Pompeo's elite taxpayer-funded dinners raise new concerns
Source: NBC News
WASHINGTON As federal workers file out of the State Department at the end of a Washington workday, an elite group is often just arriving in the marbled, flag-lined lobby: Billionaire CEOs, Supreme Court justices, political heavyweights and ambassadors arrive in evening attire as they're escorted by private elevator to dinner with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Until the coronavirus shut them down in March, the gatherings were known as "Madison Dinners" elaborate, unpublicized affairs that Pompeo and his wife, Susan Pompeo, began in 2018 and held regularly in the historic Diplomatic Reception Rooms on the government's dime.
State Department officials involved in the dinners said they had raised concerns internally that the events were essentially using federal resources to cultivate a donor and supporter base for Pompeo's political ambitions complete with extensive contact information that gets sent back to Susan Pompeo's personal email address. The officials and others who attended discussed the dinners on condition of anonymity.
An NBC News investigation found that Pompeo held about two dozen Madison dinners since taking over in 2018. NBC News obtained a master guest list for every dinner through the end of 2019, as well as internal State Department calendars from before the pandemic emerged, showing that future dinners were on the books through at least October. The master list includes the names of nearly 500 invitees and specifies who accepted, although it is possible some individuals RSVP'd but did not show up in Foggy Bottom for dinner...
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/pompeo-s-elite-taxpayer-funded-dinners-raise-new-concerns-n1210746
OAITW r.2.0
(24,467 posts)You promised to end the reign of people like you. You fucking fraud.
cstanleytech
(26,290 posts)elleng
(130,895 posts)NCjack
(10,279 posts)Baked Potato
(7,733 posts)Drum
(9,159 posts)mountain grammy
(26,620 posts)chowder66
(9,067 posts)TeamPooka
(24,223 posts)Bluepinky
(2,268 posts)Shame on him.
People should send him a postcard that
says shame on you.
Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)who attended (Roberts?) should recuse themselves from ANY political decisions for the rest of Lard Ass's term. Pompeo should be forced out. No wonder he got even fatter. On taxpayer money no less.
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,425 posts)mahatmakanejeeves
(57,425 posts)This bit in particular made my Exploding head
As trump started losing interest in war w/Iran, he invites a bunch of war profiteering enthusiasts on our dime Down pointing backhand index
Link to tweet
Lonestarblue
(9,981 posts)And there seems to be very little to stop it. Trump certainly wont because he admires people who take advantage of the system. I hope the Lincoln Project or Bloomberg or someone does an ad about all the corrupt people who have been forced out of the administration. Remember Scott Pruitt, Tom Price, Ryan Zinke? All forced out for corruption or unethical behavior. The difference between the first year of Trump and now is that corruption has become so much an accepted part of the Trump administration that now the most corrupt people like Pompeo just ignore calls to leave and basically thumb their noses at the rule of law and ethical behavior.
sinkingfeeling
(51,454 posts)mahatmakanejeeves
(57,425 posts).
@NBCNews
Exclusive: Pompeo's pricey dinners on taxpayers' dime raise concern.
@JoshNBCNews
joins to discuss the latest.
Learn more: https://nbcnews.to/2ZfNjrc
#11thHour
Link to tweet
maxsolomon
(33,327 posts)This is on top of the OLD Concerns! So much Concern!