Until the coronavirus shut them down in March, Sec. Pompeo and his wife held elaborate, unpublicized gatherings known as "Madison Dinners" regularly in historic Diplomatic Reception Rooms on the government's dime. #NBCNewsThreads nbcnews.to/2WNIbJa (1/8)
State Dept. officials involved in the dinners said they raised concerns internally that the events were essentially using federal resources to cultivate a donor and supporter base for Sec. Pompeo's political ambitions. (2/8)
.@NBCNews obtained a master guest list for every dinner through the end of 2019. Records show that about 29% of invitees came from the corporate world, while about a quarter hailed from media or entertainment industries. (3/8)
About 30% of invitees work in politics or government, and 14% were diplomats or foreign officials. Every single member of the House or the Senate who has been invited is Republican. (4/8)
Officials involved in carrying out the dinners say all the information collected by the State Dept. during the invitation process, including the names and contact information for potential guests, is emailed back and forth to Susan Pompeo's private Gmail account. (5/8)
The Madison Dinners, which aren't disclosed on Sec. Pompeo's public schedule, add another element to what his critics say is a pattern of pushing the edge of the envelope by using government resources for potential personal or political gain. (6/8)
"The dinners are not unusual," fmr. RNC Chairman Michael Steele, an @MSNBC contributor who attended one of the dinners, said. The dinner, Steele said, was in keeping with Sec. Pompeo's diplomatic role and added: "There's no big deal there." (7/8)
Two sources with knowledge of the events and the underlying costs estimated that the bill probably runs several hundred dollars per plate, likely pushing the total cost of the dinners to date into the six figures. (8/8)
