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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPompeo's elite taxpayer-funded 'Madison' dinners w/CEOs, Supreme Court justices, politicial cronies
Link to tweet
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.
The records show that about 29 percent of the invitees came from the corporate world, while about a quarter of them hailed from the media or entertainment industries, with conservative media members heavily represented...
read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/pompeo-s-elite-taxpayer-funded-dinners-raise-new-concerns-n1210746
An invitation to a Madison Dinner from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, obtained by NBC News.
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Pompeo's elite taxpayer-funded 'Madison' dinners w/CEOs, Supreme Court justices, politicial cronies (Original Post)
bigtree
May 2020
OP
Madison hosted his dinners, but Pompous Ass had we, the taxpayers, foot the bill for his benefit.
alwaysinasnit
May 2020
#2
Don't forget REPUBLICAN ONLY Madison dinners. There were no democrats on the guest list
uponit7771
May 2020
#7
Ilsa
(61,675 posts)1. He's feeling out who with money or power believes his crazy philosophy
about the presidency, religion, etc. This could be a long term project with results shared among other politicians coming later into public service.
He shouldn't use Madison this way, IMO.
bigtree
(85,919 posts)5. it's not a one-dimensional scandal
alwaysinasnit
(5,038 posts)2. Madison hosted his dinners, but Pompous Ass had we, the taxpayers, foot the bill for his benefit.
Did I get that right?
mobeau69
(11,079 posts)3. Drain the swamp. What a joke.
Were gonna need a ton of new laws after the obese one is thrown out if we survive that long.
Demovictory9
(32,324 posts)4. Trump plugged up the swamp drain with Pompeo and the like
tanyev
(42,362 posts)6. Ashley Madison?
uponit7771
(90,225 posts)7. Don't forget REPUBLICAN ONLY Madison dinners. There were no democrats on the guest list
UTUSN
(70,497 posts)8. Gorsuch, Alito, Ingraham - always preaching holier - how can they NOW or
even at the time they were attending, did irony or second thughts cross their minds?
crickets
(25,896 posts)9. "on the government's dime"
No, that would be the taxpayers' dime, OUR dime. This weasel thought no one would ever notice or call him on it? Ugh.
bigtree
(85,919 posts)10. same time he was bashing John Kerry as an elitist
crickets
(25,896 posts)11. Typical. nt