Pompeo says ‘there will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration’

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, when asked if the state department is preparing to coordinate with the Biden transition team, responded: “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration”.

He added: “The world should have every confidence that the transition necessary to make sure that the State Department is functional today, successful today, and successful with the president who’s in office on January 20th, a minute after noon, will also be successful.”

Pompeo would not say whether he believed the leads held by Biden in states the Trump campaign wants to dispute would dissipate with any recounts or legal challenges. Biden has been named the winner of the election by the Associated Press and many other news organisations, receiving at least 290 electoral votes, above the 270 needed to be declared the winner. Vote counting has not concluded in the states of Georgia, North Carolina and Alaska.
Pompeo would not answer a question on whether foreign leaders should be calling President-elect Biden at his juncture. He bristled when asked if Trump’s refusal to concede discredits efforts by the State Department to encourage officials in elections around the world to accept the results of free and fair elections: “That’s ridiculous. And you know it’s ridiculous,” Pompeo said.

“We often encounter situations where it’s not clear about a particular election. We work to uncover fact. We work to do discover, to learn whether in fact the outcome, the decision that was made reflected the will of the people,” he added. “We want every one of those votes to be counted in the same way that we have every expectation that every vote here in the United States will be counted to, it is totally appropriate.” (Aljazeera)

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