Pompeo met with Biden’s secretary of state pick for first time
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Antony Blinken, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to be his successor, for the first time since he was picked for the role on Friday.
Pompeo confirmed the meeting in a tweet, saying the two met “in order facilitate an orderly transition, and to ensure American interests are protected abroad.”
“Our meeting was very productive, and we will continue to work together on behalf of America throughout the transition,” he said.
Blinken and Pompeo were originally slated to meet in mid-December, but the meeting was canceled after Pompeo went into quarantine after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus.
Blinken, wearing a mask, arrived at the State Department just before 1 pm, ET, and was greeted by Pompeo’s executive secretary. He left the Department about an hour later.
Pompeo has yet to acknowledge Joe Biden as President-elect in public remarks but did seem to acknowledge his impending departure in an interview with Bloomberg News this week.
“After four years, I think we’re leaving the world safer than when we came in,” he said.
“I hope that the policies that we put in place will have the capacity to continue and whoever the next secretary of state is will begin to follow down this path in a way that recognizes the threat from the Chinese Communist Party, that honors the work that we have done to push back against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the two states with the capacity to inflict real harm on the United States of America,” he added.
Their meeting comes two days after the assault on the US Capitol. Pompeo condemned the violent insurrection as unacceptable, but he did not blame President Donald Trump for inciting it.
Blinken was one of first cabinet picks announced by Biden.
“There is no one better prepared for this job,” in remarks announcing the former deputy secretary of state’s nomination for top US diplomat. “He will rebuild morale and trust in the State Department, where his career in government began. And he starts off with the kind of relationships around the world that many of his predecessors had to build over years.”
His nomination hearing has yet to be scheduled, sources tell CNN.
Biden’s team at the State Department is expected to seek a return to a more traditional foreign policy approach after four years of unpredictable, unorthodox and oftentimes isolating foreign policy moves.
Biden has promised to immediately rejoin the Paris climate accord and return the US to the World Health Organization. He is also expected to seek a return to the Iran nuclear deal.
