GOP Massachusetts governor: ‘Unacceptable’ for Trump to stall transition process

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a frequent GOP critic of President Trump, says it is “wildly inappropriate” for the administration to stonewall President-elect Joe Biden on the transition of power following last week’s election.

“This latest move to employ the Department of Justice in all of this is so wildly inappropriate and stalling an orderly transition process especially at a time like this is equally unacceptable,” Baker said in a statement Tuesday after Attorney General William Barr authorized the Justice Department to probe any “substantial allegations” of voter fraud, despite no evidence of widespread wrongdoing having been presented. “I can’t think of a worse time to stall a transition than amid a deadly pandemic that the federal government continues to own primary responsibility for responding to.”

Baker added that “if the Trump campaign has legitimate legal challenges” to the voting process, “they should bring them to court,” but he added, “I’m aware of no legitimate claims of wrongdoing anywhere near the scale of what it would take to change this outcome and there’s no credible third party entity that has verified the president’s claims in any way.”

Massachusetts (Republican) Governor Charlie Baker says the Trump administration’s use of the Dept of Justice is “wildly inappropriate”, calls on Trump team to immediately work with Biden transition team.

(Longer statement, below.) pic.twitter.com/3VZ6DezotQ

— (@lilsarg) November 10, 2020

Baker has previously criticized the president for his baseless claims about the reliability of mail-in voting, leading Trump to blast him as a “RINO,” or “Republican in name only.”

Baker said last week that he left the top of his ballot blank in this year’s election.

Baker’s comments follow those of fellow Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, another Trump critic, who said, “With no stimulus package getting done with, with no additional virus relief with, you know, it’s crazy. We’ve got to move on.”

The comments come as the General Services Administration has refused to sign off on beginning the transition process to the next administration, while most elected Republican officials have declined to acknowledge Biden’s win.