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Planning for the presidential transition of Joe Biden, led by then vice president-elect and Senator Kamela Harris of California, began before Joe Biden won the United States presidential election on November 3, 2020, and became the president-elect. Biden was formally elected by the Electoral College on December 19, 2016. The transition was formerly led by Chris Christie until he and a number of his supporters were replaced or demoted on November 11. The results were certified by a joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021, and the transition ended when Biden was inaugurated at noon EST on January 20, 2021.

Transition procedures

In accordance with the Pre-Election Presidential Transition Act of 2010, potential presidential transition teams are provided office space by the General Services Administration (GSA). They are also eligible for government funding for staff; spending on Mitt Romney's transition team in 2012 was $8.9 million, all funds appropriated by the U.S. government.

Under existing federal law and custom, Biden became eligible to receive classified national security briefings when his nomination was formalized at the party's national convention.

Responsibilities

Key responsibilities of a presidential transition include the identification and vetting of candidates for approximately 4,000 non-civil service positions in the U.S. government whose serve at the pleasure of the president; arranging the occupancy of executive residences including the White House, One Observatory Circle, and Camp David; liaising with the United States Strategic Command for receipt of the Gold Codes; and briefing senior personnel about a new administration's policy priorities.

pre-election developments

A law enacted by Congress in 2019 amending the Presidential Transition Act requires the incumbent president to establish "transition councils" by June of an election year to facilitate the possible handover of power.

Biden appointed a transition staff in May 2020 chaired by Former Delaware Sen. Ted Kaufman. Further staff were announced in September. The campaign has estimated a budget of $7-10 million and plans to have a staff of 300 people by early December 2020. Several working groups were set up in late September and early October.

Due to Covid 19 pandemic, much of the work was done over Zoom.

Post election developments

Unless there is a landslide, chaos has been predicted by many.

With President Trump having, as early as the summer of 2020, attempted to delegitimize the election, many pundits and editorial writers have insisted that former Vice President Biden needs to win in a landslide, or near landslide in order for the old administration to accept the change of administration.

Should a large enough victory to convince most Republicans, take place. President-elect and Mrs. Biden will move into Blair House in the week prior to the ceremony, which will be extremely similar to a possible Second Trump. Ancillary celebrations will most certainly take place.

How it isn't supposed to go: Conspiracy theories and Worst-case scenarios

President Trump's attempts in delegitimizing the election should he lose by preemptive accusations of fraud have caused quite a few people to consider what would happen if the President should lose by a margin far less than a landslide.

Rosa Brooks, who worked in President Obama's Defense Department, co-founded the Transition Integrity Project, and in June 2020, TIP ran a series of high-level "war gaming" exercises to explore potential election and transition scenarios. August 2020, TIP released an influential report that outlined the four 2020 election crisis scenario planning exercises for the 2020 United States presidential election. The scenarios examined by TIP included a decisive Biden win, a decisive Trump win, a narrow Biden win, and a period of extended uncertainty after the election..

Other academics, such as Lawrence Douglas in his Will He Go?:Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown in 2020 also did this.

The time is limited as the 20th Amendment has cut the original transition by well over a month. The key date is January 6, 2021, when the Vice president counts the electoral votes in front of a joint session of Congress.

The above is governed by the Electoral Count Act of 1887 passed in that year to prevent crises such as that in 1876-77, and while provisions have been used, the act has never been truly put to the test.

Should a crisis last more than a few days, it is possible that no one will have been declared the victor prior to January 20th, and in that case, the Speaker of the House would become acting president, they would be inaugurated. There may be several inaugurations and up to five different people possibly taking the oath of office. These include:

• Trump/Pence and Biden/Harris taking their oaths at different places simultaneously.
• Acting President Pence taking the oath
• Acting President Harris taking the oath.
• Acting President Pelosi taking the oath.

Timeline

Pre-election

The early meetings of the transition team with the administration were in the beginning rather amiable, beginning with the formation of two councils in May of 2020. around the time the former Vice President had clinched the Democratic nomination. They continued to be so while President Trump attempted to have his opponent arrested.

• March 2020: Biden wins Super Tuesday primaries. Becomes presumptive nominee.
• June 20, 2020: Initial transition team announced.
• August 2020: Biden and California Senator Kamela Harris are nominated at the Democratic Convention.
• September 5, 2020: full transition team is made public.
• November 4, 2020: Biden is elected president, President Trump refuses to concede.

Immediate Post-election

November-December: Litigation. January 20, 2021: Inaguration day

references

1. Parker, Ashley (August 16, 2012). "Campaigning Aside, Team Plans a Romney Presidency". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 5, 2018. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
2. ^ Fund, John (January 13, 2013). "What was Romney Planning?". National Review. Archived from the original on January 31, 2016. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
3. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-receives-first-classified-intelligence-briefing/
4. "Help Wanted: 4,000 Presidential Appointees". Center for Presidential Transition. Partnership for Public Service. Archived from the original on January 12, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
5. https://www.govexec.com/management/2020/05/trump-administration-details-efforts-support-peaceful-presidential-transition/165443/
6. https://presidentialtransition.org/
7. https://www.democracyinaction.us/2020/chrntran/bidentransition.html
8. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/23/joe-biden-transition-team-election-campaign
9. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/05/a-new-challenge-for-transition-planners-building-a-government-over-zoom-425528
10. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/23/election-nightmares-guide-430915
11. "AP FACT CHECK: Trump's view of flawed voting is baseless". AP NEWS. July 30, 2020.
12. CNN, Marshall Cohen. "Trump spreads new lies about foreign-backed voter fraud, stoking fears of a 'rigged election' this November". CNN. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
13. Freedland, Jonathan (July 17, 2020). "Trump will cling to power. To get him out, Biden will have to win big | Jonathan Freedland" – via www.theguardian.com.
14. Bruni, Frank (August 22, 2020). "Opinion | Why Biden Needs a Landslide Just to Win" – via NYTimes.com.
15. https://theintercept.com/2020/08/11/trump-november-2020-election/
16. "Transition Integrity Project: Preventing a disrupted presidential election and transition". PAXsims. August 4, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
17. "Experts Game Out What Might Happen If The Election Goes Off The Rails". NPR.org. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
18. https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-team-prepares-for-potentially-bumpy-transition-11603359002
19. https://www.govexec.com/management/2020/05/trump-administration-details-efforts-support-peaceful-presidential-transition/165443/
20. https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-william-barr-elections-20fd56b64801dd83b1657c630a1ebdfa
21. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/20/politics/joe-biden-transition-team/index.html
22. https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/05/politics/joe-biden-transition-team/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_allpolitics+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Politics%29
23. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/23/election-nightmares-guide-430915