Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

Show NLP summaries collection recirc on article pages

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

Lawyer preparation suggests Trump won’t testify in New York trial

How Jim Jordan tried to connect the dots on Biden’s $8 million book deal

‘Never Trump?’ ‘Never Biden’ voters might loom larger.

Blue Origin to fly again as space tourism struggles to get off the ground

These ISIS news anchors are AI fakes. Their propaganda is real.

Boeing delays spaceflight again as it continues to struggle with leak

Biden’s false claim that inflation was 9 percent when he took office

Did Obamacare ‘massively’ increase the cost of health care?

Carolyn Hax: Friends say to break other plans to avoid offending new man

Ask Amy: Should my husband get a say in what I do with my inheritance?

Carolyn Hax: Is it weird to ask other people to care about you?

In photos: The 149th running of the Preakness Stakes

Book Tour: At home with Amor Towles

Trump cameos in campaign ad filmed during N.Y. trial recess

The other side of Punta Cana: A crackdown on Haitians

Top White House aide to meet Netanyahu, who is under political pressure

With its energy network nearly destroyed, Ukraine already fears the winter

The world’s coolest hotels want to tell you a story

6 Airbnb red flags to spot before you make a booking mistake

Cruise ships to return to Baltimore two months after bridge collapse 

She finished chemo then got a medical degree: ‘The dream is real now’

Puppy abandoned with heart-rending note is adopted, named Minerva

Man, 91, shocks tiny firehouse with $500K gift: ‘Nobody knew how much I’d saved’

Russia shows resilience. There is more to do for Ukraine.

Trump promises tax cuts and fewer rules. CEOs shouldn’t fall for it.

Tariffs against China hamstring the transition to a clean energy future

Kyle Finnegan’s rare hiccup helps Phillies to a 4-3 win in 10 innings

Joey Gallo returns, but Nats endure another quiet offensive night

Walter Johnson’s jersey from 1920 showdown with Babe Ruth sold at auction

Trump

See more coverage in your recommendations

Get the weekly Campaign Moment newsletter

Set alerts for major election developments

Election 2024

The Campaign Moment newsletter

Politics alerts

After weeks of delay, uncertainty and lawsuits, President-elect Joe Biden’s team plunged Tuesday into a formal transition, with Biden aides beginning to meet with agency officials  in preparation for a head-snapping Trump-to-Biden shift throughout the vast federal bureaucracy.

Uncertainty remains over how much cooperation the Biden team will get from Trump’s political appointees — some of whom are embracing the false notion that the president could somehow still win reelection — as Biden hopes to rebuild a demoralized federal workforce and prepare it to implement his drastically different agenda.

But Tuesday marked a clear shift from delay to action. Following Monday night’s long-postponed decision by a key administration official to approve the transition, Biden aides held at least 20 meetings with Trump officials and were in active discussions with every federal agency, as well as the White House, preparing for the daunting task of taking over a crumbling economy and overseeing the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/11/23/covid-getting-vaccine/">distribution of a coronavirus vaccine</a>. They have been in touch with Anthony S. Fauci, whom Biden has said he would keep as the nation’s top infectious-disease expert.

The president-elect will begin receiving the President’s Daily Brief, a compilation of the most sensitive information affecting the nation, and the secure facilities that Biden’s team has set up in Washington and in Wilmington, Del., can now be used to review classified material.

It was a pivotal moment in a transition that has been held up in unprecedented fashion by a losing president refusing to concede. The transition will be unusually challenging in part because the Trump administration wreaked havoc with many agencies’ procedures and ethics, and Biden aides signaled that the transition’s first job may be determining the extent of the damage.

The Biden team got new email addresses in the hours after the transition became official, along with a new website domain affiliated with the federal government. They prepared to go over voluminous briefing books that provide updates on budgets, upcoming projects and nascent regulations, and the FBI can now begin conducting background checks on Biden’s nominees.

In an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, the president-elect put a positive spin on the delayed process, a week after <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-transition-trump/2020/11/16/d7fb10f2-2828-11eb-9b14-ad872157ebc9_story.html">warning that American lives and national security were at risk</a> without a smooth transition.

“I think we’re going to not be so far behind the curve as we thought we might be in the past,” Biden said. “There’s a lot of immediate discussion, and I must say the outreach has been sincere. [It] has not been begrudging so far, and I don’t expect it to be.”

Biden on Tuesday also formally introduced his new foreign policy and national security team, one set to take a much different approach than the “America First” policy that Trump pursued over the past four years.

“America is back,” Biden said at the start. “Ready to lead the world, not retreat from it, once again to sit at the head of the table. Ready to confront our adversaries and not reject our allies.”

He pointed to the past diplomatic achievements of his team, all of whom have spent many years in public service. Despite that experience, Biden sought to focus more on their barrier-breaking qualities.

