Donald Trumpʼs transition group signed a long-awaited deal with the White House on 11/26‚ about 3 weeks after the election establishing ground-rules for the power transfer process
The custom-made agreement breaks from past transitions — Trumpʼs team created its own ethics guidelines rather than using the governments standard pledge (which includes some interesting differences from past transitions). Their plan doesnt have the same conflict-of-interest rules that were part of VP Harris earlier agreement.
Trump brings significant business interests to the table: his $3.76-billion stake in Truth Social platform; various real-estate holdings; and foreign business deals. His family-run company — managed by his son Eric Trump — controls hotels golf-courses and NYC properties
The transition team made some non-traditional choices:
* Skipping government office space usage
* Using private money instead of federal funding
* Creating custom security protocols
* Avoiding extra government oversight
Susie Wiles‚ the incoming chief-of-staff explains their position:
This engagement allows our intended Cabinet nominees to begin critical preparations; including the deployment of landing teams to every department and agency
The White House — while not fully agreeing with these unusual arrangements — moved forward with the process to avoid more hold-ups. The transition group promised to show their donor list to public even though theyre using private cash
Background checks became another discussion point: the team hasnt signed the usual Justice Department agreement for FBI screening of nominees yet discussions about this are still moving forward. The transition team says its existing security measures will work fine without extra bureaucratic steps