Axios reports, citing senior Pentagon officials, that Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller has ordered the suspension of the department's briefings on its activities to President-elect Joe Biden's transition team.
The American news site said that Miller's decision left a shock in the Pentagon, and President Donald Trump had appointed Miller on November 9, immediately after his dismissal of Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
A Pentagon official downplayed the suspension of cooperation with Biden's transition team, saying, according to the site, that it is nothing more than a simple delay of meetings until after the start of the new year, and the same official added that Defense Department employees were exhausted by the many meetings held with the Biden team.
A senior Biden team official said he was not aware of this decision, while administration officials spoke of the possibility of resuming cooperation between the Pentagon and the Biden team after the end of the year-end holidays.
President Trump is scheduled to meet with the Acting Defense Secretary today, in a closed meeting.
The meetings between the Trump administration and the Biden team began a short time ago after being delayed due to US President Donald Trump's refusal to recognize Biden's victory, and because the Public Services Authority did not announce the start of the presidential transition.
After the commission announced the start of the transition phase, the Ministry of Defense began holding meetings with Biden’s team, which received the first intelligence briefings from the ministry on the seventh of this month.