Trump’s White House Staff Receives Conflicting Emails About Moving Out
The White House Management Office on Tuesday sent an email to President Donald Trump administration aides, outlining the process for moving out when President-elect Joe Biden takes office next month. Shortly after receiving the aforesaid email, aides received a follow-up message that told them to disregard the memo.
This follow-up message urged Trump's White House staffers to ignore specific instructions, according to a tweet from Maggie Haberman, a White House correspondent for the New York Times. Biden is slated to take office on Jan. 20 as part of a rapidly progressing transition despite Trump's push to overturn the election results and dubious claims of widespread voter fraud.
As expected, the conflicting internal memos led to confusion inside the White House regarding when staffers in the EOP (Executive Office of the President) should start preparing to leave work before Biden takes office. The email sent by the White House Management Office on Wednesday instructs EOP staffers to "please disregard" an earlier memo that was sent on Tuesday informing them they will start departing on the week of Jan. 4, according to both messages that were obtained by POLITICO.
The previously sent memo came with instructions pertaining to outgoing employees' security clearance, ethics debriefing, sick leave, records, as well as payroll, benefits. Staffers were informed that they would be given a comprehensive checklist in the next few days and will be directed to take inventory of their office space.
Other instructions in the memo include cleaning out their refrigerators and microwaves and returning all White House stationery and Presidential gifts. The memo said the work supplies would be disinfected once returned.
The initial White House communication does not coincide with Trump and top aides' unceasing attempts to reverse the election results. The White House Management Office, in its Wednesday email said, updated information would be shared in the coming days.
The memos come as White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Tuesday visited Georgia to check out local officials’ audit of absentee ballot envelope signatures. This process was Trump's demand as part of his ongoing attempts to reverse the outcome of the recently concluded presidential election, Atlanta News Now reported.
On Tuesday night, Trump slammed the COVID stimulus bill in a new video message posted to Twitter. In his four-minute speech, the president listed his grievances with the bill, which is expected to send much-needed help to Americans struggling amid the still raging pandemic