Pompeo scandals piling up

[struggle4progress]

BY ALISON DURKEE
MAY 22, 2020

... Pompeo has on multiple occasions used his official State trips to visit conservative donors and politicians — without putting them on his public schedule or informing reporters of the trips ...

... much like his donor-heavy dinners — the guest lists of which were all emailed to wife Susan Pompeo, potentially to have on-hand for a 2024 presidential bid — the trips also reek of Pompeo using his office for political gain in violation of the Hatch Act ...

... Pompeo went against the advice of high-level State officials to approve the <Saudi arms> deal ... Pompeo .. pushed State officials to come up with a reason to justify the emergency declaration only after the fact ...

... another .. controversy involves the secretary of state directing State officials to perform household tasks ... like washing dishes or walking his dog ... Mrs. Pompeo has asked State officials to pick up takeout food, pick up their dog from the groomers, and tend to her needs while overseas. But Slate reported Thursday that her requests have extended even further, with security officials being ordered to pick up Susan Pompeo from the airport when she visited her mother in Louisiana. They were then reportedly told to pack up her mother’s house and “cart away boxes” when her mother moved into a ,, retirement home ...

... Stephen Akard assumed the I.G. job Monday—despite the law requiring that a president give Congress 30 days notice before firing an inspector general—but announced he would keep his job leading the State Department’s Office of Foreign Missions. That creates an apparent conflict of interest, given that as both a State official and its watchdog, Akard will now be responsible for overseeing himself ...

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/05/mike-pompeo-scandals-visited-donors-on-official-state-trips

[struggle4progress]

1. Huddled with donors, while on official State Department trips

BY MARTY JOHNSON - 05/21/20 09:02 PM EDT

... The Times highlighted multiple instances in which Pompeo had an unscheduled meeting with prominent GOP donors. According to the paper, Pompeo had one of these meetings in October, December and January.

The October meeting featured billionaire Charles Koch who has been a longtime supporter of Pompeo, the Times says.

The paper also says the meetings happened while the country's top diplomat was weighing a Senate run in his adopted home state of Kansas, noting his political aspirations for a potential presidential bid in 2024 ...

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/499093-pompeo-huddled-with-donors-political-figures-while-on-official-state

[struggle4progress]

2. Pushed officials to justify $8B Saudi arms sale

BY J. EDWARD MORENO - 05/21/20 08:30 PM EDT

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged State Department officials to look for a way to legally justify the Trump administration’s use of an emergency declaration to sell more than $8 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates without congressional approval, CNN reported.

"They seemed to have a game plan and it had to be justified," an official who reported the incident to the now-dismissed State Department inspector general told CNN ...

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), has said that the State Department Inspector General Steve Linick’s dismissal earlier this month appears to be linked to an investigation into the $8 billion weapon sale ...

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/499091-pompeo-pushed-state-dept-officials-to-find-a-way-to-justify-emergency

[struggle4progress]

3. Push to fire watchdog focuses attention on transparency record

By CNN
May 21, 2020
3:03 pm

... “He has a long history in the job of eschewing holding himself to account, to accountability, to thinking that he and his decisions are somehow above scrutiny,” said John Kirby, a former State Department spokesperson under President Barack Obama and a CNN analyst.

The timing of Inspector General Steve Linick’s firing is “incredibly problematic,” said Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight, a non-partisan ethics watchdog group. While it’s not clear yet why Pompeo asked Trump to remove the independent watchdog — and the secretary refused to explain in a Wednesday press briefing — Evers said, “I think we can have confidence that the President and Secretary Pompeo were not trying to get greater transparency or accountability.”

Linick is the fourth independent watchdog Trump has fired since the Republican-controlled Senate acquitted him in February of charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

“It is the least transparent administration in memory,” said Nicholas Burns, a retired career foreign service officer who served as the third highest-ranked official at the State Department during the administration of George W. Bush. He noted that the role was “created to ensure that government employees at every level, from the Cabinet secretary to the lowest ranking official, are accountable to the law, to Congress and to the American public” ...

https://abc17news.com/news/politics/national-politics/2020/05/21/pompeos-push-to-fire-watchdog-focuses-attention-on-his-transparency-record-2/

[dem4decades]

4. They do whatever they want, then thumb their noses.

Congress seems helpless. Can't the Democrats in the House stop funds to these guys till they comply with oversight?

[struggle4progress]

5. Hosted taxpayer-funded 'Madison Dinners' with Republicans, Fox hosts

Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY Published 1:09 p.m. MT
May 21, 2020 | Updated 1:10 p.m. MT May 21, 2020

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has hosted about two dozen elite dinners at the State Department funded by taxpayer dollars since 2018, according to an NBC News report.

The events, dubbed "Madison Dinners," were held until the coronavirus pandemic necessitated social distancing and took place at the State Department, NBC reported. The outlet obtained a database of hundreds of invitees, who included Republican lawmakers, conservative media figures and billionaire CEOs, along with a number of diplomats and foreign officials.

House Democrats on the Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees sent a letter to Pompeo on Thursday asking him to turn over documents related to the dinners, including guest lists, invoices and any ethics guidance Pompeo may have sought.

Late last week, President Donald Trump fired the State Department's inspector general, Steve Linick, citing what he said was a loss of confidence. Pompeo confirmed the firing was at his request to the president, prompting concern from lawmakers that Linick was fired as retaliation for investigations he was involved in. Pompeo has denied this, and said he was unaware of any investigations, including into his alleged use of a staffer to perform personal errands ...

