Mike Pompeo spent taxpayer funds on pens made in China for elite dinners

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spent more than $ 10,000 in taxpayer money on Chinese-made pens for private dinner attendees he hosted, including CEOs, conservative media figures and Republican donors, according to State Department records.

The pens Pompeo handed out to his Madison dinner guests cost an average of more than $ 26 each, according to records, the advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington first reported Thursday.

CREW noted that at the same time, the top U.S. diplomat was handing out 400 of the feathered faces, publicly blaming China for “trade abuses that cost American jobs and dealt huge shocks to economies across America.”

In a tweet on Thursday, he said, “We have to be tough on China.”

The then head of Pompeo, former President Donald Trump, ran in the White House as a Republican on an “America First” platform and also stayed often in China.

In addition to the cost of the feathers, which elegantly engraved the words “Madison Dinner,” taxpayers paid the bill for about $ 40,000 in other soire-related expenses, according to CREW, which received documents on the feathers. by a demand of the Freedom of Information Act.

CREW noted that a State Department protocol office employee sent more than a dozen emails to the feather seller in the summer of 2018 ordering order details and asking questions about things as if they were possible to extend a medallion to the pen.

Records show the pens were purchased from Madden Branded Goods, a Florida-based company that presents itself as “a team of creative thinkers and team players who are passionate about the logo button.”

In all, the State Department earned at least $ 10,433 for the feathers.

A spokeswoman for Pompeo, who is considered a potential candidate for the 2024 Republican Party presidency nomination, did not immediately respond to the request for comment.

Pompey christened the dinners after the fifth U.S. Secretary of State, James Madison, who was elected president after being the nation’s top diplomat.

NBC News, which first reported on dinner details, said earlier that State Department officials involved in the dinners “raised internal concerns about the fact that events were essentially using federal resources to cultivate a donors and supporters for Pompey’s political ambitions. “

Only about 14% of attendees were foreign diplomats or officials.

Pompeo is a former CIA director and Kansas GOP congressman.

NBC reported that the “elite group” of guests that Pompeo and his wife, Susan, have hosted about two dozen Madison Dinners since 2018 included “multimillionaire CEOs, Supreme Court judges, political heavyweights, and ambassadors “.

This report was released in May, days after State Department Inspector General Steve Linick was fired by Trump even as the internal watchdog investigated Pompey’s alleged misuse of a political nominee in the United States. department to perform personal tasks for him and his wife.