Pompeo Threw Lavish Dinners for Fox Hosts, GOP Megadonors--With Taxpayer Money

[babylonsister]

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/05/mike-pompeo-threw-lavish-dinners-for-fox-hosts-megadonors-with-taxpayer-money

Department of State
Pompeo Threw Lavish Dinners for Fox Hosts, GOP Megadonors—With Taxpayer Money
Trump’s secretary of state, already under scrutiny for urging the removal of the State Department’s inspector general, reportedly held about two dozen events with guests like Karl Rove, Laura Ingraham, and Ken Langone.
By Eric Lutz
May 20, 2020


Before becoming the latest casualty in Donald Trump’s war on independent oversight, watchdog Steve Linick was said to be investigating allegations that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had been forcing aides to perform personal errands, like walking his dog and picking up his dry cleaning. The president has minimized the brewing scandal. “I don’t think it sounds like that important,” he told reporters on Monday. But the issue, of course, is not merely a matter of asking a staffer to run a quick errand as a favor. If true, it could also perhaps point to a broader culture at the State Department in which Pompeo was taking advantage of his post for personal gain, as many a Trump associate—and indeed, Trump himself—have done.

If he was treating staffers as his own personal errand-runners, what else was Pompeo doing on the taxpayer dime? Well, according to NBC News, Pompeo held about two dozen so-called “Madison Dinners” at the State Department since taking the post in 2018, taxpayer-funded affairs featuring billionaire executives, Republican lawmakers, members of the conservative media.

Named for the meals former President and Secretary of State James Madison held with foreign diplomats to pick their brains, the lavish events appear to bear less resemblance to those meetings of minds and more to the kind of elbow-rubbing a politically-ambitious former congressman, CIA director, and current secretary of state might engage in to build a base for a future run. Just 14 percent of those invited to the dinners have been foreign officials or diplomats, according to guest lists obtained by NBC News; the rest of the invitees consisted of deep-pocketed figures from the business world, the media, or Washington. The State Department defended the dinners, which are not listed on Pompeo’s public schedule, as educational events where the secretary “has gained knowledge listening to his guests from all across the political spectrum and all around the world.” But critics charge that the invitees for the dinners—Fox News personalities like Laura Ingraham, powerful Republicans like Karl Rove, major GOP donors like Home Depot founder Ken Langone — don’t quite fit the bill for a diplomatic dinner.

snip//

A senior White House official told NBC News that Trump “would have fired Pompeo months ago” if he had been aware of his secretary of state’s conduct, but it’s hard to imagine that’s true. Early administration officials like Tom Price and Scott Pruitt had been forced out when it became clear that swirling questions about their ethics weren’t going away. But Trump has never actually cared about such grifts and wastes of taxpayer dollars and conflicts of interest—why would he, when he is the most brazen offender?—and has only grown bolder in recent months. Trump could still throw Pompeo under the bus, of course. But for now, he is sticking with him. “He’s a high-quality person,” Trump said of Pompeo Monday. “He’s a very brilliant guy.”

[Thomas Hurt]

1. I sense another subpeona that will be ignored coming on...

[Cracklin Charlie]

2. So, a few million, then...

that Missus Pompeo could parade around like the First Lady, and him the president?

I have had it with these thieves.

[Me.]

3. The Costs To Taxpayers

“several hundred dollars per plate, likely pushing the total cost of the dinners to date into the six figures.”

“As guests depart, usually around 9 p.m., they're given a journal and a pen as gifts — both custom-embossed with the Madison Dinner logos. The State Department special-ordered hundreds of each in 2018, the pens for $23.75 apiece and the journals for $8, officials said.”

[Frustratedlady]

4. I wonder if Pompeo and his wife are still charting his moves for POTUS?

He is too stupid for the job, but she must be dreaming of being FLOTUS, one day. That goal is probably the main reason for these dinners.

[leftieNanner]

6. Maybe she can borrow

Ann Romney's FLOTUS prom dress.

[Budi]

5. 6 figures for their elite dinners, ala the taxpayers, yet No masks & ventilators

Pompeo may run for Pres in 2024.
Mr & Mrs Pompeo have already has assumed the role.
Greedy self entitled fks

God forbid.

[leftieNanner]

7. It's not easy to run for POTUS

from a jail cell.

[Budi]

9. Please make it happen!

Honestly, if this comes down in top of them all, we better have all eyes on their whereabouts.
No midnight private flights outta the country.

[smirkymonkey]

8. Let them eat cake!

I so want to see these grifting motherfuckers in prison.

[Captain_New_York]

10. Key fact for me regarding Pompeo

In 5 years of active duty, a West Point grad, #1 in his class was never given command of a cav troop ( company) This is a tell for me, a former army AR CPT who has been in command and the father of a West Point grad who is in his second INF company command.

Obviously he did not receive the faith and confidence of his superior officers