Trump says his transition with the Biden administration is ‘not smooth’

President-elect Trump on Tuesday said his work with the Biden administration as he prepares to take office has not gone as smoothly as the outgoing president promised, suggesting the White House is purposely undermining him with its 11th-hour policy agenda. 

Trump said the Biden administration's last minute spending and its new restrictions on offshore drilling are preventing a smooth transition from occurring, though it is typical for presidents to pursue their preferred policy outcomes until the day they leave office. Trump’s incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, recently said the Biden White House has been helpful and is setting up the incoming administration for success. 

“They told me they’re going to do everything they can to make the transition to the new administration as smooth as possible,” Trump said at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Tuesday. “It’s not smooth.”

He cited Biden’s decision this week to ban offshore drilling off significant portions of U.S. coasts, as well as its “playing with the courts”—perhaps a reference to Biden and the Senate’s push to confirm as many judges as possible.  

“We are inheriting a difficult situation from the outgoing administration and they’re trying everything they can to make it more difficult,” Trump said. 

Trump and his team delayed the transition process after it for months refused to sign agreements that allow presidential candidates to use federal real estate and IT and election winners to deploy staff into agencies. He still has not signed the former agreement and only signed the latter weeks after the election. He only agreed to allow his intended nominees to be vetted by the Justice Department in December, which Senate leaders said this week is delaying the confirmation process as they are still awaiting the results of background checks. 

Trump, however, said the blame lies with Biden. He noted federal agencies are working to quickly obligate as many funds as possible related to climate change mitigation from the Inflation Reduction Act before he takes office. 

“This is a man who said he wants a transition to be smooth,” Trump said. “All they do is talk.” 

In an interview with Axios this week, White House Chief of Staff-designate Susie Wiles said she has gotten along well with her counterpart. 

Jeff Zients, the current White House chief of staff, "has been very helpful,” Wiles said. “He has made great suggestions, helped make sure we stay on time with required functions, helped us navigate the labyrinth that is the Executive Office of the President, and been very professional.”

Valerie Smith Boyd, director of the Partnership for Public Service’s Center for presidential transition, said the delays in getting the process started led to added time for “trust-building,” but from her vantage point “agencies are providing every briefing requested.” Trump’s agency review teams are in place, she said, and are aiding the Trump team in its efforts to manage the federal government after it takes power. Boyd rejected the notion that Biden’s pursuit of his agenda is equivalent to an undermining of Trump. 

“One of the strengths of our democracy is we have one president at a time and that president serves until noon on Jan. 20,” Boyd said. “It is normal for incumbent presidents and their teams to seek to complete and codify their priorities while they’re in office.”  

Wiles said that Trump has been deeply involved in the vetting of administration staff, including by ensuring they are prepared to hold federal employees accountable. 

“President Trump 47 will have the finest public servants available with great work ethic, a demonstrated ability to break down bureaucratic walls to help hold the bloated federal workforce accountable, have fealty to the conservative and common-sense principles that President Trump ran—and won—on, and be determined to make a difference during their time serving,” she said. 

Boyd noted that, unlike Trump, presidential candidates typically sign agreements with Justice to enable FBI background checks to happen as quickly as possible. The Senate has the right to that information, she said, and presidents like to have some core contingent of their cabinet confirmed on Inauguration Day. 

In another preview of his administration’s priorities, Trump said he was “for spending cuts” but would ensure the government does not default when the country hits its borrowing limit later this year.