Pompeo Doesn’t Say He Was Joking About Transition When Asked on Fox: ‘We’ll See What People Ultimately Decided’

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared on Fox News Tuesday night hours after he made eyebrow-raising comments about the presidential transition period.

“There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration,” Pompeo said at a press briefing Tuesday.

There was a lot of outrage over that comment, though considering there were people pointing out he may have been joking, Bret Baier asked, “Were you being serious there?”

Pompeo declined to say he was joking, instead telling Baier, “We’ll have a smooth transition and we’ll see what people ultimately decided when all the votes have been cast.”

He said he’s “very confident we will have a good transition” and make sure that “whoever is in office on noon on January 20 has all the tools readily available so we don’t skip a beat with a capacity to keep Americans safe.”

“That’s what I was speaking to today,” he said. “I think it’s important for not only the American people but the whole world, especially our adversaries, to know that we will achieve this in a way that’s deeply consistent with the American tradition and keeps us all safe here at home.”

At one point minutes later, Baier went back to his comments and noted how President Donald Trump has made claims of a “corrupt election” that’s supposedly being stolen from him.

“Does it make it harder for the State Department in dealing with other countries where we have tried to say to them a democratic republic and our way of voting is the way to go?” Baier asked.

“I don’t think that’s the case at all,” Pompeo said.

You can watch above, via Fox News.