Mike Pompeo has spent tax money on pens made in China for elite diners

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spent more than $ 10,000 in tax dollars on China-made pens for attendees to private dinners he hosted, including CEOs, conservative media figures and Republican donors, according to State Department data.

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

CREW noted that at the same time as the top US diplomat handed out 400 of the expensive pens, he publicly bashed China for “trade abuse that is costing US jobs and dealing huge blows to economies across America.”

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

Pompeo’s then-boss, now-former President Donald Trump, ran to the White House as a Republican on an “America First” platform and often reached out to China.

In addition to the cost of the pens, which were stylishly engraved with the words “ Madison Dinner, ” taxpayers paid the bill for $ 40,000 or so in other expenses related to the soirees, according to CREW, which received documents about the pens. through a lawsuit over the Freedom of Information Act.

CREW noted that an employee at the State Department’s protocol office sent more than a dozen emails to the pen salesman in the summer of 2018 to sort out the details of the order and ask questions about things like whether it could be possible to enlarge a locket on the pen.

Records indicate that the pens were purchased from Madden Branded Goods, a Florida-based company that profiles itself as “a team of creative thinkers and team players passionate about logo swag.”

In total, the State Department split at least $ 10,433 for the pens.

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

Pompeo named the dinners after the fifth United States Secretary of State, James Madison, who was elected president after serving as the country’s leading diplomat.

NBC News, which first reported details of the diners, previously said State Department officials involved in the diners “expressed concerns internally that the events were essentially using federal funds to provide a donor and supporter base for To cultivate Pompeo’s political ambitions. “

Only about 14% of those in attendance were diplomats or foreign officials.

Pompeo is a former CIA director and GOP congressman from Kansas.

NBC reported that the “elite group” of guests that Pompeo and his wife, Susan, have celebrated at about two dozen Madison dinners since 2018, included “billionaire CEOs, Supreme Court justices, political heavyweights and ambassadors.”

That report was published in May, days after the State Department’s Inspector General Steve Linick was fired by Trump, even as the internal watchdog investigated Pompeo’s alleged abuse of a political appointee in the department to perform personal duties for himself and his wife. to be carried out.