General Services Administration (GSA) chief Emily Murphy has asked for the resignations of all agency political appointees in order to demonstrate GSA’s “commitment to a peaceful transition of power” to the incoming Biden administration following the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol complex by a mob supportive of President Trump.
According to a GSA spokesperson, the requests for political appointee resignations came from Administrator Murphy, GSA Deputy Administrator Allison Brigati, Chief of Staff Rob Borden, and General Counsel Trent Benishek.
The GSA officials asked for the resignations to be delivered by Friday, Jan. 8, with effective dates of not later than Jan. 20, when President-elect Biden will be sworn into office.
The call for resignations was shared with agency employees at a virtual town hall meeting where Murphy said she was “appalled and deeply saddened” by the assault on the Capitol complex, which led to four deaths and temporary disruption of House and Senate sessions to confirm electoral vote counts in favor of the election of Biden as President and Kamala Harris as Vice President.
“GSA senior leadership will do everything possible to ensure GSA peacefully transitions to the Biden Administration,” the agency spokesperson said.
The agency plays a prominent role in facilitating presidential transitions, and Murphy was sharply criticized for not promptly rendering an “ascertainment” of the election results that would officially begin the Federal government’s transition to the new administration. She rendered the official ascertainment on Nov. 23.
