Diplomats aghast as Pompeo speaks at RNC from Jerusalem

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/diplomats-aghast-pompeo-set-address-gop-convention-jerusalem-n1237956

Diplomats who are barred by law from mixing work and politics say they're appalled by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's decision to address the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, breaking with long-standing traditions aimed at isolating American's foreign policy from partisan battles at home.

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.

[NewYorkExpress]

Yeah, this is wildly illegal. Actually more obviously illegally, possibly even more obviously unethical, than the Ukraine stuff or the emoluments clause stuff. Speaking of Secretaries of State, I could make a "BUT HER EMAILS" jibe too. But that would be lazy and a forced meme at this stage.

It is not illegal for a Cabinet member to speak at a convention.

It does violate State Department policy for the Secretary of State to do so.

[NewYorkExpress]

Pompeo being Pompeo, Republicans being Republicans ...

... Israel being Israel. Yeah, this didn't happen without their consent. Which is the more interesting aspect of the episode. Increasingly, Israel seems determined to alienate the ascendant political coalition of its benefactor state. Well, good luck with that!

If Netanhayu gives the order, Mossad can have Biden/Harris killed.

They are the best in the world at targeted assassinations for a reason.

[NewYorkExpress]

If anyone was wondering who the last sitting Secretary of State to address a convention was, it was William Rogers at the 1972 RNC, nearly 50 years ago. It's long enough ago that it'd be like someone trying to do something in the 2068 RNC and saying "But Trump pardoned someone on live TV during his convention!"

Anyway, maybe the Hatch Act should have some sort of actual penalty attached to it other than getting a stern talking to and finger waggling. Until then, it's hard to take it seriously. (This predates Trump, btw)

If staffers faced fines or dismissal or a bar from future government service for violating the Hatch Act, they'd be a lot more careful about it.

And, yes, I know the President and Vice President are immune from the Hatch Act, but everyone else, including every person who works for either of them, isn't immune from it.

That's honestly something that should change. I'd also suggest that Congresspeople and Senators also should be subject to the Hatch Act.

[NewYorkExpress]

And now Pomepo's speech is under a Hatch act investigation.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is under investigation for potentially violating a federal law that forbids federal employees from engaging in political activity while on duty or while inside federal buildings over his address to the Republican convention in August.

The Office of the Special Counsel, an independent federal investigative agency, launched a probe into Pompeo's speech to the Republican National Convention while on a taxpayer funded trip to Jerusalem on August 25, according to two House Democrats.

It is the second investigation into potential Hatch Act violations that the OSC has opened into Pompeo, whose use of resources and decision-making at the State Department, along with his wife's, have triggered a series of investigations by the agency's inspector general.

"Our offices have confirmed that the Office of Special Counsel has launched a probe into potential Hatch Act violations tied to Secretary Pompeo's speech to the Republican National Convention," Rep. Ellot Engel, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Rep. Nita Lowey, chairwoman of the House Committee on Appropriations, wrote in a joint statement.

"This information comes on the heels of reporting that OSC is also looking into Secretary Pompeo's stated commitment to rush out more of Hillary Clinton's emails by Election Day and as the Secretary has misused State Department resources on his speech tour of swing states," the Democrats said.

"As we get closer to both this year's election and his own inevitable return to electoral politics, Mike Pompeo has grown even more brazen in misusing the State Department and the taxpayer dollars that fund it as vehicles for the Administration's, and his own, political ambitions," the lawmakers said.