Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stood by President Donald Trump‘s administration at a Tuesday afternoon press conference when it came to the election, saying that “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.” The nation’s chief diplomat refused to say that former Vice President Joe Biden won after the race was called for him by all major news outlets on Saturday.

Since then, a growing list of world leaders have publicly offered their congratulations to Biden and made it known that they look forward to working with the future Biden administration. Trump has yet to concede the election as he continues to push his legal challenges against the results in various states where the margins were tight, alleging that voter fraud occurred.

“We’re ready. The world is watching what’s taking place here. We’re going to count all the votes. When the process is complete, there will be electors selected,” Pompeo said to the press.

He then sought to ease concerns about the transition process, saying that the U.S. Department of State will remain functional and successful.

“There’s a process, the Constitution lays it out pretty clearly. The world should have every confidence that the transition necessary to make sure that the State Department is functional today, successful today, and successful with the president who’s in office on Jan. 20th, a minute after noon, will also be successful,” he said, adding that “I’m very confident that we will do all the things that are necessary to make sure that the government, the United States government, continues to perform its national security function as we go forward.”

When asked by a reporter about whether the president refusing to concede undercuts the State Department’s commitment to free and fair elections around the world, Pompeo didn’t take the question too kindly.

“That’s a ridiculous question and you’re ridiculous for asking it,” Pompeo shot back at the reporter.

Pompeo also tried to put to bed that the drawn-out end to the election undermines a successful transition of power by bringing up the infamously lengthy 2000 presidential election, saying, “It took us 37 plus days in an election back in 2000, we conducted a successful transition then.”

Returning to his earlier emphasis on counting every vote, and while using the same vague terminology as Trump with “legal” and “illegal” votes, he stated that these allegation of voter fraud and election misconduct must be investigated.

“I’m very confident that we will count, and we must count, every legal vote,” he said. “We must make sure that any vote that wasn’t lawful will not be counted, that dilutes your vote if it’s done improperly. Gotta get that right. When we get it right, we’ll get it right.”

“We’re in good shape,” he added.

You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.