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WASHINGTON: Leaders of close U.S. allies telephoned President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday (Nov. 10) and vowed to work together, but on an extraordinary break, U.S. top diplomat Mike Pompeo insisted that Donald Trump would remain in power.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated Biden in calls, who a week earlier surpassed Trump in the presidential elections.
“I’m letting you know America is back. We will be back in the game. It’s not America alone,” Biden told reporters in his home state of Delaware.
The transition team said Biden planned to work with the Europeans in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, one of many areas in which Trump differed markedly from allies.
In the call with Merkel, who has been attacked by Trump for her welcome to migrants and Germany’s modest defense spending, Biden in a statement “praised her leadership” and called for “revitalizing the transatlantic relationship.”
Johnson, who had a warm relationship with Trump, spoke with Biden for 20 minutes and then wrote on Twitter that he looked forward to working with him to “build back better from the pandemic,” using the Democratic campaign slogan.
‘SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF TRUMP’
All leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies have congratulated Biden, as well as some of Trump’s closest allies, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
US media concluded Saturday that Biden enjoyed an unassailable lead in the major states, as well as a dominant lead in the national popular vote.
READ: As Trump challenges Biden’s victory, attorney general gives green light to fraud investigations
But Trump has refused to budge and has promised legal challenges, saying without proof that there was massive electoral fraud.
Pompeo, Trump’s secretary of state, made clear that Trump’s stance was official government policy and dropped a question about whether he was cooperating with Biden’s transition team.
“There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration,” Pompeo said at a sometimes irritable news conference.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has insisted that President Donald Trump remain in power, but promised a “smooth transition.” (Photo: AFP / Darko Bandic)
He said “the world should have full confidence” in the functioning of the US government in the run-up to and after the January 20 inauguration.
When asked if the United States can still issue statements urging free elections around the world, Pompeo called the question “ridiculous” and said the United States was following standard procedures.
Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, said Pompeo was disconnected from reality.
“Secretary Pompeo, Joe Biden has won. He has won the election. Now move on,” Schumer told reporters.
“We have a COVID crisis. We don’t have time for these kinds of games.”
POMPEO TO VISIT ALLIES
Trump’s failure to relent has no legal force in and of itself, but the General Services Administration, the generally low-key agency that manages Washington’s bureaucracy, has refused to approve the transition, delaying funding and security briefings. .
A US commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks warned that presidential transitions pose security risks, following the shortened period for George W Bush to prepare after a disputed election.
READ: Biden’s camp considers legal action for the agency’s delay in recognizing the transition
READ: Senate McConnell Says Trump Has Right To Investigate Election ‘Irregularities’
Pompeo was making his first public comment on the election result. A day earlier, Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper, whom he had long considered insufficiently loyal.
Pompeo’s stance will be put to the test when he leaves on Friday for a seven-country tour of allies who have congratulated Biden.
It will head to France first and then Turkey, followed by the former Soviet republic of Georgia. It will then target Israel and three allies from the Persian Gulf: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday became the latest leader to congratulate Biden despite promises by the president-elect to step up pressure on Erdogan, whom he has described as an “autocrat.”
Russia, China, Mexico and Brazil are among the only major nations that have not complimented Biden.
Biden, a longtime Irish-American with a passion for peace in Northern Ireland, also spoke with Irish leader Micheal Martin on Tuesday and a day earlier had telephone conversations with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is expected to be an ally. close to the incoming president.
