President Donald Trump’s administration has continued to vet potential candidates for various job openings in his administration, despite Joe Biden winning the election. This is one of the latest pieces of evidence that Trump may not hand over the presidency peacefully.
The White House Presidential Personnel Office (PPO) is reportedly still working on vetting possible candidates for specific positions within the federal government. The PPO is conducting background checks potential candidates and contacting their references. These roles would be filled in early January, despite the expected inauguration of Biden on January 20, 2021. The PPO is currently overseen by John McEntee, who has firmly pledged his loyalty to Trump in the past.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was asked on Tuesday if Trump would be transitioning out of the White House smoothly, to which he responded, “there will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration,” denying Biden’s victory completely.
Trump has also launched an enormous legal battle in every battleground state in order to recount votes where Biden and Trump were separated by a thin margin, or where Biden won unexpectedly.
Trump also seems to be hiring and firing as though he’s heading into his second term. On Monday, he announced on Twitter that he had “terminated” Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.
The president’s behavior is no surprise, considering he declined to commit to a peaceful transition to Biden, a long-held tradition of American democracy.
The Trump campaign has been so desperate to find incidences of voter fraud. They have even launched a hotline for Republicans concerned with potential fraud that they might have noticed during the election. The hotline, though, has reportedly been taken as a joke, with numerous callers impersonating Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Joe Rogan and other famous figures, rather than calling in with actual concerns of fraud.
While the Trump Administration continues to fight their battles, Biden has been communicating with world leaders, who all have accepted his victory, about his plans for unifying a divided America with the rest of the world.
