BUSTED: Pompeo held dozens of secret dinners for CEOs and right-wing media — on taxpayer’s dime

THE RAW STORY Published May 19, 2020


NBC News released a blockbuster new report on how the State Department on Tuesday evening.

“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,” explained Josh Lederman, Laura Strickler and Dan De Luce.

“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,” NBC reported.

“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,” NBC reported.

Pompeo held about two dozen of the dinners before coronavirus lockdowns.

“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’s that possible some individuals RSVP’d but did not show up in Foggy Bottom for dinner,” NBC reported. “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. About 30 percent work in politics or government, and just 14 percent were diplomats or foreign officials. Every single member of the House or the Senate who has been invited is a Republican.”

State Department officials said they raised concerns internally that the events were essentially using federal resources to cultivate a donor & supporter base for Pompeo's political ambitions — with extensive contact information sent back to Susan Pompeo's personal email address
— Josh Lederman (@JoshNBCNews) May 20, 2020