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President Donald Trump could complicate President-elect Joe Biden s job by leaving thousands of political holdovers in office when Inauguration Day comes.
Outgoing presidents typically ask their appointees throughout the government to submit their letters of resignation, but Trump is still disputing the election results and thwarting transition norms.
Biden s team is worried Trump appointees will still be on the job when he arrives in the Oval Office and that the new president will be forced to kick them out of office while he also tries to project unity.
A tale of two transitions amid crisis: Bush smoothed the path for Obama, while Trump creates chaos for Biden
By Jim Puzzanghera Globe Staff,Updated December 22, 2020, 12:06 p.m.
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Then President-elect Barack Obama spoke with outgoing President George W. Bush at the White House in November 2008.DOUG MILLS/NYT
The nation was deep in crisis, the White House was about to switch parties, and the outgoing president was focused on the potential for chaos.
There was to be none of it.
With the economy free-falling in late 2008, George W. Bush instructed members of his administration to go out of their way to make the transition to Barack Obamaâs presidency as smooth as possible. Bush himself ultimately made the biggest concession in that regard, infuriating many fellow Republicans by authorizing a $17.4 billion bailout of General Motors and Chrysler a month before Obama took office.