Washington [US], November 11 (ANI): US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday stated that there will be a smooth transition to a “second Trump administration“, despite several networks projecting President-elect Joe Biden as the winner of the US Presidential elections.
While speaking during his press briefing, Pompeo said: “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration. Right. We’re ready. The world is watching what’s taking place here. We’re going to count all the votes. When the process is complete, there’ll be electors selected. There’s a process. The Constitution lays it out pretty clearly.”
“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,” he added.
While speaking on allegations of widespread voter fraud, Pompeo said that every legal vote will be counted, and asserted that the current administration was in a good shape.
“I’m very confident that we will count – and we must count – every legal vote. We must make sure that any vote that wasn’t lawful ought not be counted. That dilutes your vote if it’s done improperly. We got to get that right. And when we get it right, we’ll get it right. We’re in good shape,” said Pompeo.
Moments after Biden was projected to be the winner of the US presidential elections, Trump refused to concede defeat, saying that the election was “far from over”, and promised legal challenges by his re-election campaign.
Trump’s campaign has filed several lawsuits to challenge the results in a few battleground states after the president spent months spreading unsubstantiated claims that mail-in ballots could open the election up to fraud.
Pompeo’s statement on transition evokes shock, outrage in State Department
US State Department officials and diplomats have been left shocked, confused and outraged after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a statement on the transition of the presidency after President-elect Joe Biden‘s victory in the presidential elections, reported CNN.
Pompeo on Tuesday stated that there will be a smooth transition to a “second Trump administration” when asked if the State Department will cooperate with the Biden transition.
“I am sick….How dare he undermine our work?” said a US diplomat overseas.
One State Department official said they had been watching the news conference until Pompeo “joked” about the transition and then they “flipped it off in disgust.”
“For someone who created a code of ethos and a West Point graduate, he’s stooping to the lowest of the low,” CNN quoted the official, who added that Pompeo was sinking his legacy, even with all the work and diplomacy of his term.
“How can he be serious?….This is actually incredibly scary,” said another diplomat.
According to CNN, diplomats are angry and confused about whether Pompeo was suggesting that they should be telling their counterparts that Trump will somehow get a second term, which they know is virtually impossible.
Pompeo did not answer directly about whether he believed the allegations of widespread voter fraud.
The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said in a statement that Pompeo “shouldn’t play along with baseless and dangerous attacks on the legitimacy of last week’s election.”
“In fact, all Administration officials should drop their false claims about electoral fraud and GSA should release the funding and support necessary for a smooth transition that protects our national security…. The State Department should now begin preparing for President-elect Biden’s transition,” Chairman Eliot Engel said.
After Biden was projected to be the winner of the US presidential elections, Trump refused to concede defeat, saying that the election was “far from over”, and promised legal challenges by his campaign.
Trump’s campaign has filed several lawsuits to challenge the results in a few battleground states after the president spent months spreading unsubstantiated claims that mail-in ballots could open the election up to fraud, reported The Hill. (ANI)
