Pompeo family mixed personal and official business in State Department, emails show

A new trove of emails and messages shows how the Pompeo family blended their personal affairs with official business of the State Department.

The emails come as both Congress and the State Department’s inspector general continue their investigations into whether the secretary of state misused department resources and improperly fired then-Inspector General Steve Linick.

Shortly after Mike Pompeo was sworn in as Secretary of State, officials gave him, his wife Susan, and son Nick a private tour of the department.

Following the tour, Nick Pompeo wrote in an email, “I also want to reinforce my willingness to help your mission in any way I can. We view this as a family endeavor, so if you think there is any place I can add value, don’t hesitate to reach out,” according to NBC News.

In the same email, Nick Pompeo asked if the software company he worked for could participate in a “data hackathon” the State Department was planning. The State Department said that the company did not participate in the event.

News of potential impropriety in the State Department first broke in May after Mike Pompeo announced he recommended President Trump fire the department’s independent watchdog. Linick was investigating claims that Pompeo made an aide walk his dog, pick up his dry cleaning, and make dinner reservations for him and his wife, among other errands. Congressional Democrats were investigating similar claims in July and began a second investigation after Linick was fired.

At the time, the move was rebuked on both sides of the political aisle. Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said the president’s stated reason for firing Linick was unsatisfactory, demanding a more thorough explanation.

Many of the emails obtained by NBC involve “routine matters like logistics and scheduling for official events” that would be typical for someone like the spouse of a department secretary. But others, such as maintenance requests for the house the Pompeos rent on a Washington military base, appear “less directly connected” to the State Department’s resources. The emails show that Susan Pompeo appeared to send such requests through the department’s Diplomatic Security Service, the law enforcement arm of the department that ordinarily is “tasked with securing diplomacy and protecting the integrity of U.S. travel documents,” according to the service’s website.

In one exchange, messages show a department official giving Susan Pompeo updates about installing a new dryer. “The dryer isn’t hooked up … I think you told me someone was coming to fix that?” Susan Pompeo said in a text message from 2018. The official later responded: “Ma’am – On it, I was told it was fixed. Let me get you an answer.”

The Pompeos’ unusual housing arrangements — renting housing usually reserved for flag officers — has raised concerns before. In 2018, an internal memo from Navy Installations Command said that the request was “problematic,” adding it raised “a number of factual, legal, fiscal, and ethical issues.”

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel told NBC News that Mike Pompeo was blocking Engel’s investigation into whether the secretary used the department “as a personal travel agency or political exploratory committee.”

“My office has recently confirmed that Mr. Pompeo is refusing to give OIG an interview in its probe into misuse of resources by himself and his wife,” Engel said. “I believe he’s trying to run out the clock and avoid investigators until he leaves office.”

In testimony to Congress, Toni Porter, an adviser to Mike Pompeo, said she is the primary contact for Susan Pompeo at the State Department and, among other things, she was tasked with making dinner reservations and helping with the Pompeo’s Christmas cards.

“The work that I get assigned is from the secretary,” Porter told Congress. “There are times that Mrs. Pompeo relays that work to me.”

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