Tag: Mike Pompeo

Democrats say Pompeo’s speech to RNC is unethical, hypocritical, and possibly illegal

The secretary of State last month admonished his staff not to improperly participate in politics or campaigns in this election year

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s decision to address the Republican National Convention on Tuesday elicited outrage from Democrats and former U.S. diplomats, who said the potential 2024 Republican contender was being a hypocrite and causing serious harm to longstanding State Department norms around apolitical service.

Pompeo recorded his address to the RNC on Monday in Jerusalem from the rooftop of the famous King David Hotel, where he was traveling on official business. A State Department spokesperson said the actual recording of the remarks did not involve taxpayer resources.

He will be the first modern sitting secretary of State to address a national political convention, breaking with decades of bipartisan norms that “politics stops at the water’s edge.” Continue reading.

House panel to investigate Pompeo’s GOP convention speech

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A House Democrat announced Tuesday that he is launching an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s expected speech to the Republican National Convention, raising concerns that the move is an illegal violation of the Hatch Act and a breach of State Department regulations.

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs panel’s subcommittee on oversight and investigations, raised his concerns in a letter to Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun and requested information on the secretary’s planned remarks.

Pompeo is coming under scrutiny for taking time during official diplomatic travel in the Middle East to record remarks to be played at the GOP convention Tuesday night. Continue reading.

Pompeo draws criticism for convention speech from Jerusalem

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s expected speech on Tuesday to the Republican National Convention from Jerusalem is drawing criticism for using official diplomatic travel to make a political statement in a presidential election year.

Critics say there’s little to no distinction between Pompeo delivering his remarks in a personal capacity, apart from his position as secretary, and that such an overtly political view abandons the tradition of keeping the State Department nonpartisan.

They further accuse the secretary of violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal officials from taking part in political activity while on official duty and exploiting Jerusalem, a city sacred to three of the world’s monotheistic religions, for partisan political gain. Continue reading.

Widespread horror as Trump cabinet member mocks domestic violence survivors with GIF of Lisa Simpson crying

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was blasted on Wednesday for tweeting a picture of “The Simpsons” character Lisa Simpson crying while the Democratic National Committee Convention was broadcasting a segment featuring domestic violence survivors.

The segment highlighted former Vice President Joe Biden’s leadership in passing the Violence Against Women’s Act.

Pompeo was harshly criticized for his tweet, here’s some of what people were saying: Continue reading.

‘This doesn’t smell right’: Acting State Dept. IG abruptly resigns just months after his predecessor was fired

AlterNet logo“This doesn’t smell right.”

That was the reaction from Chris Lu, who held multiple positions in the Obama administration including White House cabinet secretary, to news Wednesday that State Department acting Inspector General Stephen Akard is leaving the post less than three months after the administration ousted the previous IG.

Akard, an ally of Vice President Mike Pence who had been simultaneously serving as Director of the Office of Foreign Missions, is returning to the private sector, department officials said. Continue reading.

State Department watchdog resigns in another shake-up at IG’s office

Washington Post logoAfter less than three months on the job, the internal watchdog of the State Department has resigned, U.S. officials said, marking another significant shake-up for an office sworn to investigate malfeasance and wrongdoing.

Stephen Akard’s departure was announced to staff by his deputy, Diana R. Shaw, who told colleagues that she will become the temporary acting inspector general effective on Friday.

Akard became inspector general after President Trump abruptly fired Steve Linick in May at the recommendation of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. That decision immediately prompted criticism from lawmakers because Linick had been investigating allegations that Pompeo and his wife, Susan, had improperly used State Department resources. Linick was also examining several other issues, including Pompeo’s decision to expedite arms sales to Saudi Arabia over the objections of Congress. Continue reading.

Democrats subpoena top aides to Pompeo

The Hill logoHouse Democrats on Monday subpoenaed four top aides to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a sign they are pressing forward with their joint investigation into the firing of former State Department Inspector General Steve Linick.

The top Democrats on three congressional committees are seeking to hear from Brian Bulatao, a close ally to Pompeo who serves as the under secretary of State for management; Pompeo senior adviser Toni Porter; acting State Department legal adviser Marik String; and Michael Miller, who serves as deputy assistant secretary of State for political-military affairs.

“The Administration continues to cover up the real reasons for Mr. Linick’s firing by stonewalling the Committees’ investigation and refusing to engage in good faith,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel(D-N.Y.), House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), and Sen. Bob Menendez (N.J.), the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, in a joint statement. Continue reading.

Here’s the truth about America’s founding that Mike Pompeo doesn’t want you to hear

AlterNet logoIt is truly bizarre that, at a moment when the Trump administration is sending in federal stormtroopers to threaten peaceful protesters in Portland, Oregon, conservatives are claiming that it is liberals who threaten the foundation of our democratic republic. It all started with Trump’s speech at Mt. Rushmore on July 4th.

Seventeen seventy-six represented the culmination of thousands of years of western civilization and the triumph not only of spirit, but of wisdom, philosophy, and reason.

And yet, as we meet here tonight, there is a growing danger that threatens every blessing our ancestors fought so hard for, struggled, they bled to secure.

Continue reading.

Pompeo panel’s human rights report pushes ‘radical, isolationist, anti-rights, anti-scientific, religious agenda’

AlterNet logoHuman rights advocates denounced as “dangerous” a draft report released Thursday by the U.S. State Department’s controversial Commission on Unalienable Rights that paints property rights and religious liberty as “foremost among the unalienable rights that government is established to secure” while casting doubt on other liberties, including reproductive freedom.

“Make no mistake: this report was not designed with principles of equality, justice, and rights in mind. Instead, it serves as another stepping stone in the White House’s radical, isolationist, anti-rights, anti-scientific, religious agenda,” Serra Sippel, president of the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), said in a statement.

“The Commission on Unalienable Rights is a thinly veiled religious fundamentalist panel, and the people on it should have absolutely no say about the human rights of people all over the world,” Sippel declared, calling the panel “a dangerous distraction from the fact that this administration does not believe that all people are equal and entitled to human rights.” Continue reading.

Pompeo says protesters and mainstream media are attacking American way of life

Washington Post logoSecretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that the American way of life and its founding principles are “under attack,” focusing his criticism on voices in the mainstream news media and protesters who have torn down statues of historical figures.

Speaking as he unveiled the first report of the Commission on Unalienable Rights, Pompeo said the events roiling the United States are antithetical to the nation’s ideals. Both Pompeo and the 60-page report, made public by the commission after a year of work, said property rights and religious freedom are the foremost unalienable rights.

“And yet today, the very core of what it means to be an American, indeed the American way of life itself, is under attack. Instead of seeking to improve America, leading voices promulgate hatred of our founding principles,” he said in his speech at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Continue reading.