Trump’s ‘unprecedented’ transition team is skirting norms

In the days since Donald Trump declared victory in the 2024 presidential election, his focus has turned to the next gargantuan task: preparing to lead the federal government.
Trump’s approach to transition planning — a key aspect of presidential campaigns — has been unorthodox. Instead of relying on experienced Washington insiders, Trump has offloaded the task to a group of allies from both the political and business worlds.
To date, Trump’s transition team has declined federal assistance, a move that allows them to skirt ethics requirements but may handicap their ability to receive key security briefings or background checks for political appointees.
“The Trump team has approached this in a, frankly, different way than any other prior transition operation has,” said Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, in a press call Friday.
On Wednesday, though, one traditional aspect of presidential transitions will be observed: President Joe Biden will welcome Trump to the White House, where the two will participate in a largely symbolic meeting.
It is common practice for outgoing presidents to invite their successor to the West Wing, as President Barack Obama did for Trump in late 2016. Trump did not offer an invitation to Biden in 2020.
In both 2016 and 2020, Trump’s transition efforts went against common practice. In his first run for office, Trump tabbed Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, to lead his transition efforts, which includes preparing a roster of potential appointees to fill 4,000 positions in the federal government and overseeing plans for the administration’s first 100 days. But within a week of Trump’s 2016 electoral victory, Christie was dismissed, and the binders full of his plans were ceremoniously tossed into the garbage.
In 2020, Trump’s refusal to concede the election led to a delay in Biden’s team receiving federal aid and security briefings as it prepared to take the White House.
In 2022, Congress made changes to the Presidential Transition Act, allowing the two major-party campaigns to engage in transition activity post-election if a winner is unknown. But Trump’s electoral romp last week — securing 312 electoral votes and sweeping the seven battleground states — made the changes unnecessary this cycle.
Federal law requires the two major-party campaigns to enter a series of agreements with federal agencies to facilitate the transition process: with the General Services Administration, to receive office space, IT assistance and salaries for transition teams; with the White House, to receive intelligence briefings; and with the Department of Justice, to expedite security clearances for political appointees.
Trump’s team has yet to make any of the agreements, making him the first major-party nominee and president-elect in modern U.S. history to do so. Skirting the GSA agreement allows Trump’s team to circumvent ethics requirements and fundraising limits. Politico, citing three anonymous federal sources, reported Saturday that Trump’s team is expected to sign the GSA agreement shortly.
“Our hope is that the Trump team comes to terms with the Biden administration, which has been very welcoming and hoping about trying to engage the Trump team,” Stier told reporters Friday. “The story is not finished, but they’re late.”
Instead of leading the operation from government-provided office space in Washington, the Trump team has created a makeshift Situation Room at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, Axios reports. There, seated in front of an array of TV monitors, Trump watches clips of potential Cabinet picks or other political appointees, gauging how effective they are at delivering his administration’s message.
The strategy is already bearing fruit. Trump has already formally announced his nominations to several high-level administration positions: as White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, his 2024 co-campaign director; as EPA director, former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-New York; as “border czar,” Tom Homan, the former ICE director; and as ambassador to the U.N., Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-New York, the current House Republican conference chair.
Trump has also noted that two of his former Cabinet members will not return: Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador who launched a Republican primary challenge against Trump; and Mike Pompeo, the former CIA director.
“I very much enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously, and would like to thank them for their service to our country,” Trump said on social media.
Trump’s transition team is led by Linda McMahon, who ran the Small Business Administration during the first Trump administration, and Howard Lutnick, a Wall Street CEO. Honorary co-chairs include Donald Trump Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In a post on X Tuesday, Vivek Ramaswamy suggested he attended transition meetings at Mar-a-Lago, saying the transition team is “doing a great job.”
In a statement to the Deseret News, Ramaswamy said Trump has “cultivated a coalition of outsiders and independent thinkers” who will “transform the federal government.”
“The best way to determine who and how they impact change won’t be sorted out in the press,” Ramaswamy said.
Mike Leavitt, the former Utah governor and HHS secretary who led Mitt Romney’s 2012, has called the presidential transition the “most sensitive process in our democracy.”
A peaceful and effective transfer of power “is always important and critical,” Leavitt told the Deseret News last month. “But it has never been more so than it will be in 2024.”