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(CNN) –– US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said his department will “honor” the Trump administration’s “promise” earlier this week to begin the transition with the Biden administration on the way. His remarks come weeks after suggesting that the president would win a second term.
“Those things that are required, that the president has ordered us to do in accordance with the decision made yesterday by the GSA, we will do all of them,” Pompeo said about the transition. In fact, he referred to the General Services Administration (GSA), which provides office space for the presidential transition team. The GSA also coordinates the team’s access to federal agencies to plan the transition from one administration to another.
“It’s a legal requirement,” Pompeo says of the transition
“It’s a legal requirement and we will always honor that promise,” Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News. The conversation took place earlier this week, but aired this Thursday.
In the same interview, Pompeo alluded to the Trump administration’s willingness to deal with terrorists and perceived threats of murder. Just days before Iran’s leading nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was assassinated on Friday outside the capital Tehran, according to Iranian state media IRIB and the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Nobody claimed responsibility for the murder.
The State Department and the Iran mission to the United Nations did not respond to requests for comment.
The Iranian Ministry of Defense confirmed the death. “During the conflict, the security team protecting Iranian scientists was also injured and taken to hospital. In a statement, the defense ministry expressed its condolences to the supreme leader of the Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and to the Iranian nation for the unjust murder of a busy and experienced manager, “the agency said Friday. state press IRNA.
“We’ll get him out of the way”
Pompeo said it was important not to combine security with the number of soldiers on the ground in one place. And he noted that the US also watches over terrorist threats beyond Afghanistan’s borders.
“The threat of terrorism in the world – from Islamic extremism to Islamic terrorism – is real. It’s not just from Afghanistan, “Pompeo said. Referring to the Iranian senior general who was killed in a US operation in January 2020 and an al Qaeda leader killed in a US air strike in 2019, Pompeo said:” “If Qassem Soleimani is a problem, we will crush them. If Hamza bin Ladin presents a risk, we will take it out of the way.”
Pompeo was also asked if Trump would order a full withdrawal of US forces in Afghanistan before ending his term on January 20. Pompeo replied that achieving that goal is “a set mission,” but declined to answer whether this would happen before the Trump administration ends.
“Well, obviously the president will make the decision on that,” Pompeo said. “The president to date has said we will go from where we are today, which is just over 4,000 (military), to around 2,500.”
What Pompeo said a little over two weeks ago
Excerpts from the interview released Thursday began with a question about the transition, which Trump has yet to accept clearly and publicly. But the president continues to tweet lies and unfounded accusations of electoral fraud.
Fox News’ Bret Baier asked Pompeo about a statement he made just over two weeks ago. These are the comments in which he refused to acknowledge Joe Biden’s victory as president-elect. In particular, he said “there will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.” This has sparked criticism and confusion among his own staff.
Pompeo’s comments to the State Department on November 10 added to the confusion generated by Trump’s refusal to grant the 2020 election. Also to the growing concern that a chaotic transition period could undermine national security. Some of his State Department’s measures seemed more petty.
Traditionally, the State Department supports all communications from the president-elect during a transition period. But when many countries began sending messages to the State Department to congratulate Biden, the Trump administration blocked the president-elect from accessing them, according to department officials familiar with the messages.
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