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Hawk Pompeo offered custom China-made pens as mementos, watchdog finds
Washington (AFP) - Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, a vociferous critic of Beijing, offered memento pens that were made in China at dinners where he controversially entertained conservative guests, a watchdog said Thursday. The group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington released records it obtained under US freedom of information laws that found that Pompeo's State Department spent at least $10,433 for 400 custom pens. The pens were embossed with the "Madison Dinner" logo, referring to gatherings Pompeo held at taxpayers' expense in which he invited prominent Republicans ...
AFP
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In final Trump chaos, Pompeo loyal to the end
Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump in his final days in the White House has seen cabinet members quit, his vice president for the first time take a distance and some members of his party support impeachment. But he still has loyalty until the bitter end from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. America's top diplomat has rammed forward 11th-hour hawkish policies and increasingly adopted the grievance-laden rhetoric of Trump's hard-right base, raising speculation that Pompeo has the White House in his own sights in 2024. Since the deadly mob attack on Congress by Trump supporters angry over his electio...
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Pompeo quarantining after contact with Covid-positive person: State Dept
Washington (AFP) - America's top diplomat Mike Pompeo was in quarantine Wednesday after being exposed to a person who has tested positive for Covid-19, the State Department said. The 56-year-old Secretary of State "has been tested and is negative," it said in a statement. "In accordance with CDC guidelines, he will be in quarantine," the State Department said. "He is being closely monitored by the Department's medical team." The State Department said that for privacy reasons it was not identifying the person Pompeo came into contact with. The US Secretary of State is fourth in the line of succ...
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Pompeo accuses Russia of sowing 'chaos' in the Mediterranean
Washington (AFP) - America's top diplomat Mike Pompeo on Tuesday accused Russia of continuing to "threaten Mediterranean stability" and sowing "chaos, conflict and division" in countries around the region. In a statement on "Russian Influence in the Mediterranean," the outgoing Secretary of State responded to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who he said "accused the United States of playing political games" in the region. Lavrov "again gets the facts wrong and attempts to rewrite history," Pompeo said, denouncing Moscow's actions in Libya, Greece and Syria. In Libya, he said, the US "su...
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Biden tells world leaders 'America is back' but Pompeo digs in
Washington (AFP) - The leaders of close US allies on Tuesday telephoned President-elect Joe Biden and pledged to work together but in an extraordinary break, America's top diplomat Mike Pompeo insisted that Donald Trump would remain in power.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel all offered congratulations in calls to Biden, who a week earlier edged out Trump in the presidential election."I'm letting them know that America is back. We're going to be back in the game. It's not America alone," Biden told reporters in his home s...
AFP
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Pompeo promises 'smooth transition' to a second Trump term
Washington (AFP) - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday promised the world a "smooth transition" after US elections but refused to recognize President-elect Joe Biden's victory, saying Donald Trump will remain in power."There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration," Pompeo said in an at times testy news conference when asked about contacts with the Biden team."The world should have every confidence that the transition necessary to make sure that the State Department is functional today... with the president who is in office on January 20 a minute after noon will be s...
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Under Trump pressure, Pompeo vows to put out Clinton emails
Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, facing open criticism from President Donald Trump, promised Friday he would release emails by Hillary Clinton avidly sought by conservative activists before November 3 elections.Trump, trailing in the polls and confined to the White House after a Covid-19 diagnosis, has returned to his familiar demands for the emails of his 2016 rival while she was secretary of state.Asked about Trump's rare attack on him over not finding and releasing the emails, Pompeo said in a Fox News interview: "We're gonna get there. We're going to get this informati...
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Pompeo urges Greece, Turkey to resolve Mediterranean row
Athens (AFP) - The United States on Monday called on Greece and Turkey to find "good solutions" to a tense Mediterranean territorial dispute after the NATO neighbours agreed to hold talks.Greece and Turkey have spent weeks at loggerheads after Ankara sent exploration vessels into disputed, potentially resource-rich waters in a crisis that roped in other European powers and raised concern about a wider escalation."We hope the exploratory talks not only get kicked off right, but it's important that they're resolved in a way that delivers outcomes that each of the two nations find more than accep...
AFP