Trump Holds Up Transition Process, Skirting Ethics and Fund-Raising Rules

Less than a month before Election Day, Donald J. Trump’s campaign has not yet participated in the government’s official presidential transition process, a significant break from past practice that could threaten the seamless transfer of power should the Republican nominee win election.

Mr. Trump’s team has missed two key deadlines to sign agreements with the administration that are set by federal law and has also failed to sign an ethics plan that is required to jump-start the process of planning for a new administration. Mr. Trump’s representatives did attend a meeting at the White House last month, but they otherwise have had little communication with the Biden administration about the handoff and have skipped the opportunity to receive national security briefings.

Mr. Trump’s approach is a clear, although not wholly unexpected, departure from how previous presidential candidates prepared to take control of the vast federal bureaucracy. It appears to be guided, at least in part, by the candidate’s deep suspicion and mistrust of the government he is running to lead.

Experts note Mr. Trump may also have other incentives. His refusal to sign the documents allows him to circumvent fund-raising rules that put limits on private contributions to the transition effort, as well as ethics rules meant to avoid possible conflicts of interest for the incoming administration.

Representatives of Mr. Trump’s transition team, formally known as Trump Vance 2025 Transition Inc., said its lawyers were still negotiating with the Biden administration over terms of the agreements.

Lawyers for both parties “continue to constructively engage” in talks, Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon, the Trump transition co-chairs, said in a statement to The New