A nearly $6000 dollar bottle of whiskey gifted to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has apparently gone missing.
The State Department announced Wednesday they were looking for a bottle of Japanese whiskey valued at $5800 that was given to Pompeo by the government of Japan when he visited Japan for a G20 summit over two years ago in June 2019, The Associated Press reported. The State Department claimed that they do not know what happened to the bottle, and there is an “ongoing inquiry” into precisely what happened to it in a notice filed in the Federal Register, according to the AP. A representative of Pompeo told the AP that Pompeo has no idea what happened to the bottle.
NEW: In 2019 Japan gifted Sec State Mike Pompeo a $5,800 bottle of whiskey. Now, State says it has no idea where it went and is investigating its whereabouts. It’s against law to take gift from foreigner over $390. Pompeo says he knows nothing about bottle https://t.co/yM4Ii6ib2L
— Michael S. Schmidt (@nytmike) August 4, 2021
Typically, when U.S. officials receive gifts from foreign nations, the State Department’s Office of Protocol records them and keeps track of their whereabouts, the AP report stated. Officials do have the opportunity to keep the gifts for themselves by paying the Treasury Department for their value. Oftentimes, gifts are given to the National Archives or another government entity. (RELATED: Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo Claims MIT Turned Down His Speech Critical Of The Chinese Government Because It Would Offend Students)
However, the State Department claimed that there is no such record from the Office of Protocol regarding the expensive bottle of Japanese Whiskey, the AP reported.
It looks like there would be ethical issues if Mike Pompeo took the bottle of whiskey. If that’s the case, I’d be happy to accept it myself. https://t.co/rjaAHJzQYW
— Jacob Shamsian (@JayShams) August 4, 2021
While the State Department claimed in the Federal Register notice it “is looking into the matter and has an ongoing inquiry,” it provided few details on the investigation, the AP claimed. Pompeo’s team affirmed that the former secretary of state, “has no knowledge of the gift and has not been contacted by anyone regarding an investigation of it.”
During his time as secretary of state, Pompeo also received two carpets valued at nearly $20,000 in total from the president of Kazakhstan and the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates. Those two gifts were apparently transferred to the General Services Administration, the Federal Register notice claimed, according to the AP.