With less than two days until President Obama is succeeded, Vice President-elect Mike Pence on Wednesday said the transition efforts between the current and incoming administrations have been “orderly, cordial and professional.”
“The president-elect and I have been extremely grateful for the cooperation of President Obama, Vice President Biden, and all of their teams. And it’s really put us in a position to be ready — to be ready on Day One,” Pence told Fox News host Bret Baier.
The reporter followed up asking if Trump’s transition team has, in fact, read the 275 briefing pages and 1,000 pages of classified material on North Korea’s nuclear program, military campaign against the Islamic State, and tensions in the South China Sea, that the Obama administration sent them. The New York Times reported earlier that “nobody in the current administration knows whether anyone in the next has read any of it.”
Pence called the information flow between administrations has been “very positive.”
“And our team, whether it’s our national security teams, whether it be our incoming nominees, leading the CIA or the Department of National Intelligence, have all been working very closely with the administration,” Pence said.
“I personally have been grateful for the opportunity that I’ve had to sit down with Vice President Biden, who in addition to serving as vice president had served for so many years in the Senate on the Foreign Affairs Committee, and we — we’ve had a chance to have some very significant conversations about some hot spots around the world.”
On whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would be extradited to the U.S., Pence said the public could expect Trump to “bring to bear the law on his actions and hold him accountable.” Previously, Trump has been wary to condemn Assange’s actions — publishing Democratic officials’ emails.
While some, including Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., have said Trump’s election win was due to the leaking of hacked documents, Pence implored the more than 50 Democratic lawmakers who will not attend the inauguration to listen to the incoming leader’s message.
“While we respect the opinions of every American and their right to express their opinions, I hope those folks will turn an attentive ear to the president-elect’s words in that inaugural address and give us a chance, because I think they’ll — they’ll see in a President Donald Trump someone who really is going to work every single day to make this country great for every American,” Pence finished.
