- An unnamed transitional official from President-elect Joe Biden’s team told PBS NewsHour that President Donald Trump’s latest foreign policy movements ‘feel like sabotage’.
- In the PBS-exclusive interview, the official singled out Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for implementing controversial foreign policy in the last days of Trump’s presidency.
- He suggested that the timing of these decisions was suspicious and was an attempt by Pompeo to ‘feed his own domestic political ambitions’.
- A lawmaker described Pompeo’s recent announcements about US relations with Iran, Taiwan, Cuba and Yemen as “rushed” and “reckless”.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
A member of President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team said recent foreign policy movements by President Donald Trump’s administration ‘feel like sabotage’.
In an exclusive interview with PBS NewsHour, the unnamed official accuses Trump’s government – especially Secretary of State Mike Pompeo – of making decisions that are not wanted by either party.
The Biden official said: “We’ll get it right, but at some point it’s starting to feel like sabotage. Not only do they know we do not want to implement some of these approaches; they do not even want to implement them.”
The official of the transition then implied that the timing of these decisions was suspicious. “That’s why they’re doing it now rather than at any other point in the last four years,” they told PBS.
Read more: Here’s how Biden will destroy Trump’s legacy.
Particular focus was placed on the actions of Pompeo, which last week announced that the State Department would designate Yemen’s Houthi rebels as a foreign terrorist organization.
It was a controversial decision that could cause famine in Yemen, which immediately led to 50 organizations writing to Biden to reverse the decision, according to Al Jazeera.
The transitional official told PBS: “Secretary of State Pompeo is literally risking hundreds of thousands of lives. Most of Yemen is at risk of starvation, so Mike Pompeo can feed his own domestic political ambitions.”
They continued: “This is not about any particular affinity we have for the Houthis. But the actions of the Trump administration further harm the people of Yemen, who have already suffered unimaginably. It is childish and silly, and we don’t let it get inside us. ‘
Pompeo announced several other dramatic changes to U.S. foreign policy this month.
On January 9, it was announced that the State Department would declare that the rulebook had helped U.S. officials “nullify” diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Two days later, Pompeo designated Cuba a “state sponsor of terrorism” – a move that repealed the removal of Obama’s name six years earlier.
On January 12, the foreign minister declared that Iran was now the ‘home base’ for al Qaeda. Some lawmakers believe it could be an attempt to lay the legal foundation for a possible war with Iran, according to NBC News.
Last month, several officials told the Daily Beast that Trump had given Pompeo the green light to do as he pleased with Iran, as long as it would not risk a third world war.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, believes the government’s latest foreign policy movements are ‘reckless’ and ‘rushed’.
He told Insider: “Pompeo is pursuing reckless, politicized foreign policy decisions rather than focusing on facilitating a smooth and efficient transition.”
Meeks continues: “Pompeo’s policy announcements are more of the same kind of disastrous, hasty missteps that have characterized the government’s disastrous foreign policy from day one.”