Earlier this week, Secretary of State John Merrill was invited to meet with former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

In a conversation with Yellowhammer News, Merrill detailed his visit to the president’s summer home, where he said the two discussed a variety of topics. Among these were Alabama politics, last week’s Iron Bowl and the Alabama football games the 45th president had attended.

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However, the most pressing issue discussed, advised Merrill, was the topic of election integrity, an issue to which Trump has shifted focus since exiting the White House.

“[W]e talked about election integrity, transparency and accountability, the 2020 general election, the administration of that election, our efforts in the state,” said the Alabama secretary of state.

Merrill recently rejected claims levied by famed Trump supporter and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who accused Alabama of having discrepancies in its election process.

According to Merrill, the former president was pleased with the efforts his office had undertaken to safeguard the election process.

Merrill told Yellowhammer News that Trump “was just glowing with affirmation about what a great job that I had done, that we had done in our state [and] how much it meant to him that that he knew he didn’t have to worry about election integrity in our state.”

He also noted that the former president was elated to learn of how Alabama was “setting the standard for election administration across the nation.” Merrill added that Trump was, “very, very proud of that.”

The secretary of state also made mention that he and Trump detailed “concerns and problems” other states faced in regards to election integrity, and the efforts of the two to address such concerns.

Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL