May 14 (UPI) — As required by federal law, the Trump administration has submitted to plan for a potential transition of power next January if President Donald Trump is defeated in November.
A nine-page report on the plan was sent to two congressional committees late Wednesday. It establishes a White House Transition Coordinating Council and an Agency Transition Directors Council.
Federal law requires the transitional councils be submitted six months prior to the election. This year’s presidential vote is scheduled for Nov. 3.
The WHTCC would advise executive departments and agencies and the federal transition coordinator on a transition if presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden wins the election. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows will serve as WHTCC chair and White House deputy Chris Liddell as its vice chair.
The ATDC would coordinate the transition among the executive office and ensure the federal government has a strategy to address inter-agency challenges and turnover. The Office of Management and Budget recently ordered agencies to assign directors to the ATDC.
Biden, once formally nominated at the Democratic Party convention this summer, will assign a representative to the council.
The Commerce Department building in Washington, D.C., will serve as the transition office. The agency is upgrading the space to prepare it for staff by September.
The executive branch is also required by law to prepare a summary of “specific operational threats to national security, major military or covert operations, and pending decisions on possible uses of military force” to hand over to any president-elect after the election.
