Democrats are concerned that President Donald Trump and his aides will hinder or even sabotage a transition to a new administration if he loses the 2020 election.
The Partnership for Public Service's Center for Presidential Transition Advisory Board has already issued an open appeal to both Trump and his Democratic challengers to start thinking early about how a transition could take place, reports Politico, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has unveiled a plan that describes how she'll move quickly to staff the government if she wins.
"Failure to plan in advance can not only result in delays filling key jobs but literally may put the country's national and economic security at risk," the Partnership for Public Service says in its appeal, urging that planning begins as early as this spring.
Warren, meanwhile, says in her plan that unlike with previous transitions, "we will not be able to assume good faith cooperation on the part of the outgoing administration."
Meanwhile, Democrats working for other candidates in the 2020 race, speaking under the condition of anonymity because their campaigns do not want to appear that they assume Trump will lose, said they're worried that Trump's political appointees won't meet with an incoming team.
Further, they say they are concerned if any paperwork will be left to guide them or if they will be able to trust the documents, or even if Trump will accept the results of the election and agree to leave office.
"This could be the most hostile, least professional transition in American history," a former Obama administration official said. "The new administration will have to spend the early period — when it should be hitting the ground running — unearthing buried bodies."
The Trump campaign did not comment, but a White House spokesman said the administration "will meet all requirements under the law as it relates to any needed translation between administrations."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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