Business Leaders, Citing Damage to Country, Urge Trump to Begin Transition
At the urging of New York’s attorney general, business leaders in New
York pushed for the Trump administration to begin a transfer of power.
President Trump leaving the White House briefing room after speaking to
reporters in Washington on Friday.
President Trump leaving the White House briefing room after speaking to
reporters in Washington on Friday.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times
Kate Kelly <https://www.nytimes.com/by/kate-kelly>Danny Hakim
<https://www.nytimes.com/by/danny-hakim>
ByKate Kelly <https://www.nytimes.com/by/kate-kelly>andDanny Hakim
<https://www.nytimes.com/by/danny-hakim>
* NYT, Nov. 23, 2020
*
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Concerned that President Trump’s refusal to accept the election results
is hurting the country, more than 160 top American executives asked the
administration on Monday to immediately acknowledge Joseph R. Biden Jr.
as the president-elect and begin the transition to a new administration.
Even one of Mr. Trump’s stalwart supporters, Stephen A. Schwarzman, the
chief executive of Blackstone, the private equity firm, said in a
statement that “the outcome is very certain today and the country should
move on.” While he did not sign a letter sent to the administration by
the other executives, he said he was “now ready to help President-elect
Biden and his team.”
Signatories tothe letter
<https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/business-leaders-letter-trump-transition/cfb231ee1058dc58/full.pdf>included
the chief executives of Mastercard, Visa, MetLife, Accenture, the
Carlyle Group, Condé Nast, McGraw-Hill, WeWork and American
International Group, among others. They included some of the most
important players in the financial industry: David M. Solomon, the chief
executive of Goldman Sachs; Laurence D. Fink, chief executive of the
asset management giant BlackRock; Jon Gray, Blackstone’s president; and
Henry R. Kravis, a prominent Republican donor who is the co-chief
executive of KKR, a private equity firm.
The letter was also signed by George H. Walker, the chief executive of
the money manager Neuberger Berman and a second cousin to President
George W. Bush, and Jeff T. Blau, the chief executive of one of New York
City’s largest private developers, the Related Companies, who has been a
major donor to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, filings show.
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The move was one of many signs that Mr. Trump is losing support. On
Monday,General Motors said
<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/climate/general-motors-trump.html>that
it would abandon Mr. Trump’s battle to nullify California’s fuel economy
rules meant to curb global warming, and more than 100 prominent national
security experts who are Republicans or served in Republican
administrationsimplored G.O.P. members of Congress
<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/23/us/joe-biden-trump#national-security-experts-who-served-in-republican-administrations-urge-trump-to-concede>to
demand that Mr. Trump concede and allow the transition to begin.
As a way of gaining leverage over the G.O.P., some of the corporate
executives who signed on to the joint letter Monday have also discussed
withholding campaign donations from the two Republican Senate candidates
in Georgia unless party leaders agree to push for a presidential
transition, according to four people who participated in a conference
call Friday in which the notion was discussed. The two runoff elections
in Georgia, which will take place in early January, will determine the
balance of power in the United States Senate.
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In the letter sent Monday, the business leaders demanded thatEmily W.
Murphy
<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/09/us/politics/emily-murphy-trump-biden.html>,
head of the General Services Administration, issue a letter of
ascertainment affirming that Mr. Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala
Harris had won the election. Ms. Murphy has so far resisted calls to
begin the normal transition planning, which includes providing resources
and money to an incoming administration as it prepares to take control.
“Every day that an orderly presidential transition process is delayed,
our democracy grows weaker in the eyes of our own citizens and the
nation’s stature on the global stage is diminished,” the executives
wrote in the letter,which was obtained by The New York Times
<https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/business-leaders-letter-trump-transition/cfb231ee1058dc58/full.pdf>.
“Withholding resources and vital information from an incoming
administration puts the public and economic health and security of
America at risk.”
The initiative comes as Mr. Trump has refused to acknowledge Mr. Biden
as the winner, subverted the nation’s electoral process with unfounded
claims of fraud, and put pressure on state Republicans to try to impede
certification of the results.
