As Pompeo woos Iowa, new records emerge around his conduct at CIA, State Department
New records have emerged on Mike Pompeo’s tenure in the Trump administration that further cast a pall on his political ambitions, just as the former secretary of state and CIA director appeared in Iowa on Friday to test the waters for a presidential run in 2024.
The documents, obtained through Freedom of Information Act lawsuits by American Oversight, a watchdog group, and shared with McClatchy, detail the conditions for his lease of an Army residence in Washington during his time at the State Department.
They reveal an elaborate renovation of a “trip packing” and “dressing” room for him in that residence that involved extensive State Department planning at the direction of his wife, Susan Pompeo.
And they confirm that both the State Department and CIA are withholding records that document their inspectors general investigating unspecified complaints over Pompeo’s conduct.
Pompeo addresed a gathering of Iowa conservatives Friday morning, increasing speculation he will run for president. The event in the Des Moines suburbs, which C-SPAN will broadcast to launch its 2024 coverage, came on the heels of an appearance last month at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida, where he delivered a stump-like speech that leaned heavily on his Kansas ties.
“In the end, there is not a doubt in my mind that our ideas are right, our values are correct, our understanding of our founding as the most remarkable thing that has happened to a government formation ... if we stay at it, we will prevail,” Pompeo said. “You need to know that and then we need to make it happen.”
But the continued drip of documents detailing controversies surrounding the former secretary of state leave questions hanging over his potential candidacy.
It is already widely known that Pompeo and his wife were under investigation by the State Department’s inspector general, Steve Linick, over their use of government resources and personnel for their personal business.
Former President Donald Trump fired Linick last May, at Pompeo’s request. But McClatchy reported over the summer and fall that his office’s investigations still continued.
Responding to a question about holding officials in Washington accountable for illegal activities, Pompeo acknowledged the continuing investigation.
“That if we count on others to do this, if we count on the Department of Justice or, heck, I’ve been investigated by the State Department IG, I think I still am -- not a friendly system. Accountability has to be you all,” Pompeo said.
UNUSUAL RESIDENCE
Reporting at the time showed the Navy had rejected a request from the Pompeos in 2018 to rent one of their properties near the State Department complex in Washington, raising “factual, legal, fiscal, and ethical” concerns with the couple skipping the line for one of the coveted residences.
The new documents showed the Pompeos secured the lease of an Army property, paying the Defense Department $63,000 in rent a year, without addressing those legal or ethical concerns. While the exact location of the residence is redacted in the records, Politico reported last year that the residence is at the Fort Myer base in Virginia.
A memorandum from the Defense Department said that the property could save the government costs in protecting the secretary, providing him with “security benefits not readily available in a publicly accessible building or residential setting.”
The Defense Department recommended a lease term of up to 5 years.
A source close to the former secretary said that “Secretary Pompeo no longer resides at the Army residence and moved out prior to January 20,” when President Joe Biden was inaugurated.
“Minor renovations were done to accommodate security equipment and protocols,” the source said.
But emails between Pompeo’s wife and State Department staff show that, shortly after the couple moved in to the residence in August of 2018, she directed an elaborate renovation of a room in the house to serve as an office, “trip packing room” and “dressing” room for the secretary, with detailed instructions on their desired layout.
The renovation involved extensive State Department personnel coordination, requests for cosmetic work, new furniture, cabinet installations and “art hung on the walls at Mike’s request,” according to released emails.
“I talked with Mike about layout details of the room with the goal that his established routine is altered as little as possible,” his wife wrote aides.
Susan Pompeo’s activities repeatedly came under scrutiny during Pompeo’s time at the State Department. She was accused of directing government personnel to conduct personal tasks, visiting tourist destinations on official trips and helping to coordinate a lavish, taxpayer-funded Madison Dinners series that included celebrities and Republican influencers, but few diplomats.
“The role of Mrs. Pompeo at the State Department appeared frequently to be improving the aesthetics around her husband, because her job was to make sure his image was as polished as possible,” said Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight. “Putting up a secure work location in a temporary housing situation may have been appropriate, but extending that request to ensure that it was decorated to the Pompeo family liking is an extension of that.”
“We see that mirrored in the Madison Dinners,” Evers said. “It’s not uncommon or inappropriate for secretaries of state to engage in public diplomacy, but what the Pompeos did was take that tradition and extended it to its outer edge by hosting what many people took to be de facto political events, designed to feather Pompeo’s nest instead of doing the business of the United States.”
UNKNOWN COMPLAINTS
McClatchy first reported in July that the State Department inspector general had received a whistleblower complaint accusing Pompeo of “questionable activities.” But additional records that detail complaints over Pompeo’s conduct – both at the State Department and the CIA – still remain under seal at both agencies.
The State Department is not releasing nine full pages of Linick’s emails regarding complaints about Pompeo’s alleged misconduct, according to a letter from the agency inspector general’s office obtained by McClatchy.
A similar letter from the CIA revealed that four records and six emails sent to or from former CIA Inspector General Chris Sharpley regarding complaints about Pompeo remain withheld.
Any government employee can file a whistleblower complaint. But “the existence of secret complaints at both agencies where he worked is significant,” Evers said, explaining his organization’s efforts to obtain those records. “We know that at the end of the administration, he took steps to have the inspector general at the State Department removed.”
Whether or not Pompeo chooses to run for president, lawsuits likely to uncover more details from his time in government are sure to continue. If Pompeo runs, future disclosures could prove embarrassing and provide fodder for opponents.
While Pompeo didn’t address the records during his Iowa speech Friday, he called The Star and The Wichita Eagle “leftist train wrecks” in response to a question about media balance.
The State Department did not respond to requests for comment.
Jonathan Shorman of The Kansas City Star contributed reporting from Des Moines, Iowa.
This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "As Pompeo woos Iowa, new records emerge around his conduct at CIA, State Department."
