White House press secretary Josh Earnest encouraged President-elect Trump on Monday to take advantage of the “expertise and advice” of career diplomats at the State Department as the controversy surrounding the incoming president’s recent call to Taiwan continues to boil over.
“Whenever you are talking about the president-elect interacting with foreign leaders, it’s incredibly important. It has profound consequences for our country and for our national interests around the world,” Earnest said in response to a reporter’s question about whether Trump is “winging” his discussions with foreign leaders.
“Last week, we had some conversations about a conversation the president-elect had with the prime minister of Pakistan, and I noted in answering questions about that telephone call that President Obama, over the course of his eight years in the White House, has benefited significantly from the expertise, advice and experience of career diplomats at the State Department,” he said. Earnest said that expertise is currently available to Trump and “will continue to be available to him when he enters the Oval Office.”
“President Obama benefited from it and President-elect Trump would as well,” Earnest said.
Trump came under fire last Friday after his transition team revealed he had spoken to the leader of Taiwan, a move no president or president-elect has made since 1979.
Vice President-elect Mike Pence said over the weekend the conversation between Trump and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen was simply about his election victory, contradicting senior aides to the incoming Republican president who told The Washington Post on Monday the phone call was part of a strategy regarding Trump’s attitude toward U.S.-China relations.
