- Title: State: No contact yet, but we stand ready to help Trump
- Date: 16th November 2016
- Summary: WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 16, 2016) (STATE TV) U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN JOHN KIRBY WALKING TOWARDS PODIUM JOURNALISTS AT STATE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING JOURNALIST ASKING QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN JOHN KIRBY SAYING: "Well, first of all these discussions are decisions that the president-elect's team are making and it's not our place to to inject ourselves into those decisions about who the president-elect is going to speak to and what they're going to discuss, I mean those are those are his staff's decisions to make. We of course, as the secretary has made clear to the entire department, we of course stand ready to assist the president-elect's team in any way that they deem fit, but as I said there's been no real outreach to date. But it's not for us to approve or disapprove of of conversations that the president-elect is having or may have in the future with foreign leaders." JOURNALIST KIRBY CONCLUDES
- Embargoed: 1st December 2016 20:12
- Keywords: Transition team State Department president-elect Japan Abe
- Location: WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES
- City: WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00158P4LS7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: One day before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's first meeting with a foreign leader, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese officials said they had not finalized when or where in New York it would take place, who would be invited, or in some cases whom to call for answers.
Uncertainty over the talks shows the difficulties in turning Trump from a freewheeling businessman into a sitting president with a watertight schedule and a fully functioning administration by his inauguration on Jan. 20.
Japanese and U.S. officials said on Wednesday (November 16) the State Department had not been involved in planning the meeting, leaving the logistical and protocol details that normally would be settled far in advance still to be determined.
"Well, first of all these discussions are decisions that the president-elect's team are making and it's not our place to to inject ourselves into those decisions about who the president-elect is going to speak to and what they're going to discuss, I mean those are those are his staff's decisions to make," State Department spokesman John Kirby said.
Kirby said that to his knowledge, Trump's transition team had not been in contact with the department either to discuss the transition of government or to seek information ahead of his meetings with foreign leaders.
"We, of course, as the secretary has made clear to the entire department, we of course stand ready to assist the president-elect's team in any way that they deem fit, but as I said there's been no real outreach to date. But it's not for us to approve or disapprove of of conversations that the president-elect is having or may have in the future with foreign leaders," Kirby said. - Copyright Holder: STATE DEPARTMENT TV
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