Alejandro Mayorkas, who held several posts in the Obama administration, would be the nation’s first Latino homeland security secretary if confirmed by the Senate; Avril Haines, a former deputy director of the CIA, would be the first female director of national intelligence; and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/11/23/kerry-climate-change/">former secretary of state John F. Kerry will hold a new position as climate envoy</a>.

“They’ll tell me what I need to know, not what I want to know,” Biden said. “To the American people, this team will make us proud to be Americans.”

Several nominees made a point of praising federal workers, signaling they would value diplomatic and intelligence staffers in a way that Trump had not. “I’ve witnessed their passion, their energy, their courage up close,” said Antony Blinken, tapped to be secretary of state. Haines added, “The work you do, oftentimes under the most austere conditions imaginable, is just indispensable.”

The transition continued to pick up momentum in other ways, as Pennsylvania and Nevada certified Biden’s wins, though Trump continued to fight the results in court and insisted that he will “never concede.”

“Joe Biden did win Arizona,” Gov. Doug Ducey (R), who had been reluctant to declare Biden the victor, acknowledged Tuesday during an interview with KTAR radio.

Trump had earlier created a standoff over the transition by insisting, against all evidence, that he had won the election, injecting drama and uncertainty into the typically bureaucratic process of the transfer of power.

The transition could not proceed until the head of the General Services Administration, a low-profile agency that normally handles real estate issues for the government, made an official ruling.

That process had been frozen until late Monday when Emily W. Murphy, an administrator whom Trump appointed in 2017, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gsa-emily-murphy-transition-biden/2020/11/23/c0f43e84-2de0-11eb-96c2-aac3f162215d_story.html">wrote a letter to Biden affirming that it could proceed</a>. The decision came 16 days after Biden was declared the winner by numerous news outlets, based on projected voting results in the key states.

Biden officials initially tried to work around Trump’s resistance by meeting with outside groups that had kept a close eye on various Trump agencies during his presidency. But without formal approval, the Biden team could not talk directly to the heads of federal agencies or offices, scour their finances or read critical internal documents.

While Trump is still not conceding, he has now <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/michigan-vote-certification/2020/11/23/c435ed24-2d52-11eb-bae0-50bb17126614_story.html">allowed the mechanics of the transition to move forward</a>. Some within the GSA had feared he would block them longer or even fire those within the agency involved in the decision.

Instead, the president praised the department while insisting its determination was not definitive. “Remember, the GSA has been terrific, and Emily Murphy has done a great job, but the GSA does not determine who the next President of the United States will be,” <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1331247567041081345?s=20">Trump wrote Tuesday on Twitter</a>.

Biden, speaking to reporters Tuesday, said he would be willing to meet with Trump, though an invitation appears unlikely. “Of course I would, if he asked,” Biden said.

Biden’s transition will now receive $6.3 million in federal funds that had been held up. Biden’s team has also raised private money to supplement the federal funds, bringing in nearly $7 million even before the election, according to a person familiar with the fundraising who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

Even before Monday’s announcement, Biden’s transition team had received government-issued computers and iPhones. It had also been granted 10,000 square feet of office space in the Herbert C. Hoover Building in Washington, although most of the work is being done remotely because of the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/coronavirus/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">coronavirus</a> pandemic.

Biden staffers had temporary security clearances, but their access to information was limited.

On Tuesday, though, the gears began grinding in earnest throughout the government.

At the Environmental Protection Agency, acting deputy chief of staff Wes Carpenter met with the transition team’s point person, Patrice Simms. When it comes to the environment, the transition from Trump to Biden is likely to involve a dizzying effort to halt the deregulatory zeal of the past four years and to reestablish the United States as a global force for tackling climate change.

At the Department of Justice — where some officials were privately frustrated at being unable to work with Biden’s team sooner — Lee Lofthus, the assistant attorney general for administration, was tapped to work with Biden’s agency team, led by Christopher H. Schroeder, a former Justice Department official now at Duke Law School, according to a Justice Department official.

The official said Lofthus would soon coordinate briefings for Biden’s team, to review the budget, department organization and other components affecting the agency.

At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agency’s transition team was scheduled to hold an initial call with the Biden administration’s review committee Tuesday afternoon. NOAA leadership has prepared “extensive” briefing materials on agency operations, a senior NOAA official said.

Officials at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, who had previously ordered civil servants not to talk to Biden’s transition team, were scheduling meetings Tuesday and putting together a briefing book.

Biden’s transition effort is being overseen by Ted Kaufman, one of his closest and longest-serving advisers, and over the past week, the team has focused on naming Cabinet secretaries and top White House officials.

While many of the nominees are well known, at least within Washington circles, Biden on Tuesday sought to introduce them as individuals. Several spoke of their families’ backgrounds as refugees, immigrants or outsiders, setting a tone that was markedly different from the Trump administration.