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The Friday evening executive call, which included a group of about a
dozen business leaders, was preceded by a meeting of Democratic state
attorneys general that took place on Thursday evening, in which
participants discussed what they could do to ensure an orderly
transition. In the wake of that, New York’s attorney general, Letitia
James, was asked to approach business leaders in her jurisdiction about
the possibility of pushing the stalled transition into motion.
“She said they asked her to reach out to the New York business
community,” Kathryn Wylde, the chief executive of the Partnership for
New York City, said of Ms. James. Ms. Wylde took part in a call the next
evening with Ms. James and the executives, who were donors to both
political parties.
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Ms. Wylde said Ms. James told the group that the attorneys general
“thought that the New York business community” would “have influence in
convincing Republicans around the country that this should be over, that
the transition should be acknowledged, and that it was a frightening
proposition that this would remain unresolved.”
Ms. James, in a statement Sunday night, said, “This isn’t about partisan
politics, but about protecting our democracy.”
The Presidential Transition
Latest Updates
<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/24/us/joe-biden-trump?name=styln-transition®ion=inline&block=storyline_latest_updates_recirc&action=click&pgtype=Article&impression_id=cd5e3550-2e65-11eb-9e54-fb6b2e0cf39c&variant=show&index=0>
Updated
Nov. 24, 2020, 9:07 a.m. ET53 minutes ago
53 minutes ago
* Trump is renovating Mar-a-Lago, ostensibly preparing for life
post-presidency.
<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/24/us/joe-biden-trump?name=styln-transition®ion=inline&block=storyline_latest_updates_recirc&action=click&pgtype=Article&impression_id=cd5e5c60-2e65-11eb-9e54-fb6b2e0cf39c&variant=show&index=1#trump-is-renovating-mar-a-lago-ostensibly-preparing-for-life-post-presidency>
* Biden is expected to name Janet Yellen for Treasury secretary. She’d
be the first woman in the job.
<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/24/us/joe-biden-trump?name=styln-transition®ion=inline&block=storyline_latest_updates_recirc&action=click&pgtype=Article&impression_id=cd5e5c61-2e65-11eb-9e54-fb6b2e0cf39c&variant=show&index=1#biden-is-expected-to-name-janet-yellen-for-treasury-secretary-shed-be-the-first-woman-in-the-job>
* Biden will announce cabinet picks today even as Trump vows to keep
fighting the results.
<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/24/us/joe-biden-trump?name=styln-transition®ion=inline&block=storyline_latest_updates_recirc&action=click&pgtype=Article&impression_id=cd5e5c62-2e65-11eb-9e54-fb6b2e0cf39c&variant=show&index=1#biden-will-announce-cabinet-picks-today-even-as-trump-vows-to-keep-fighting-the-results>
“Without the rule of law and an orderly transfer of power, everything
from commerce to health care delivery to national security is in peril,
and our business leaders can see that as clearly as the rest of us,” she
added.
Among the topics that came up on the call, according to participants,
was the idea of withholding support from Senators Kelly Loeffler and
David Perdue, both Republicans,who are running for re-election in
Georgia
<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/07/us/politics/georgia-senate-runoff-explainer.html>,
until the presidential transition is underway.
At least one participant, Rob Speyer, the chief executive of Tishman
Speyer, suggested that some wealthy donors had already been considering
withholding support, according to four people with knowledge of his
comments.
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(Mr. Speyer, a registered independent, is largely a Democratic donor,
while his father, Jerry Speyer, is largely a Republican donor.)
Business leaders, along with a number of other Americans, are
increasingly worried that delays in the typical transition planning will
exacerbate the pandemic and slow plans to roll out vaccines.
Mr. Schwarzman, in his statement, said: “I supported President Trump and
the strong economic path he built. Like many in the business community,
I am now ready to help President-elect Biden and his team as they
confront the significant challenges of rebuilding our post-Covid economy.”
The Partnership for New York City, which focuses on economic growth in
the metropolitan area, has spent much of the year helping its members
navigate the health and economic challenges of the pandemic.
“We urge respect for the democratic process and unified support for our
duly elected leadership,” the group said in its letter. “There is not a
moment to waste in the battle against the pandemic and for the recovery
and healing of our nation to begin.”
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