WASHINGTON — As federal employees file out of the State Division on the finish of a Washington workday, an elite group is commonly simply arriving within the marbled, flag-lined foyer: Billionaire CEOs, Supreme Court docket justices, political heavyweights and ambassadors arrive in night apparel as they’re escorted by personal elevator to dinner with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Till the coronavirus shut them down in March, the gatherings have been generally known as “Madison Dinners” — elaborate, unpublicized affairs that Pompeo and his spouse, Susan Pompeo, started in 2018 and held often within the historic Diplomatic Reception Rooms on the federal government’s dime.

State Division officers concerned within the dinners mentioned that they had raised issues internally that the occasions have been primarily utilizing federal sources to domesticate a donor and supporter base for Pompeo’s political ambitions — full with in depth contact data that will get despatched again to Susan Pompeo’s private electronic mail deal with. The officers and others who attended mentioned the dinners on situation of anonymity.

An NBC Information investigation discovered that Pompeo held about two dozen Madison Dinners since he took over in 2018. NBC Information obtained a grasp visitor record for each dinner by way of the tip of 2019, in addition to inner State Division calendars from earlier than the pandemic emerged, displaying that future dinners have been on the books by way of at the least October. The grasp record consists of the names of almost 500 invitees and specifies who accepted, though it’s potential some folks RSVP’d however did not present up in Foggy Backside for dinner.

The information present that about 29 p.c of the invitees got here from the company world, whereas a few quarter of them hailed from the media or leisure industries, with conservative media members closely represented. About 30 p.c work in politics or authorities, and simply 14 p.c have been diplomats or overseas officers. Each single member of the Home or the Senate who has been invited is a Republican.

The dinners are named after James Madison, America’s fourth president and fifth secretary of state, who made a behavior of inviting overseas diplomats to alternate concepts over dinner. However historians might level to no precedent for a secretary of state’s taking part in host to such frequent gatherings, paid for by State Division funds, involving political and enterprise leaders.

“Madison definitely paid his personal leisure bills,” mentioned Kevin Gutzman, a professor at Western Connecticut State College who wrote a biography of Madison.

The Madison Dinners, which are not disclosed on Pompeo’s public schedule, add one other component to what his critics say is a sample of pushing the sting of the envelope by utilizing authorities sources for potential private or political acquire.

Steve Linick, who was abruptly fired Friday evening because the State Division’s inspector common, was investigating whether or not Pompeo made a political appointee perform private errands like strolling his canine, NBC Information reported.

On Tuesday, a State Division official and two different folks conversant in the matter recognized the political appointee to NBC Information as Toni Porter, who had additionally labored for Pompeo on the CIA and now works within the Workplace of the Secretary of State. Emails reviewed by NBC Information present that Porter was the chief liaison between Pompeo’s workplace and the Workplace of the Chief of Protocol, which runs the Madison Dinners.

It is unclear whether or not the inspector common was additionally investigating the Madison Dinners, however two administration officers informed NBC Information that Linick made some kind of inquiry to the protocol workplace final week, earlier than he was fired. One of many officers mentioned Pompeo’s workplace was then notified.

When the dinners began, two State Division officers mentioned, issues have been raised to the State Division’s authorized adviser, who they mentioned responded by saying occasions hosted by the secretary ought to be associated to overseas coverage. On Capitol Hill, a number of committees have additionally been wanting into the dinners, congressional aides mentioned.

Within the opinion of a senior Trump administration official who requested anonymity out of concern for retribution, “if the president knew about any of this, he would have fired Pompeo months in the past.”

In a letter Tuesday to the State Division reviewed by NBC Information, Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the highest Democrat on the International Relations Committee, wrote: “I’m involved by allegations that the Secretary seems to be utilizing these taxpayer sources to host giant domestic-focused political gatherings that serve little-to-no overseas coverage goal.” The letter requested “an entire accounting” of funds used for the dinners and copies of any remarks Pompeo delivered at a Madison Dinner.

State Division spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus mentioned the dinners are “a world-class alternative to debate the mission of the State Division and the complicated overseas coverage issues dealing with our distinctive nation.”

“Invited company have included many overseas diplomats, thought leaders, lecturers, authorities leaders at many ranges, enterprise leaders, Members of Congress and the media — every of whom has a stake in America and its management on this planet,” Ortagus mentioned.

She added that Pompeo “has benefited vastly from these gatherings as he has gained information listening to his company from all throughout the political spectrum and all world wide.”

“International policy-focused social gatherings exactly like these are within the best custom of diplomatic and American hospitality and beauty,” Ortagus mentioned. “The Secretary seems ahead to persevering with these Madison Dinners as they’re an vital element of the execution of his duties as Secretary of State.”

