Biden communications director Kate Bedingfield and transition senior adviser Jen Psaki on Wednesday denied that the President-elect needs President Trump’s help now that General Services Administration chief Emily Murphy has green lit Biden’s formal transition.
While Psaki and Bedingfield confirmed during a transition briefing on Wednesday that Biden and Vice-President elect Kamala Harris are expected to receive the Presidential Daily briefing next week, and that the team has been in contact with more than 50 major federal agencies, they also assured that a conversation with the sitting President (who still refuses to concede) isn’t essential.
When asked whether Biden would need to talk to Trump to ensure a smooth transition, or if the team is receiving “sufficient information” from conversations with people in the West Wing and at the agency level thus far, Bedingfield replied that a conversation is not necessary.
“We do not feel that it is necessary for President-elect Biden to speak with President Trump to get that information,” Bedingfield said. “We believe we’ve been getting the information that our teams need.”
Bedingfield added that the transition team is open to speaking with Trump if the sitting President would like to.
“Certainly should President Trump want to speak with President-elect Biden, then that’s something we would work out in the future,” Bedingfield said. “But in terms of whether it is mission critical to being able to move the transition forward efficiently, no.”
Bedingfield and Psaki’s remarks comes a day after Biden introduced his first Cabinet and administration picks for national security and foreign policy positions, and highlighted the diversity of his selections.
Biden campaign's Kate Bedingfield says there is no need for Biden to talk to Trump in order for the transition to move forward. pic.twitter.com/ae3ztgbsxO
— The Recount (@therecount) November 25, 2020
