NBC News - As federal workers file out of the State
Department at the end of a Washington workday, an elite group is often
just arriving in the marbled, flag-lined lobby: Billionaire CEOs,
Supreme Court justices, political heavyweights and ambassadors arrive in
evening attire as they're escorted by private elevator to dinner with
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Until the
coronavirus shut them down in March, the gatherings were known as
"Madison Dinners" — elaborate, unpublicized affairs that Pompeo and his
wife, Susan Pompeo, began in 2018 and held regularly in the historic
Diplomatic Reception Rooms on the government's dime.
State
Department officials involved in the dinners said they had raised
concerns internally that the events were essentially using federal
resources to cultivate a donor and supporter base for Pompeo's political
ambitions — complete with extensive contact information that gets sent
back to Susan Pompeo's personal email address. The officials and others
who attended discussed the dinners on condition of anonymity.
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