Invites obtained by NBC Information describe the dinners as an “intimate night” within the spirit of James Madison, who as secretary of state “hosted dinners that gathered thinkers and leaders to share concepts on the way forward for America and the World.”

“By way of the Madison Dinner Sequence, Secretary Pompeo honors their knowledge in seeing the worth of constructing relationships and sharing mental thought to counterpoint our nation and to additional our diplomatic targets,” an official invitation reads.

A lot of these invited are, certainly, international thought leaders whose views could possibly be priceless to America’s high diplomat: overseas ministers from allied nations, senators and outstanding historians. However others appear to have little connection to the world of diplomacy, similar to nation singer Reba McEntire, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.

At one of many ultimate dinners earlier than the pandemic, as President Donald Trump was edging away from a possible army confrontation with Iran in January, Pompeo and his spouse hosted the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Princess Reema bint Bandar; Raytheon CEO Thomas Kennedy; nationwide safety adviser Robert O’Brien; and Fox Information host Brian Kilmeade, in line with a seating record reviewed by NBC Information.

At a dinner in November, as impeachment hearings have been in full swing, the Pompeos dined with former Main League Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, American Gaming Affiliation President Invoice Miller and Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony Checklist, the influential anti-abortion rights lobbying group. The Malaysian ambassador and Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., a key defender of Trump through the impeachment proceedings, rounded out the record.

Then there was the dinner in Could 2019 that occurred after Trump stormed out of an infrastructure assembly with Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who accused him of throwing a “mood tantrum.” Amongst these invited for the subsequent night’s dinner have been Fox Information host Laura Ingraham, the EU ambassador, Republican energy couple Matt and Mercedes Schlapp and Chik-fil-A Chairman Dan Cathy, a significant donor to campaigns in opposition to same-sex marriage.

“The CEO of Chick-fil-A will not be somebody I might say is concerned in overseas coverage,” an individual with information of the dinner mentioned.

NBC Information obtained a grasp visitor database that particulars every visitor’s title, title, partner, dietary restrictions and dates of invitation and acceptance. The database runs from July 2018, a number of months after Pompeo was sworn in, by way of the beginning of 2020.

The enterprise moguls invited to the affairs embody AOL co-founder Steve Case and Republican megadonors like Residence Depot founder Ken Langone, hedge fund government Paul Singer and Texas actual property tycoon Harlan Crow. The invitees additionally embody Pompeo’s outdated classmates from the U.S. Navy Academy, together with Joe DePinto, CEO of 7-Eleven, and Steve Cannon, whose firm owns the Atlanta Falcons.

Twenty-three p.c of invitees have been related to media or leisure, and one other 30 p.c are authorities sorts: present or former officers, members of Congress and judges and their spouses. Media figures skew closely towards conservative TV personalities, with 39 p.c of them from Fox Information.

Solely 14 p.c are diplomats or overseas officers. Greater than 50 ambassadors present up on the visitor record, with almost two-thirds from nations in Europe and the Center East and smaller numbers from Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Many are main gamers in Republican politics, similar to former Bush strategist Karl Rove and David City, a lobbyist and political guide on Trump’s 2020 advisory committee. Supreme Court docket Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch seem on the record, as do Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Protection Secretary Mark Esper, though it is unclear whether or not all of them attended.

The grasp visitor record consists of many notations on particular invites being dealt with immediately by Susan Pompeo, together with these for Sununu, the New Hampshire governor; Dr. Larry Beamer, a surgeon in Wichita, Kansas; and historian Niall Ferguson. Pompeo, a former Home member from Kansas who entered political life with out important wealth, has offered himself publicly as extra of a low-key politician, particularly in comparison with his final two predecessors on the State Division, who have been extraordinarily rich.

“I am not in it for the flowery dinners in Paris or Switzerland or Vienna,” Pompeo informed the American Conservative Union Basis in February, alluding to frequent European journeys by former Secretary of State John Kerry. “That, my associates, is a whole lot of cocktails.”

The evening earlier than these remarks, NBC Information journalists had noticed company arriving within the State Division foyer for pre-dinner cocktails as one of many final pre-coronavirus gatherings obtained underneath method.

The night usually begins at 6 p.m. Company arriving by automotive pull in to the horseshoe driveway of the Harry S. Truman Constructing, the headquarters of U.S. diplomacy, the place officers are ready to greet and escort them to a particular elevator reserved for the night, folks current for the dinners mentioned.

