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Let’s talk about the General Services Administration.
You probably heard about the GSA for the first time this week, because its administrator, Emily Murphy, is holding up the transition by refusing to recognize Biden as the winner of the election.
But GSA’s problems go back to 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-gsa-letter-biden-transition/2020/11/08/07093acc-21e9-11eb-8672-c281c7a2c96e_story.html
But GSA’s problems go back to 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-gsa-letter-biden-transition/2020/11/08/07093acc-21e9-11eb-8672-c281c7a2c96e_story.html
GSA is Trump’s landlord, because it owns the Old Post Office building, which it leases to Trump for his DC hotel.
But the lease prohibits elected officials from benefiting from it, so allowing Trump’s company to be a tenant doesn't make a lot of sense. https://www.citizensforethics.org/legal-action/legal-complaints/gsa-ig-trump-old-post-office-lease/
But the lease prohibits elected officials from benefiting from it, so allowing Trump’s company to be a tenant doesn't make a lot of sense. https://www.citizensforethics.org/legal-action/legal-complaints/gsa-ig-trump-old-post-office-lease/
The fact that Trump is both the tenant and the landlord of the property is an ethics mess. There’s no better example than Trump’s intervention to block the FBI HQ move to prevent a competitor in the neighborhood. https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/was-the-fbi-headquarters-relocation-scrapped-to-protect-trumps-hotel-from-competition/
We sued GSA for records on the FBI HQ debacle. They turned over very little, we appealed, and a court ruled they had to search again. We’re still in court over this one. https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/gsa-avoided-releasing-fbi-headquarters-documents-the-court-ordered-gsa-to-search-again/
As bad as the GSA’s record has been when it comes to covering for Trump (and it really is bad), this week is a new low.
GSA is holding up the steps to ensure smooth transfer of power. It’s even putting national security at risk by blocking Biden’s access to classified information. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/09/us/politics/biden-security-transition.html
We launched an investigation this week into the GSA administrator’s legal basis for refusing to ascertain the winner of the election. https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/foia-requests/gsa-presidential-transition/
Congress needs to hold a hearing to get to the bottom of it. https://www.citizensforethics.org/legal-action/legal-complaints/crew-sends-congress-letter-on-gsas-role-in-presidential-transition/
