White House faces risk of delayed Biden transition as Trump rejects outcome

Biden's team has begun the informal work of transition anyway, preparing to name some early White House appointees soon and hold the first meeting of his coronavirus task force on Monday

President Donald Trump’s reluctance to concede the race to Joe Biden risks delaying the vital work of handing over the reins of government to the next administration.

Already, what started as a 78-day window for transition work between Election Day and the Jan. 20 swearing-in ceremony has been shortened amid vote counts in battleground states. So far, it’s just a modest trim -- nothing like the 37 days that George W. Bush had to formally prepare for his presidency in 2000, after the Supreme Court’s Dec. 12 ruling in Bush v. Gore.

But Trump has signaled that it could get longer.

“The simple