House Subcommittee Investigating Mike Pompeo’s Planned RNC Speech

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had already drawn serious scrutiny over his planned speech at the Republican National Convention.

Pompeo will be addressing the convention in a taped message from Jerusalem and will presumably be talking about President Donald Trump’s foreign policy accomplishments.

A number of current and former diplomats expressed their concerns to NBC News about Pompeo’s address:

It would be problematic enough, current and former U.S. diplomats said, if Pompeo were simply showing up at the convention to speak. But Pompeo’s decision to use a stop in Jerusalem during an official overseas trip as the site for his recorded speech to fellow Republicans raises even more troubling questions about the message it sends to other countries and whether U.S. taxpayers are footing the bill, they said.

“It’s all just shredding the Hatch Act,” a current U.S. diplomat said, referring to the federal law that prohibits government employees from political activity on the job or in their official capacities.

The official and others still working for the government spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. Their comments were echoed by former U.S. diplomats who said the dismay within the diplomatic community was palpable.

The State Department has said Pompeo would be speaking in his “personal capacity.” But it’s still received criticism, and on Monday the House Foreign Affairs Committee posted internal State Department documents with a long list of prohibited political activities for employees, including that “Senate-confirmed Presidential appointees may not even attend a political party convention or convention-related event.”

And now Pompeo’s speech is under investigation by the House Foreign Affairs Oversight and Investigations subcommittee, chaired by Congressman Joaquin Castro.

According to the Daily Beast, Castro sent a letter to a top State Department official saying the speech “may violate the Hatch Act, government-wide regulations implementing that Act, and State Department policies.”

.@SecPompeo’s participation in the #RNCConvention during the course of official @StateDept work is not only unacceptable, but appears that it may also be illegal.

I’ve launched a @HouseForeign investigation. https://t.co/tJ6nvTsJsw

— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) August 25, 2020