Quigley confronts Trump election obstructionist
House committee leaders demand explanation from head of General Services Administration
U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley has joined in efforts to compel the Trump administration to move forward on the transition to President-elect Joe Biden. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
By Ted Cox
An Illinois congressman is joining in efforts to confront a Trump administration official who refuses to allow the transition to begin toward placing President-elect Joe Biden in office.
U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley of Chicago, acting as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee’s Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, joined three other committee heads late Thursday in sending a letter to Administrator Emily Murphy, a Trump appointee who leads the General Services Administration charged with formally approving the transition and allowing it to move forward.
Murphy has thus far resisted calls for her to authorize the transition by releasing funding and approving other procedures for the peaceful transfer of power. The representatives charged that was potentially jeopardizing the national security and efforts to curtail the pandemic as Biden prepares to replace Trump, with his inauguration set for Jan. 20. The letter demanded she make her case for continuing to obstruct the transition by Monday or face a formal House hearing into the matter.
“Your actions in blocking transition activities required under the law are having grave effects, including undermining the orderly transfer of power, impairing the incoming administration’s ability to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, hampering its ability to address our nation’s dire economic crisis, and endangering our national security,” the letter states.
“We have been extremely patient, but we can wait no longer,” it added. “As GSA administrator, it is your responsibility to follow the law and assure the safety and well-being of the United States and its people — not to submit to political pressure to violate the law and risk the consequences.”
Quigley joined Rep. Nita Lowey of New York, chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York, chairwoman of the Oversight and Reform Committee, and Rep. Gerald Connolly of Virginia, chairman of the Oversight and Reform Committee’s Government Operations Subcommittee, in demanding an explanation.
“Under the Presidential Transition Act, it is your responsibility as administrator of the General Services Administration to begin transition activities as soon as you ascertain ‘the apparent successful candidates for the office of president and vice president,’” the letter states. “President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris have clearly satisfied any good-faith reading of this standard.”
The letter cites that “President-elect Biden has now collected more votes than any other candidate for president in history, and he defeated President Trump by a margin of nearly 6 million votes. By Nov. 7,” four days after the election, “virtually every major news organization had declared President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris as the clear winners when they obtained a majority of Electoral College votes. In the weeks that followed, they won two additional states — Arizona and Georgia — bringing their Electoral College tally to 306 compared to President Trump’s 232. At this stage, there is no conceivable argument that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are not ‘the apparent successful candidates for the office of president and vice president.’
“Unlike the dispute after the 2000 election in Bush v. Gore, there is no legitimate path forward for President Trump — regardless of how many baseless lawsuits he files or his irrelevant refusal to concede,” the letter adds. It draws parallels with the last presidential election, pointing out, “In 2016, by comparison, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes, but Donald Trump prevailed in the Electoral College by narrow margins, and there was far more doubt about the outcome of that election than there is today. Yet, the GSA administrator at the time made the ascertainment determination immediately — on Nov. 9, 2016 — the day after the election.”
Biden warned earlier in the week that “more people may die” if his administration is not prepared to hit the ground running on Inauguration Day. On Friday, Illinois U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin joined 35 of their Senate colleagues in submitting another letter to the GSA.
“The United States is in the midst of a pandemic that has now claimed over 250,000 lives, with the number of new cases rising daily,” the letter stated. “Our country also faces a number of ongoing threats, including physical and cyber attacks from foreign actors, violence from domestic extremists, and natural disasters such as wildfires and hurricanes.
“The GSA administrator’s ascertainment of a president-elect is also critical for agencies’ willingness to share information with the transition team, including classified information, as well as for the expeditious processing of security clearances for candidates for high-level national security positions,” the senators added. “Your delay in acknowledging Vice President Biden’s status as president-elect could undermine efforts by the incoming administration to meet the needs of the American people in a time of national emergency.”
Congressman Connelly posted a terse tweet Thursday night, stating: “We have been incredibly patient,” Administrator Murphy, “but we can wait no longer. Your refusal to follow the law is active and existential threat to our democratic norms and institutions. You owe us, and the American people, an explanation. We are demanding you provide one. By Monday.”