WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump is doubling down on accusing the Biden administration of making his transition back to the White House difficult, even as President Joe Biden insists he is restoring “democratic norms” to the process.
Marking his latest criticism of his successor and now predecessor’s handling of the transition period, Trump on Tuesday railed against the “outgoing administration” for leaving him a “difficult situation” as he prepares to make his return to the Oval Office.
“They told me that we’re gonna do everything possible to make this transition to the new administration very smooth. It’s not smooth,” Trump declared during a press conference at his Florida Mar-a-Lago club.
The incoming president, who will take office in less than two weeks, specifically cited the state of inflation, interest rates being “far too high,” and the administration “playing with the courts” as factors. He reiterated his criticism of Biden’s move this week to ban new offshore oil and gas drilling in some areas, pledging to immediately unban it and “drill, baby, drill” instead, despite such a reversal potentially requiring the involvement of Congress.
It comes after Trump took to his social media site, Truth Social, on Monday to accuse Biden of doing “everything possible” to make the transition “as difficult as possible.” Speaking on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show on Monday, the president-elect accused Biden of just “throwing” money at people “at levels that nobody’s ever seen” as he prepares to leave office.
Since the November election victory, Biden has sought to emphasize the importance of a peaceful transfer of power, stressing he wants to get back to the transition traditions that Trump denied him four years ago.
Asked about Trump’s criticisms on Monday during a briefing with reporters on Air Force One, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pointed to Biden inviting the president-elect to the White House days after the election and hosting him in the Oval Office for well over an hour. In an op-ed in the Washington Post on Sunday about the fourth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, Biden said he would attend Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 — Trump did not attend Biden’s — and invited him to the White House that morning.
“This is a president who is an institutionalist,” Jean-Pierre said. “He believes in our democracy. He believes on doing the right thing for this country, the right thing for the American people.”
Speaking to reporters following an event at the White House on Sunday, Biden said “so far” the transfer of power seems to be going smoothly but insinuated that there could be issues within Trump’s own transition efforts.
“There’s no problem with us, I think there’s a problem internally with them,” he said.
Earlier in the process, Trump’s team was late in signing a Congressionally mandated agreement designed to help guide the transition between administrations.
Meanwhile, Trump’s incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, told Axios that her equivalent in the Biden administration, Jeff Zients, has been “very helpful” amid the transition.