According to a letter from Administrator Emily Murphy sent Monday afternoon and obtained by CNN, the U.S. presidential transition will now officially commence.
This is coming after the General Services Administration informed the Biden camp that Joe Biden who has been determined to be the apparent winner of the election, that the Trump administration is ready to begin the formal transition process.
The letter is the first step the administration has taken to acknowledge President Donald Trump’s defeat, more than two weeks after Biden was projected the winner in the election. The move toward ascertainment comes after Michigan formally certified its election results on Monday and more Trump lawsuits were dismissed. Georgia certified its razor-thin presidential results on Friday, and Pennsylvania is nearing certification of its election results, too. This move lifts the block on Biden’s transition team from gain access to government resources.
It is the latest sign that Trump’s campaign team, led by Rudy Giuliani, to circumvent the outcome of the election is nearing its end. The Trump campaign’s lawsuits to delay certification of the election have been dismissed in multiple states, as his legal team has failed to provide any evidence of widespread voter fraud.
READ: General Services Administration letter to Biden stating that transition can formally begin
But until now, Murphy had refused to move forward with the ascertainment process, despite Biden’s clear victory. Murphy, a Trump political appointee, has faced intense scrutiny and political pressure from Democrats and, in recent days, Republicans calling for the start of a smooth transition. In a statement Monday, Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican, said that “there is no evidence as of now of any widespread fraud or irregularities that would change the result in any state” and called on the transition process to begin.
In the letter, Murphy suggested that the ascertainment rules were ambiguous and should be revised.
With this step, following weeks of inaction, The General Service Administration has acknowledged Joe Biden as the apparent winner of the presidential election, and President Donald Trump has called on his agencies and departments to cooperate.
Trump tweeted moments after the letter was reported, thanking Murphy for her work, and affirming the decision to start the transition.
“I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same,” Trump said of Emily Murphy, the General Services Administration chief.
The designation triggers a formal transition process, giving Biden and his team access to current agency officials, briefing books, some $6 million in funding, and other government resources.
Howbeit, Trump is said to continue to contest the outcome of the election.