protections from conflicts of interest.
For instance, officials said, “The Trump transition team must provide the names and current employer of individuals who would have access to agencies, agency personnel, and government information,” and those who are receiving classified information must have “the security clearance necessary to have access to that information, the requisite need to know, and (have) signed the requisite non-disclosure agreements.”
As for the memorandum of understanding with the Department of Justice, White House officials said that “progress has been made towards an agreement.”
CNN has reached out to the Office of Management and Budget and the GSA for comment.
This story has been updated with additional information.
