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Pompeo: Transition to second Trump administration will be ‘smooth’

“The United States has an election system that is laid out deeply in our Constitution, and we’re going to make sure that we get that right,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

By Josh Plank, World Israel News

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assured the American people on Tuesday that a transition to a second Trump administration will go off without a hitch, as he was confronted by reporters concerned with a turbulent change in presidential administrations.

“There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration,” said Pompeo when asked whether any delay in working with the Biden transition team could pose a risk to national security.

“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,” Pompeo said.

He said the world should have complete confidence that the U.S. State Department is “functional today, successful today, and successful with a president who is in office on January 20th.”

Pompeo pointed to the disputed 2000 presidential election where it took 37 days to decide a winner. “We conducted a successful transition then,” he said.

He said that the U.S. will count and must count every legal vote, and that any unlawful votes must not be counted.

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A reporter asked, “This department frequently sends out statements encouraging free and fair elections abroad and for the losers of those elections to accept the results. Doesn’t President Trump’s refusal to concede discredit those efforts?”

“That’s ridiculous,” Pompeo said, “And you know it’s ridiculous. And you asked it because it’s ridiculous.”

“This department cares deeply to make sure that elections around the world are safe and secure and free and fair, and my officers risk their lives to ensure that that happens,” he said.

Pompeo said that when the State Department encounters an unclear election, they work to uncover the facts. “We work to do discovery to learn whether in fact the outcome, the decision that was made, reflected the will of the people. That’s our responsibility,” he said.

“We want every one of those votes to be counted in the same way that we have every expectation that every vote here in the United States will be counted too. It is totally appropriate,” Pompeo said.

“The United States has an election system that is laid out deeply in our Constitution, and we’re going to make sure that we get that right,” he said.