US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has pledged an orderly post-election transition - but not to presumed Democratic president-elect Joe Biden.
President Donald Trump's foreign policy chief had a smart-mouth answer when asked at a Washington press conference on Tuesday if the State Department was preparing to "engage with the Biden transition team", and if not, "at what point does it delay or hamper a smooth transition or pose a risk to national security?"
"There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration," Pompeo replied. "We're ready."
"The world is watching what's taking place," he added. "We're gonna count all the votes. When the process is complete there'll be electors selected. There's a process, the constitution lays it out pretty clearly."
Many world leaders, including those of key US allies in NATO, have already congratulated Biden on winning the election.
"I am confident that we will count - and we MUST count - every legal vote," Pompeo stressed. "We must make sure any vote that wasn't lawful not be counted. That incudes your vote, if it's done improperly. When we get it right, we get it right."
"This department cares deeply to make sure that elections around the world are safe and secure and free and fair, and my officers risk their lives to ensure that that happens," he said.