Mike Pompeo's RNC speech under probe for potentially violating federal law

With presidential elections being just around a corner, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is under a probe for potentially violating a federal law that prohibits the incumbents from indulging in political activity while being on duty or inside the buildings. Two House Democrats have said on October 26 that the Office of the Special Counsel, an independent federal investigation agency has started an investigation into Pompeo’s speech to the Republican National Convention while on a taxpayer-funded trip to Jerusalem on August 25.

This is also the second investigation into the potential Hatch Act violations that the Office of Special Counsel has opened into the US Secretary of State. Pompeo’s conduct in the office and his use of resources at the State Department along with his wife, Susan have prompted a range of probes by the inspector general of the agency. Democrat Representatives Eliot L Engel, the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Nita Lowey, the Chairwoman of the House Committee on Appropriations confirmed the OSC probe in a joint statement. 

The House Democrats said, “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.”

“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,” they added. 

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Democrats accuse Pompeo of ‘brazen misuse’

As the US politics is getting more and more dominated with the November elections, the two Democrats accused Pompeo of ‘brazen misuse’ of the State Department and the taxpayer dollars that promote his own ambitions. Moreover, Lowey and Engel noted that the Trump administration has repeatedly violated the deadlines by Congressional overseers’ for producing the documents on the recent speeches by Pompeo in a bid to provide understanding if they were improper political activities. 

They 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.”

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Image: AP