“No public transparency”: Trump still hasn’t disclosed who’s funding his transition team

President-elect Donald Trump still hasn’t disclosed the donors behind his transition efforts, causing concern among Democrats and political experts about the peaceful transfer of power, The New York Times reported Sunday. 

Trump is also yet to sign several Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) required to facilitate a transfer of power, a White House official told reporters on Thursday. The documents place limits on private transition fundraising in exchange for $7 million in federal funding to help with the transition.

Without Trump’s commitment to financial transparency, any private donor, including foreign nationals, can contribute to his transition efforts without their names or companies being disclosed. 

“When the money isn’t disclosed, it’s not clear how much everybody is giving, who is giving it and what they are getting in return for their donations,” Heath Brown, a professor of public policy at John Jay College of Criminal Justice told The Times. “It’s an area where the vast majority of Americans would agree that they want to know who is paying that bill.”

Until the MOU is signed by Trump, the current administration cannot provide briefings or security clearances for incoming officials, a typically arduous process.

“We require these background checks of … drug enforcement agents. We require [them] of first-time prosecutors for the federal government. Why wouldn’t we get these background checks for the most important job in the United States government?” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

Under the Presidential Transition Enhancement Act, which Trump himself signed into law in 2019, incoming presidents are “required to develop and publicly release ethics plans for their transition teams prior to the election.” The law also restricts the amount a person can donate to a Presidential transition to $5,000.

Trump’s transition team leaders, Linda McMahon and Howard Lutnick, have both repeatedly said the president-elect will sign the documents, the Times reported. But Trump has already missed two deadlines for doing so, including the release of his transition ethics plan and entering a MoU with the White House “regarding access to federal employees, facilities, and documents,” by Oct. 1.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., warned that Trump’s refusal to enact a smooth transition is “threatening the American public.” On Thursday, she wrote the Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA), which manages the transition of power, a letter expressing her concern.

“The Transition remains unbound by donor contribution limits and disclosure requirements, and is relying on private donors rather than federal funds — opening Trump’s team to financial corruption with no public transparency even before he takes office,” the letter reads. “In effect, President-elect Trump is undermining his administration’s ability to manage urgent national security threats, health and safety threats, and serious conflicts of interest starting on day one of his presidency.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., also took a jab at Trump’s secrecy. 

“What do you bet Trump’s transition is being funded by a bunch of looters and polluters, out to loot our country and pollute our country?” he wrote in a post on X.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that President Joe Biden has offered Trump and his team the “assistance needed to make sure that happens in a way that is peaceful, obviously, and efficient,” but the president-elect has yet to officially begin the transition process. She added that Trump’s team “have what they need/”

“Those conversations continue, and we want this to go smoothly, and that’s what we’re trying to get to,” Jean-Pierre said.

Brian Hughes, a Trump transition spokesperson, told The Times that the president-elect lawyers “continue to engage with the Biden-Harris administration lawyers regarding all agreements contemplated by the Presidential Transition Act.”