After refusing to acknowledge President Donald Trump’s loss in last week’s election, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is leaving Friday on a trip to Europe and the Middle East, where leaders have all congratulated former vice president Joe Biden for his victory. The seven-nation trip is aimed at shoring up the outgoing Trump administration’s priorities, notably 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. Pompeo’s trip comes days after he raised eyebrows by dismissing a reporter’s question about the presidential transition by saying “there will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.”
After refusing to acknowledge President Donald Trump’s loss in last week’s election, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is leaving Friday on a trip to Europe and the Middle East, where leaders have all congratulated former vice president Joe Biden for his victory. The seven-nation trip is aimed at shoring up the outgoing Trump administration’s priorities, notably 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. Pompeo’s trip comes days after he raised eyebrows by dismissing a reporter’s question about the presidential transition by saying “there will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.”