“My fellow career diplomats and public servants around the world, I want to say to you: America is back, multilateralism is back, diplomacy is back,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Biden’s choice for ambassador to the United Nations.

Haines, who would oversee the intelligence community, said she would tell Biden things he may not want to hear — another remark that seemed designed to contrast with Trump, who has often publicly doubted the nation’s top intelligence officials.

“Mr. President-elect, you know that I have never shied away from speaking truth to power,” she said, adding that Biden will value the intelligence community “even when what I have to say may be inconvenient or difficult — and I assure you, there will be those times.”

Blinken, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-picks-antony-blinken-as-secretary-of-state-emphasizing-experience-and-the-foreign-policy-establishment/2020/11/22/94f91ac6-2d3a-11eb-bae0-50bb17126614_story.html">a longtime adviser who was chosen as secretary of state</a>, recounted the journey of his stepfather, a Holocaust survivor from Poland who was saved by an African American soldier after four years in a concentration camp.

“He fell to his knees and said the only three words he knew in English that his mother had taught him: ‘God Bless America,’ ” Blinken said. “That’s who we are. That’s what America represents to the world, however imperfectly.”

Brady Dennis, Andrew Freedman, Tracy Jan and Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.

White House Correspondents' Association's Aldo Beckman Award for Overall Excellence in White House Coverage, 2023

Gerald R. Ford Journalism Award for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency, 2021

White House Correspondents' Association's Merriman Smith Award, recognizing presidential news coverage under deadline pressure, 2016

Finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists for national reporting, 2014

Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress, 2013, "Broken City" series

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Matt Viser is a White House reporter for The Washington Post. He joined The Post in October 2018, covering the midterms and the 2020 presidential election before moving over to the White House to cover President Biden's administration. He was previously deputy chief of the Washington bureau for the Boston Globe.

Matt Viser

The Washington Post

Biden transition starts in earnest after long delay

President-Elect Joe Biden

Demetrius Freeman

staff

Biden administration

The Fix

The Briefs

Polling

Democracy in America

Balance of Power Pair

U.S. House Aggregate

U.S. Senate Aggregate

Politics

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice

iptc-media/politics/international_relations

iptc-media/politics/election

iptc-media/politics/government/executive_(government)

iptc-media/politics/government/defence

iptc-media/politics

iptc-media/politics/government

iptc-media/politics/government/defence/security_measures_(defence)/national_security

iptc-media/politics/government/defence/security_measures_(defence)

iptc-media/politics/political_process

client-blocklists/Client List: Morgan Stanley KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Amazon KWs - EXCLUDE ALL 

client-blocklists/Client List: Becton Dickinson KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/CLIENT LIST: Nomura KWs 2021 - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Boeing KWs 2021- INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Exxon Mobil  - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/GEICO KWs - INCLUDES ANY_4.26.21

client-blocklists/Client List: Microsoft KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: T. Rowe Price KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/T. Rowe Price KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/HBO KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: ExxonMobil 03312021 KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Ford/Lincoln KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Bank of America KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/Flu, Sickness & Virus Content

client-blocklists/WaPo: Combined Disaster Keyword List - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/Coronavirus Content

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs 2 - EXCLUDES ALL - 12.23.20

client-blocklists/Client List: Eli Lily KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Corporate Responsibility_legacyaux_FTM

client-blocklists/Client List: IBM KWs ALTERNATE Watson - EXCLUDES ALL

advertising/B2_Cyber Security & Intelligence Community_legacyaux_E8X

advertising/B2_Departments and Agencies_legacyaux_1nn

advertising/B2_Embassy, Ambassador, & Diplomat Content_legacyaux_1ho

client-blocklists/Client List: Purina KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

advertising/B2_Government & Policy_legacyaux_mza

client-blocklists/BP KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Politically Active - DO NOT REMOVE_legacyaux_lmp

advertising/B2_Politics and Policy_legacyaux_pay

advertising/B2_Positive News_legacyaux_hlt

advertising/B2_President and Administration_legacyaux_kxq

client-blocklists/Client List: KPMG KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Novo Nordisk KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Siemens KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Cisco KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T ALT KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Mercedes KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/FX Excludes All Disney

client-blocklists/Client List: Boeing KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Inpixon KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Aetna KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Google KWs - INCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T KWs 2021 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Philip Morris KWs - INCLUDES ANY 

client-blocklists/Dupixent neg kws - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Capital One KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY - 1.4.21

client-blocklists/Bank of America Merrill Lynch KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/CME KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Google PG KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Chase KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Office Depot KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: ETrade KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

prism://prism.query/site-articles-only,/politics&limit=20

Post Politics from The Washington Post is the source for political news headlines, in-depth politics coverage and political opinion, plus breaking news on the biden administration and White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, elections and more.

prism://prism.query/site,/politics/the-fix&limit=6

prism://prism.query/site,/politics/white-house&limit=20

White House

Latest news and coverage of the White House.