Despite the Democratic outcry against a top President Trump appointee who has not OK’d funding of the transition to a Biden administration, she has won the backing of a Bill Clinton-appointed official who faced a similar standoff in the 2000 ballot-counting crisis.
Former General Services Administration Administrator David J. Barram said he understands the situation current Administrator Emily Murphy is in because he held off signing off on transition funds during the fight between George W. Bush and Al Gore in the 2000 election.
“Get the facts, and act on evidence,” he said.
Murphy has been criticized for not signing off on the transition because the Trump White House is still fighting over ballots in several states. In 2000 the fight was just in Florida.
“Everyone knew that once Florida was settled, the winner would be clear,” Barram said on a new podcast at the Center for Presidential Transition.
The Trump case, he said, “is dramatically different,” in part because the majority of the media has called the election for Biden.
And despite that, he said that Murphy is just doing her job.
“I think the winner is pretty clear, but I sympathize with the GSA administrator, Emily Murphy,” he said.
“I have confidence in that lady to do the right thing. I’m expecting the best from and for Emily. We GSA administrators have to stand together, I hope it works well for her, and I hope it works well for our country,” he added.
Once the GSA “ascertains” that Biden has won, then funds will flow to set up a transition office, and Biden officials will be allowed to set up in federal departments and review Trump administration briefing books on what has happened in the past four years.
