Trump finally signs agreement with Biden White House to begin formal transition

Delay meant Biden team could not hand over critical classified material to Trump team

President Joe Biden hosted president-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office this month. AP

Tall metal fencing surrounds the grounds of the White and workers are busy building viewing platforms in preparation for the US presidential inauguration on January 20.

But three weeks after Donald Trump won the election, the formal transition process between the administration of Joe Biden and Mr Trump's has only just begun.

Mr Trump on Tuesday reached a required agreement with the Biden White House to allow his transition staff to co-ordinate with the existing federal workforce before taking office. The congressionally mandated agreement allows transition aides to work with federal agencies and access non-public information, and gives approval to government workers to talk to the transition team.

But Mr Trump has declined to sign an agreement with the General Services Administration that would have given his team access to secure government offices and email accounts, in part because it would require that the president-elect limit contributions to $5,000 and reveal who is donating to his transition effort. The Trump transition team says it would disclose its donors to the public and would not take foreign donations.

The White House agreement was supposed to have been signed by October 1, according to the Presidential Transition Act, and the Biden administration had issued both public and private appeals for the Trump team to sign on.

Experts say Mr Trump is ahead of schedule in terms of announcing most of his picks for cabinet appointments, but his nominees have not had the FBI background checks that the Senate traditionally requires before confirming them.

Martha Kumar, director of the White House Transition Project, noted how important it was for the Trump team to begin the transition process.

"You're hopping on a moving train," Ms Kumar told The National. "The government is operating, it doesn't stop because presidents change, and so you need to be up to date on what's going on in the world."

A White House official told The National that logistical efforts are well under way to "off board" staff by mid-January, but the process of handing over information related to foreign policy, national security or the access to federal agencies could not begin without the transition documents being signed.

Last week, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met Mike Waltz, a Republican congressman who has been nominated to succeed him. Mr Waltz said the two held discussions and were working closely together.

“For our adversaries out there that think this is a time of opportunity that they can play one administration off the other, they’re wrong, and we are – we are hand in glove. We are – we are one team with the United States in this transition,” he told Fox news.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby confirmed the meeting took place, but did not provide any more details.

"The President has been consistent on this, that he wants to make sure across the administration, and that certainly includes us here in the National Security Council, that we are doing everything that we can to effect a professional and an orderly transition," Mr Kirby told reporters on Monday.