Pompeo’s Guest List for Lavish ‘Madison Dinners’ Revealed: Major TV Hosts, GOP Donors, and More

A new report sheds more light on the guest list for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s taxpayer-funded private dinners that have come under scrutiny by congressional investigators.

Last month, NBC News broke the story that Pompeo and his wife invited a number of prominent individuals to the State Department for a series of opulent gatherings called the “Madison Dinners.” The previous report identified a plethora of conservative VIPs on the guest list, and it also said State Department officials were perplexed about what was the purpose of these dinners if not to advance American foreign policy interests.

NBC has expanded upon their previous report and found that “out of a total of 360 people sent invitations, at least 150 were from groups that are overtly conservative, formally affiliated with the Republican Party or right-wing media outlets.” State Department sources told NBC on background that the dinners were not set up according to past precedents for using taxpayer funds to set up bipartisan events focused on a singular element of the department’s work.

The report says the list contained “33 invitees [who] have donated more than $10,000” to Republican causes, and 11 of them backed Pompeo’s campaigns when he served as a Kansas congressman. Previous reporting noted that Fox News hosts were among the guests. Between wealthy donors, conservative media figures and advocates, the guest list had notable names like Oliver North, Karl Rove, Robert Kraft, Samuel Alito, Laura Ingraham and Brian Kilmeade. The new report notes that there were attendees from other news networks, including CBS’ Norah O’Donnell, CNN’s Jamie Gangel, CNBC’s Joe Kernen and Washington Post‘s David Ignatius.

From the report:

The State Department has defended the dinners as entirely appropriate and in keeping with American diplomatic tradition. Spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said Pompeo “has benefited greatly from these gatherings as he has gained knowledge listening to his guests from all across the political spectrum and all around the world.”

In a separate statement, a State Department spokesperson said: “NBC News has found that more than half of the dinner guests were not affiliated with the Republican Party thus confirming the bipartisan nature of these dinners. The Madison Dinners will continue to bring foreign diplomats together with American political, business, and media leaders to help advance U.S. national security interests and diplomacy.”

The news comes as Pompeo still faces scrutiny for encouraging for President Donald Trump to fire Inspector General Steve Linick when the latter was reportedly conducting an investigation on Pompeo. NBC noted that at the time of firing, Linick was “looking into the State Department’s Office of the Chief of Protocol, which planned and executed the Madison Dinners.”

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