He president-elect of the United States, Donald Trumpis preparing to take office again on January 20, 2025. Prior to this, the Republican formed a transition team that has the responsibility of organizing the start of the new term.
“A transition team is typically a group of experts or advisors that the incoming president assembles to facilitate what they hope will be a smooth transition of power from the outgoing president to the newly elected one,” he told the Voice of America Kimberly Martin, professor of political science at Georgia Southern University.
What does the transition team do?
“There are three main functions that any transition team assumes: first, personnel, second, policy and third, agency review,” he explained to the VOA Heath Brown, Professor of Public Policy at New York University.
The members of this group must help in the key appointmentsidentifying candidates for top cabinet and federal agency positions. In addition, it defines public policy priorities.
“It also helps prepare an agenda of policies that can be enacted on the first day after the inauguration, in the form of executive orders, and conduct an audit of the government,” Brown added.
The transition team also works with the outgoing administration to receive the necessary budget and ongoing operations information. Most presidents-elect also receive daily intelligence briefings during the transition.
All of this must occur within a 75-day period designated for the transition.
“It’s really crucial for the incoming president because it really allows him to be ready to hit the ground running on day one, rather than wasting time trying to get all these appointments and agendas and coordinating with outside officials,” Martin added.
Public information indicates that last November, four people registered Donald Trump’s presidential transition team as their employer. The co-chairs are billionaire New York businessman and Commerce Secretary nominee, Howard Lutnickand the now nominee for Secretary of the Department of Education, Linda McMahon.
McMahon is overseeing public policy, while Lutnick is in charge of personnel change in the administration. Each president can make around 4,000 political appointments in his administration.
The transition coordinator is John Seravalli, a communications expert and director of election integrity for the Republican National Committee.
This team is joined by Susan Wiles, who served as Trump’s co-campaign director and will now be his chief of staff, thus being the first woman to hold that position. The president-elect credits Wiles with helping him win the 2016 and 2024 elections.
Members of the transition team could also end up serving in the incoming administration. “Typically, people who are part of the campaign will also be part of the transition team. So there may be people who move from the campaign itself to the transition team and then move into administrative positions,” Martin said.
Others are serving as “honorary co-chairs” of the transition team, including former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, who was nominated for secretary of the Department of Health. As well as Vice President-elect JD Vance and Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
Experts anticipate that the president-elect’s eldest son will have a role in helping select certain trusted employees.
Federal agencies, on the other hand, usually have their own person in charge of the transition process. At the State Department, for example, Brian Hook, a former policy planner and special envoy to Iran, was assigned. And at the Pentagon will be Robert Wilkie, former Secretary of Veterans Affairs in the first Trump administration.
Why is a transition team needed?
The tasks of changing administration are extensive and complicated. The experts explained that the large number of job positions to be named requires a large team.
“It’s not easy to just make any personnel decision; imagine making 4,000 of those decisions, including approximately 1,000 that have to be confirmed by the United States Senate,” Brown explained.
Each person must go through an extensive interview process, background investigation, among other things, which makes the size of the effort complex.
Another reason to have this team is related to campaign promises. “It takes a team of experts to take a campaign promise and turn it into an executive order, it’s not something that just happens naturally… if a new president has made a lot of promises, then he’s going to need a team around him to deliver.” those promises,” said the professor.
They contrast the differences with the 2020 transition
Four years ago, Trump’s refusal to concede the election to Democrat Joe Biden led to setbacks in the transition process, preventing the then-incoming administration from having access to federal funds and information for several weeks.
To avoid those types of delays in future transitions, the Presidential Transition Enhancement Act of 2022 requires the transition process to begin five days after the election, even if the winner is still in dispute.
It is usual for the US government to provide financing for the transition process. In 2016, Trump’s transition effort received an allocation of $6 million in government funds, while another million was set aside to help prepare new appointees.
This year, Trump’s transition team said it would not use public funds for transition activities, and they would pay for the process themselves.
“The way they’re going to do it is through fundraising… that fundraising has been done under pretty strict rules about how much donors can give and what public information will be shared about those donors, but by rejecting federal funding and “If you choose to self-fund, you won’t have to adhere to the same donation limits and your disclosure will be a little different,” Brown concluded.
Ahead of the election, unlike Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, Trump’s team did not sign any transition agreement with the General Services Administration (GSA), which acts as the owner of the federal government.
Therefore, this year there was a delay in the deadlines for reaching an agreement with the GSA on logistical issues such as office space and technical support, and with the White House on access to agencies, including documents, employees and facilities.
In late November, Trump reached such an agreement with the Biden administration to begin sending people on his team to all government agencies as part of the transition process. These groups enter offices and meet with staff to receive information about agency activities and exchange data.
Despite this delay, the basic functions of the transition team remain the same. “The way they do it may differ, but the work itself is roughly the same. The same number of jobs need to be filled and the same types of policy issues need to be considered,” Professor Brown said.
The president-elect’s team operates under a separate organization from the campaign, which was named “Trump Vance Transition 2025, Inc.”
In early December, the Trump-Vance transition team announced that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Justice to be able to present names of nominated people as high-ranking officials for background checks and security clearances.
“Making sure that you have a successful transition team really creates and contributes to any kind of stability, any kind of continuity of government, and in some ways ensures that the president is fully prepared from day one,” Martin concluded.
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