[ad_1]
WASHINGTON: After refusing to acknowledge the defeat of President Donald Trump in last week’s election, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will depart on Friday (November 13) on a trip to Europe and the Middle East, to countries where leaders have congratulated former Vice President Joe Biden. for your victory.
The seven-nation trip is intended to underpin the priorities of the outgoing Trump administration, in particular its anti-China and Iran policies, and will include visits to Israeli settlements in the West Bank that have been avoided by previous secretaries of state.
But the usual foreign policy problems are likely to be overshadowed by the extraordinary moment in global politics: Most of the world has accepted the results of America’s election, while America’s top diplomat, as well as its president and much of his Republican Party – I have not.
Pompeo’s trip comes days after he surprised by dismissing a journalist’s question about the presidential transition by saying “there will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.”
READ: Biden tells world leaders ‘America is back’, but Pompeo holds on
He seemed to be joking and went on to say, in a more serious tone, that the world should be sure that the State Department will be functional and successful with the president taking office on January 20. But those subsequent comments and statements in Conservative media interviews did not acknowledge that it is Biden who will become president at that time.
Pompeo’s week-long tour takes him to France, Turkey, Georgia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. The leaders of each of those countries have offered public congratulations to Biden.
Four of those countries – France, Turkey, Georgia and Qatar – have had a troubled relationship with the Trump administration and it was unclear whether Pompeo would maintain public commitments to any of its leaders.
Pompeo has had a notoriously cold relationship with the press and it was also unclear whether he planned to answer questions from reporters.
Consistent with Trump’s refusal to budge and orders that Cabinet agencies not cooperate with Biden’s transition team, the State Department has not been involved in facilitating Biden’s calls to foreign leaders, according to officials familiar with the process.
READ: Republicans Urge Trump To Allow Biden Intelligence Briefings While US Election Challenges
Pompeo’s ardent support for Trump, who has claimed without proof that the election was riddled with fraud, threatens to damage the US position by making pronouncements on the democratic shortcomings of other countries.
On Thursday, Pompeo intervened in the Hong Kong legislature, and in recent weeks he has denounced alleged electoral problems in Belarus, Tanzania and the Ivory Coast.
Yet in his press conference Tuesday, Pompeo flatly dismissed a question about whether Trump’s baseless protests have created problems for America’s credibility.
“You asked a question that is ridiculous,” he replied. “This department cares deeply about making sure elections around the world are safe and free and fair, and my officers risk their lives to make sure that happens.”
Biden has already spoken with the leaders of Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea and sent congratulatory notes on social media and elsewhere from others.
However, Pompeo said he would continue as if there were no changes.
“I am the secretary of state,” he said. “I get calls from all over the world. These people are watching our election. They understand that we have a legal process. They understand that this takes time. “
