While President-elect Joe Biden shares messages of hope and unity following last week’s election victory, the Trump administration has continued to undermine the integrity of the electoral process. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took to the podium to reiterate the same unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud that have led Twitter to attach warning labels to Donald Trump’s tweets. Pompeo told reporters that, “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration,” even as vote tallies show no conceivable or legal way for Trump to come out ahead. The secretary of state chuckled—a sign some observers took as an indication he was joking—before saying, “We are ready. The world is watching what’s taking place here. We are going to count all the votes……there is a process, the constitution lays it out clearly.”
Pompeo’s comments were unprecedented for a U.S. secretary of State and came as foreign allies have recognized Biden as the country’s incoming leader. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada was one of the first to send his congratulations and yesterday expressed his commitment to “tackle the challenges and opportunities facing our two countries—including climate change and COVID-19.” Other heads of state including Angela Merkel of Germany, Britain’s Boris Johnson, Emmanuel Macron of France, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey have all extended their congratulations and willingness to work with the newly elected leader—a clear indication that for many of the world’s powers, Biden’s win is considered legitimate. Even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a staunch Trump ally in the last four years, sent positive words to Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, though he was quick to effusively thank Trump “for the friendship you have shown the state of Israel and me personally.”
On Tuesday, Pompeo was asked whether Trump’s ongoing effort to overturn the election reflects poorly on the nation’s diplomatic efforts overseas. “This department frequently sends out statements encouraging free and fair elections abroad and for the losers of those elections to accept the results,” a reporter said. “Doesn’t President Trump’s refusal to concede discredit those efforts?”
“That’s ridiculous. And you asked it because it’s ridiculous,” Pompeo replied before side-stepping the question and instead discussing times when his department has dealt with elections whose results were unclear—a situation that has no relation to the U.S. election, where numerous officials have stated that there were no instances of voter fraud. Geoff Duncan, Georgia’s Republican Lieutenant Governor, told CNN’s John Berman,“We’ll continue to make sure that the opportunity to make sure every legal ballot is counted is there, but you know at this point, we’ve not seen any credible examples.”
Pompeo’s comments come on the heels of several high-profile Republicans indicating that they will continue to stand by Trump, such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, and Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton. On Monday, U.S. Department of Justice official Richard Pilger, who oversees election crimes, resigned in protest after Attorney General William Barr authorized a nationwide federal investigation to pursue “substantial allegations” of voting irregularities before the 2020 presidential race is certified. While Trump, those in his administration who’ve tethered their careers to his ascension, and Republican senators continue to back his election defense, Biden is looking towards January, establishing his own COVID-19 task force. And on Tuesday, Vice President-elect Harris tweeted, “All Americans deserve to have access to quality, affordable health care,” the ACA having seemingly survived its encounter with the Supreme Court.
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