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/21/mike-pompeo-hosted-elite-madison-dinners-tax-dollars-report/5236137002/

[Hermit-The-Prog]

6. Never fear! Dirty Billy's Dirt Services (formerly, DoJ) will leap to the rescue!

[struggle4progress]

7. House chair threatens subpoenas if Pompeo doesn't provide Biden docs he gave Senate GOP

BY OLIVIA BEAVERS - 05/21/20 02:45 PM EDT

The top House Democrat is threatening to issue subpoenas for documents and testimony if the State Department does not agree to turn over documents given to the Senate that relate to former Vice President Joe Biden.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) in a Thursday letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo voiced concern about "partisan misuse" of the agency, alleging that he was helping Senate Republicans take part in a "smear campaign" against Biden. He warned that if he does not receive these documents the Senate has received for its investigation, he will take action ...

https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/499007-house-chair-threatens-subpoenas-if-pompeo-doesnt-provide-biden-docs

[Grasswire2]

8. Former ethics chief Walter Schaub is really ticked about the new acting IG taking over...

...in contravention of the law requiring 30 day notice of IG being changed. He has been shouting in all caps all Thursday on twitter.

[struggle4progress]

9. House Democrats seek State Dept records on watchdog firing

MEGAN MINEIRO
May 21, 2020

... Trump over the weekend abruptly dismissed the longtime prosecutor Steve Linick, installed in the watchdog role by President Barack Obama in 2013. Democrats argue the president has undermined the ability of inspectors general to expose corruption and protect taxpayer dollars.

The House is now investigating reports that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo fired Linick — who was responsible for flagging waste, fraud and abuse of the State Department’s $70 billion budget — because he was investigating Pompeo hosting elaborate dinners on the taxpayers’ dime and using agency staff to carry out personal tasks.

House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., has also revealed Linick was overseeing a probe into the administration’s arms deal with Saudi Arabia ...

https://www.courthousenews.com/house-democrats-seek-state-dept-records-on-watchdog-firing/

[struggle4progress]

10. The Hypocrisy of Mike Pompeo

... Repeatedly, as a member of Congress, Pompeo spoke to the criticality of congressional oversight and the necessity of having current and former State Department employees testify. “It would be investigatory malpractice if we didn’t interview former Secretary Clinton,” Pompeo said in 2015. Hillary Clinton complied with the requests from Pompeo and his fellow GOP Inspector Javerts—ultimately testifying three times as part of the Republican Benghazi inquiry, including a marathon eight-hour session in October 2015.

Despite that cooperation, Pompeo was never satisfied. When the official House Benghazi report found no evidence of wrongdoing by Clinton, he and fellow Benghazi investigator Jim Jordan issued their own 51-page minority opinion. “We saw no evidence that the administration held a sincere interest in helping the committee find the truth about Benghazi,” they said. “We nonetheless end the committee’s investigation without many of the facts, especially those involving the president and the White House.” Fox News labeled their report a “Benghazi bombshell.”

By last fall, Secretary Pompeo was singing a different tune, saying that Democrats on Capitol Hill were overreaching and “bullying and intimidating State Department employees” in their investigation of the Ukraine scandal that eventually led to President Trump’s impeachment ...

https://www.wired.com/story/mike-pompeo-hypocrisy/

[struggle4progress]

11. Home state newspaper calls his dinners exploitation of public trust

BY KATHERINE FUNG ON 5/21/20 AT 11:18 AM EDT

An editorial published Thursday by The Kansas City Star called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's "gaudy, taxpayer-funded, rolodex-building 'Madison Dinners'" a gross exploitation of public trust.

The dinners, which Pompeo and his wife have held at the State Department since 2018, used government money and resources.

The extravagant dinners, which included cocktail hours, seasonal menus and gift bags, were paid for out of the State Department's Emergencies in the Diplomatic and Consular Service Appropriation, a fund allocated for activities related to U.S. foreign policy objectives.

Held in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms, the dinners are named after James Madison, America's fourth president and fifth secretary of state, who was known to invite foreign diplomats for dinners. However, Madison paid for his own social events ...

https://www.newsweek.com/mike-pompeos-home-state-newspaper-calls-his-gaudy-taxpayer-funded-dinners-gross-exploitation-1505716

[BComplex]

12. Tell me again why in the hell these people can't be put in jail?

They have no respect for this country and our laws and customs, whatsoever.

[DFW]

13. He's a Republican. They don't care.

He's incompetent, he's corrupt, he's wrong for the job--so how does that distinguish him from the rest of Trump's cabinet?

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. Akard will "oversee" his boss Pompeo? No, no conflict of interest at all there ...

It just means that the next time Pompeo feels the truth closing in around him, he can fire Akard without having to go to the bother of phoning Trump and telling him to do it.

[demtenjeep]

15. HAHAHAHAH i AM FROM KANSAS. WHHOOO

WE HATE HIM HEAR AND KNEW THIS ARROGANT PRICK JACKASS WOULD SERVE UP TO HIS POMPOUS POMPEO

[liberalla]

16. Excellent article from Vanity Fair.

Thank you also for the additional posts w/links on this corrupt crook and his special 'projects'. This asshole is particularly repulsive to me. I look forward to increased scrutiny into his nefarious deeds.

[lagomorph777]

17. Poopeo's gonna have a lot of 'splainin' to do when the grownups are in charge again.