WASHINGTON (AP) – After refusing to accept President Donald Trump’s defeat in last week’s election, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo set out on a trip to Europe and the Middle East on Friday, in countries where leaders all former Vijay has congratulated Vice President Joe Biden.
The seven-nation visit is aimed at keeping in mind the priorities of the outgoing Trump administration, particularly for its anti-China and anti-Iran policies, and will include visits to Israeli settlements in the West Bank that have been conducted by previous secretaries of state Has been postponed
But there are likely to be extraordinary moments in global politics on issues of general politics policy: most people in the world have accepted the results of the US election, while the top diplomats in the United States – as well as its president and his Republican Party majority of – It is not.
A visit to Pompeo came a few days after a reporter raised an eyebrow after dismissing the question About the president’s transition by saying “there will be a smooth transition for the second Trump administration”. He appeared jokingly and said in a more serious tone, that the world should be assured that the State Department would be functional and successful with the president, who takes office Jan. 20. But those comments and subsequent statements in interviews with conservative media did not accept that it was Biden who would then become president.
Pompeo’s week-long tour takes him to France, Turkey, Georgia, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Biden has been publicly congratulated by leaders of each of those countries.
Four of those countries – France, Turkey, Georgia and Qatar – have a fraught relationship with the Trump administration and it was unclear if Pompeo would engage in public engagement with any of its leaders. Pompeo has had a notoriously frosty relationship with the press and it was also unclear whether he planned to question reporters.
Considering Trump’s refusal and orders for cabinet agencies not to cooperate with the Biden transition team, the State Department has not been involved with facilitating Biden’s call, according to officials familiar with the process.
Pompeo’s strong support for Trump, who claimed without any evidence that the elections were beset by fraud, threatens to hurt America’s standing in declaring other countries’ democratic shortcomings.
On Thursday, Pompeo weighed in on the Hong Kong legislature, and he has refuted alleged electoral problems in Belarus, Tanzania and Ivory Coast in recent weeks.
Still, at his news conference on Tuesday, Pompeo dismissed a question as to whether Trump’s unfounded protests caused problems for American credibility. “You asked a question that’s ridiculous,” he replied. “This department cares deeply to ensure that elections around the world are safe and secure and free and fair, and my officials risk their lives to ensure that this happens.”
Biden has already spoken with leaders in Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea and has been giving congratulatory notes to others from social media and elsewhere.
Nevertheless, Pompeo said that he would move forward as if there were no changes.
“I am the Secretary of State,” he said. “I am getting calls from all over the world. These people are watching our election. They understand that we have a legal process. They understand that it takes time. “
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