Over 160 New York executives call on Trump administration to start transition

More than 160 CEOs and leaders of major companies in New York called on the Trump administration to move forward with the transition in an open letter on Monday.

CEO of Goldman Sachs David Solomon, Visa CEO Alfred Kelly, Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga, BlackRock CEO Laurence Fink, and Deloitte CEO Joseph Ucuzoglu, among others, signed onto the letter.

“Every day that an orderly presidential transition process is delayed, our democracy grows weaker in the eyes of our own citizens and the nation’s stature on the global stage is diminished,” they wrote.

The group called on the General Services Administration to immediately ascertain that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are president-elect and vice president-elect for “national interest and respect for the integrity of our democratic process.” 

“Withholding resources and vital information from an incoming administration puts the public and economic health and security of America at risk,” they wrote. “As business and civic leaders who reflect the political diversity of the country, we urge respect for the democratic process and unified support for our duly elected leadership. There is not a moment to waste in the battle against the pandemic and for the recovery and healing of our nation to begin.”

The letter also included executives from Blackstone, Warby Parker, Ernst & Young, KPMG, WeWork, Conde Nast, The Boston Consulting Group, The Carlyle Group, MetLife, ViacomCBS, Loews, and Zagat. 

Some of the executives on the letter also discussed withholding campaign donations from the two GOP senators in the runoff elections in Georgia until leadership pushes for the transition to start, The New York Times reported.

Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, a Trump ally, told Axios on Monday that “the outcome is very certain today, and the country should move on.”