Denying Biden victory, Pompeo heads to Europe, Mideast
After refusing to acknowledge President Donald Trump's loss in last week's election, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is leaving Friday on a journey to Europe and the Middle East, to countries where leaders have all congratulated former vice president Joe Biden for his victory. The seven-nation trip is aimed at shoring up the outgoing Trump administration's priorities, notably its anti-China and -Iran policies, and will include visits to Israeli settlements in the West Bank which have been prevented by previous secretaries of state.
However the usual foreign policy issues will tend to be overshadowed by the extraordinary moment in global politics: The majority of the world has accepted the results of America's election, as the United States' top diplomat and also its president and far of his Republican Party have not. Pompeo's trip comes days after he raised eyebrows by dismissing a reporter's question about the presidential transition by saying "you will see a smooth transition to a second Trump administration."
He were speaking in jest and continued to say, in a far more serious tone, that the world should be assured that the STATE DEPT. will be functional and successful with the president who takes office Jan. 20. But those comments and subsequent statements in interviews with conservative media didn't acknowledge that it is Biden who'll become president then. Pompeo's weeklong tour takes him to France, Turkey, Georgia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The leaders of every one of those countries have offered public congratulations to Biden.
Four of these countries - France, Turkey, Georgia, and Qatar - experienced a fractious relationship with the Trump administration and it had been not yet determined if Pompeo would hold public engagements with some of their leaders. Pompeo has had a notoriously frosty relationship with the press and it was also unclear if he planned to take questions from reporters.
In keeping with Trump's refusal to concede and orders for Cabinet agencies not to cooperate with the Biden transition team, the STATE DEPT. has not been involved with facilitating Biden's calls to foreign leaders, according to officials acquainted with the process.
Pompeo's ardent support for Trump, who has claimed without evidence that the election was beset by fraud, threatens to hurt America's standing in making pronouncements about other countries' democratic shortcomings. On Thursday, Pompeo weighed in on Hong Kong's legislature, and he has in recent weeks denounced alleged electoral problems in Belarus, Tanzania and Ivory Coast.
Yet, at his news conference Tuesday, Pompeo roundly dismissed a question about whether Trump's unfounded protests have created problems for US credibility. "You asked a question that is ridiculous," he responded. "This department cares deeply to ensure that elections around the world are safe and sound and free and fair, and my officers risk their lives to ensure that that happens."
Biden has already spoken with the leaders of Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea and fielded congratulatory notes on social media and elsewhere from others.Yet, Pompeo said he would carry on as though there is no change."I'm the secretary of state," he said. "I'm getting calls from all over the world. These persons are watching our election. They recognize that we have a legal process. They recognize that this does take time."
