Biden moves ahead with transition, says Trump’s refusal to concede the election is ‘an embarrassment’

• President-elect Joe Biden said on Tuesday that his team’s transition efforts are moving ahead regardless of President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the 2020 election.
• “The fact that they’re not willing to acknowledge we’ve won is not of much consequence,” he said.
• On Trump’s refusal to concede, Biden said, “I just think it’s an embarrassment, quite frankly.”
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday brushed aside the Trump administration’s widespread denial of his victory, telling reporters that transition efforts will go on regardless of the White House’s level of cooperation.

“First of all, we’re already beginning the transition,” Biden said. “We’re well underway.”

As of Tuesday, the General Services Administration had yet to provide access to basic transition materials — such as office space, classified information, and security clearances — to the Biden team, as they are obligated to do under the 1963 Presidential Transition Act.

The Biden transition team is reportedly weighing legal action over the stonewalling, according to Axios.

Biden made efforts to bring the temperature down in his remarks, striking a calm tone and describing the Trump administration’s hesitancy to allow government agencies to cooperate with the Biden transition team as irrelevant when it comes to their efforts to build a new cabinet and agency apparatus.

"The fact that they're not willing to acknowledge we've won is not of much consequence," Biden said.

The president-elect is already doing calls with world leaders, such as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday. 

Under the US Constitution, Biden will take office on January 20 and install new cabinet officers.

While Biden's press conference in Delaware mostly focused on describing how he will go about picking various cabinet members and agency heads regardless of the Trump administration's help, he did comment on President Donald Trump's refusal to concede the election.

"I just think it's an embarrassment, quite frankly," Biden said.

When asked what he would say to Trump if he were watching the press conference, Biden alluded to the fact he has yet to receive the customary phone call from the loser of the election.

"Mr. President, I look forward to speaking with you," he said.

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