John Kelly: Trump's delay in transitioning "hurts our national security"
John Kelly: Trump's delay in transitioning "hurts our national security"
Jacob Knutson at Axios
https://www.axios.com/john-kelly-trumps-delay-in-transitioning-hurts-our-national-security-17092eaa-1eb4-4ff5-af49-c7854d92b1b5.html
"SNIP.....
President Trump's delay in transitioning "hurts out national security," John Kelly, Trump's former chief of staff, told Politico on Friday.
Why it matters: Trump has not publicly conceded to Joe Biden, and General Services Administration Administrator Emily Murphy — a Trump political appointee — has not signed documents declaring Biden the apparent winner, preventing his agency review teams from having access to the information they need in order to get to work.
What he's saying: "You lose a lot if the transition is delayed because the new people are not allowed to get their head in the game,” Kelly told Politico.
“The president, with all due respect, does not have to concede. But it’s about the nation. It hurts our national security because the people who should be getting [up to speed], it’s not a process where you go from zero to 1,000 miles per hour," Kelly, who has at times criticized Trump since leaving the White House in January 2019.
Kelly said that Biden should be receiving intelligence briefings because the "transition, in the national security realm in particular and the homeland security realm, is just so important that every day that the transition is delayed really kind of handicaps” the incoming administration.
.....SNIP"