Washington:
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Friday for the initial time with President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to be his successor, Antony Blinken, promising a smooth transition.
Pompeo — a stalwart defender of President Donald Trump, who begrudgingly acknowledged defeat Thursday — met Blinken “in order to facilitate an orderly transition and to ensure American interests are protected abroad,” a State Department official stated.
“Their meeting was very productive. Secretary Pompeo and Secretary-nominee Blinken, as well as their teams, will continue to work together on behalf of America throughout the transition,” the official stated.
While Biden’s group has currently had get in touch with with the State Department, the procedure had earlier been restricted with Pompeo saying right after the election, “The United States has one secretary of state at a time.”
Pompeo stunned lots of observers in the wake of Trump’s defeat when, asked by a reporter regardless of whether he would cooperate with Biden’s group, promised “a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.”
Trump acknowledged reality only right after coming beneath intense criticism, with his social media accounts suspended, for egging on a mob that stormed the Capitol on Wednesday as lawmakers have been ceremonially certifying Biden’s win. Five individuals died.
Trump has not indicated any willingness to meet Biden, as is customary in presidential transitions, and is set to come to be the initial outgoing president in 152 years not to join his successor at an inauguration ceremony.
Blinken is a mild-mannered extended-time advisor to Biden who is anticipated to shift course on a quantity of crucial causes of Pompeo, which includes his hawkish lines against Iran and Cuba and disdain toward multilateral institutions.
Blinken, who served as deputy secretary of state in the course of Barack Obama’s presidency, visited the State Department final month but Pompeo was in quarantine at the time right after exposure to Covid-19.
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