A source acquainted with the planning claims that Yohannes Abraham has been selected by the Harris campaign for a key position in the presidential transition team.
Abraham is headquartered in Indonesia and serves as the United States’ ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. It was verified by a U.S. official that Abraham will be leaving Jakarta in the next few days.
If former President Donald Trump is defeated, Abraham’s new position is anticipated to involve overseeing a small team that would establish the infrastructure necessary for Vice President Kamala Harris to start forming an administration following the election. According to the source, the team will not be formulating policies or choosing members of a prospective administration before to election day.
Former US Attorney General Eric Holder’s legal firm, Covington and Burling LLP, will assist in organizing the transition team. Holder investigated possible running partners for the Harris effort.
According to a representative for the State Department, Abraham has dedicated his two years as ambassador to strengthening and broadening ties between the United States and countries in Southeast Asia. Prior to that, he headed the White House Situation Room as chief of staff for the National Security Council.
For Abraham, transition teams are not unfamiliar ground. He was the Biden transition’s executive director in 2020. The insider claims that he collaborated closely with Harris throughout that time.
The General Services Administration is getting ready to involve the Trump and Harris campaigns in the presidential transition process, which coincides with Abraham’s appointment. According to a GSA representative, the organization will extend a letter of support to each transition team on August 27.
The next steps are to execute a document of understanding and accept the offer in writing in order to get office space in Washington, D.C., as well as administrative support to carry out their duties. September 1st is the deadline set by federal law pertaining to presidential transitions for GSA to formally enter into agreements with presidential transition teams. Given the short time between the services’ offer and the beginning of the following month, which falls on a Sunday before a federal holiday, it is unclear how that timeframe will be impacted.
Last week, the Trump campaign declared that it had assembled a transition team led by Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services company, and Linda McMahon, who oversaw Trump’s Small Business Administration.
Trump’s selection of McMahon and Lutnick further dissociates himself from Project 2025. In addition to 900 pages of policy recommendations, the conservative groups’ partnership included a personnel database designed to fill a possible Trump White House. Democrats have attempted to connect Trump’s campaign with the concept, labeling it as extremist. The organizations backing Project 2025 include a number of former Trump administration employees, but McMahon and Lutnick are unrelated to the endeavor.
In 1963, Congress articulated the necessity of organized presidential transitions, realizing that any new president must establish a working team to fill thousands of positions within the federal government prior to the new administration taking office.