Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is slated to meet Antony Blinken, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to be Pompeo’s successor, for the first time on Thursday, according to CNN.
CNN reported that the meeting, held two days after the Electoral College cemented Biden’s victory, will only be about 15 minutes long.
A spokesperson for the State Department disputed CNN’s report, telling TPM that there is “no meeting planned or confirmed.”
A meeting between the two would mark the end of Pompeo’s Trump-esque refusal to recognize the election results, which was underscored by his remarks shortly after the election when he said “there will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.”
However, the Trump official stepped back from the incendiary comment near the end of November after General Services Administration (GSA) chief Emily Murphy finally allowed Biden to begin the transition process.
Pompeo said that the transition was a “legal requirement” and “we’ll always honor that promise.”
Et tu, Pompous Ass?
That’ll amount to valuable time Blinken will never get back.
I guess he’ll get fired next for going along with the transition…the Trump administration is going to be a very interesting place to work for the next five weeks, with Trump demanding that people continue to stand against the oncoming Biden presidency while some administration people follow the law and plan for the transition.
Though, really, Trump has checked out as president, so there’s a lot of strange stuff going on, with some departments just marking time while others (like the EPA) charge full on into ravaging the regulation system, legality be dammed. I figure that will continue until the end, with as much sabotage of Biden as possible…and Trump will continue to wail that he won the entire time. It’s really going out with a whimper when you think about it.
Only thing of value to be gained here is evidence that pompeo’s future testimony can’t weasel around.
Perhaps Pompeo will show Blinken his swagger.