U.S. President-elect Joe Biden checks his watch as he arrives to announce former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, as his nominee for Secretary of Transportation at a press conference at Biden’s transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, USA , December 16, 2020.
Kevin Lemarque | Reuters
WASHINGTON – Tensions between President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team and Pentagon political appointees erupted Friday over Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller on Thursday to close the transition team’s meetings with Pentagon officials for the remainder of cancel the year.
In a statement, Miller claimed on Friday that the transition from Biden and the Department of Defense would take a “mutually agreed vacation break” and restart meetings and briefings in the new year.
But a spokesman for the Biden transition team said such a mutual agreement had never existed.
“Let me be clear: there was no mutually agreed holiday break,” transition spokesman Yohannes Abraham told reporters Friday afternoon. “We think it is even important that briefings and other assignments continue during this period, because there is no time left.”
The abrupt suspension of meetings caught defense ministry officials by surprise, said Axios, who first reported the news of Miller’s decision.
A Defense Department spokesman did not respond to a request for comment from CNBC about the conflicting reports from Miller and Biden’s transition officials.
But Abraham left little doubt as to how frustrated the Biden team is with the top Pentagon officials, who they believe have so far refused to fully cooperate with the transition. “There have been many agencies and departments that have facilitated the exchange of information and meetings in recent weeks,” said Abraham. “But there is unruliness, and the DoD is one of them.”
Miller, however, insisted that at no point had the Pentagon “canceled or denied any interview” with Biden’s transition officials. He said the department will “continue to provide all required support to the Agency Review Team to keep our nation and its citizens safe.”
The Biden team said they hoped the Department of Defense would reverse its decision. “In terms of resuming meetings, meetings and requests for information, which are interchangeable in terms of content, we hope and expect it to happen immediately,” said Abraham.
Miller is said to meet with President Donald Trump on Friday afternoon, the only publicly announced event on Trump’s daily schedule.
Miller was appointed Acting Secretary of Defense on November 9, after Trump abruptly fired Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.