Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday predicted “a clean transition to a second Trump administration,” defending President Trump’s refusal to c
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday predicted “a clean transition to a second Trump administration,” defending President Trump’s refusal to concede the election at the same time as President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. known as Mr. Trump’s actions since Election Day “a humiliation.”
Chatting with reporters in Delaware, Mr. Biden shrugged off Mr. Pompeo’s feedback, saying that his transition was shifting alongside properly and that he’s assured that Republicans will ultimately settle for his victory.
“They are going to. They are going to,” he stated. Requested about Mr. Trump’s ongoing refusal to concede the election and his vow to proceed litigating the end result in courtroom, Mr. Biden stated: “How can I say this tactfully? It is not going to assist the president’s legacy.”
Mr. Pompeo made his remarks concerning the subsequent administration in a deadpan voice, adopted by a chuckle and a smile. It was not clear if he was joking and the State Division didn’t instantly reply to a request for readability. Mr. Biden didn’t particularly react to Mr. Pompeo’s assertion that he believes there will probably be a second Trump time period.
The secretary of state’s comment got here earlier than a testy alternate with journalists on the State Division, throughout which Mr. Pompeo insisted that American efforts worldwide to stop voter intimidation and guarantee free and honest elections weren’t diminished by Mr. Trump’s refusal to concede the U.S. presidential race, even after official vote tallies confirmed on Saturday that Mr. Biden had gained, turning into president-elect.
Mr. Pompeo was the newest Republican to say no to publicly acknowledge Mr. Biden’s victory, though he additionally promised to make sure that the State Division remained useful and safe between now and Inauguration Day.
However Mr. Pompeo appeared to seethe on Tuesday when a reporter requested if Mr. Trump’s delaying techniques undermined the State Division’s efforts to stress political leaders overseas to simply accept dropping outcomes.
“That’s ridiculous and you already know it’s ridiculous, and also you requested it as a result of it’s ridiculous,” he stated.
In monitoring international elections, “we frequently encounter conditions the place it’s not clear,” he stated. “We work to uncover details, we work to do discovery, to study whether or not actually the end result, the choice that was made, mirrored the desire of the folks.”
“We wish each a kind of votes to be counted in the identical manner, that we have now each expectation that each vote right here in the USA will probably be counted too,” he stated.
Mr. Biden, in his remarks on Tuesday, stated his conversations with world leaders over the past a number of days had been encouraging. Transition officers stated the president-elect had spoken with the leaders of Canada, France, the UK, Eire and Germany.
“I’m letting them know that America is again. It’s not America alone,” he stated, including later that he felt “assured we’re going to have the ability to put America again in a spot of respect that it had.”
Hours earlier, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey turned one of many few remaining world leaders who had initially resisted congratulating Mr. Biden to reverse course and acknowledge him because the victor.