As soon as upstairs on the eighth ground, they’re given a strolling tour of the long-lasting Diplomatic Reception Rooms, a museum of U.S. diplomacy that features the Benjamin Franklin State Eating Room, the Martha Washington Women’ Lounge and the John Quincy Adams State Drawing Room.

Then it is cocktail time for roughly half an hour earlier than the company are seated for dinner, which lasts about an hour. The secretary or his spouse faucet their glass and provides a welcome toast, however the dialog is casual, and there isn’t any particular subject or theme.

The menu, nevertheless, is commonly curated to replicate the season. The featured cocktail could be one paying homage to the time of James and Dolley Madison, or French 75 cocktails could be served up in honor of Mardi Gras. At a dinner in February 2019 occurring the identical week as Mardi Gras, company have been served king cake, a New Orleans custom with a child figurine baked in.

“It is not the secretary of state of america. It is extra like Secretary Mike and Susan,” mentioned an individual who’s been at one of many dinners.

A guidelines for the occasions exhibits {that a} harpist is introduced in to play the cocktail hour, and a photographer is organized to take a bunch photograph in entrance of a hearth.

As company depart, often round 9 p.m., they’re given a journal and a pen as items — each custom-embossed with the Madison Dinner logos. The State Division special-ordered a whole lot of every in 2018, the pens for $23.75 apiece and the journals for $8, officers mentioned.

Madison was, certainly, recognized to carry salon dinners within the early 1800s to construct bridges on overseas coverage between People and foreigners. Hospitality, public diplomacy and the casual alternate of concepts are among the many conventional instruments secretaries of state use to advertise democratic values and advance U.S. pursuits, and different secretaries of state have held social occasions to increase their networks and conduct casual diplomacy.

“The dinners aren’t uncommon,” mentioned former Republican Nationwide Committee Chairman Michael Steele, a Trump critic and MSNBC contributor who attended one of many dinners. He mentioned the dinner was in step with Pompeo’s diplomatic position and added: “There is no huge deal there.”

However the method by which Pompeo has carried out the dinner collection has raised issues for State Division officers on a number of fronts, together with using taxpayer {dollars} and the involvement of his spouse.

Former officers mentioned that it is as much as every secretary to resolve how concerned their spouses ought to be and that no regulation prohibits a partner from taking part in the position of de facto social secretary. Susan Pompeo, who is not a authorities official, was additionally recognized to play an lively position when Pompeo was CIA director, and though he has known as her a “drive multiplier,” her presence on official State Division journeys has raised questions earlier than.

Within the Madison Dinners, Susan Pompeo’s position is central. Emails obtained by NBC Information present her speaking immediately with State Division officers, setting visitor lists and dates to be placed on the calendar for dinners, and arranging menu selections.

Officers concerned in finishing up the dinners say all the knowledge collected by the State Division through the invitation course of, together with the names and get in touch with data for potential company, is emailed forwards and backwards to Susan Pompeo’s personal Gmail account. Two congressional officers expressed concern that data might then be utilized by Pompeo as a possible donor Rolodex if he runs for workplace once more. The Hatch Act prohibits most federal workers from partaking in political exercise at work or of their official capacities.

Pompeo has resisted ongoing efforts by Senate Republicans to recruit him to run for the Senate in Kansas this 12 months, and he’s additionally usually talked about as a possible 2024 presidential candidate.

The dinners are paid for out of the State Division’s Emergencies within the Diplomatic and Consular Service Appropriation, generally known as the “Ok Fund,” which can be utilized for “confidential necessities within the conduct of overseas affairs in addition to different approved actions that additional the belief of U.S. overseas coverage aims,” in line with the State Division’s web site. Present and former officers mentioned that to adjust to the spirit of the appropriation, State Division officers usually work to make sure that a major proportion of overseas dignitaries or officers attend.

Not like for many State Division occasions, value estimates for the dinners aren’t circulated to staffers engaged on the occasions, officers mentioned. However two sources with information of the occasions and the underlying prices estimated that the invoice most likely runs a number of hundred {dollars} per plate, doubtless pushing the entire value of the dinners thus far into the six figures.

The dinners additionally circumvent the conventional process for an official occasion for the secretary, by which an “exercise sheet” is shipped out from the secretary’s workplace notifying different officers of the plans. Folks conversant in the Madison Dinners mentioned they’re as a substitute organized informally between the Workplace of the Chief of Protocol and Pompeo’s government workplace on the seventh ground.

Meaning there isn’t any coordination with the desks on the State Division overseeing particular areas of the world. For instance, if the South Korean ambassador goes to a Madison Dinner, the State Division’s bureau dealing with Asia might not even bear in mind or know to observe as much as see what the ambassador and Pompeo might have mentioned, officers conversant in the dinners mentioned.