CREW requests State Documents on Pompeo’s Madison Dinners

Taxpayers appear to have funded Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s series of “Madison Dinners,” lavish events set up by his wife using her personal email account, with up to 500 invited guests from business, conservative media, and the government. Amidst Trump’s removal of State Inspector General Steve Linick who was reportedly investigating Pompeo’s misconduct including the Madison Dinners, the public deserves to know if Pompeo is abusing taxpayer dollars for his own political gain.

Among guests invited to these official State Department dinners were NASCAR’s Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy, and Fox News host Laura Ingraham, raising questions around whether the dinners were connected to foreign affairs at all. Democratic leaders have written a letter to Pompeo asking for documents related to the Madison Dinners.

CREW has requested all State Department documents on the Madison Dinners. 

These records will reveal whether Pompeo abused taxpayer dollars or sought any ethics advice before hosting these dinners. Speculation that Pompeo might make a run for the Kansas Senate coupled with these lavish dinners with attendees with seemingly no relation to foreign affairs raise questions around impropriety in the State Department’s spending. Pompeo seems to have racked up a high bill and taxpayers deserve to know the full cost.