US Pays $2M A MONTH to ‘Protect’ Mike Pompeo and An Aide From ‘Iran Threat’
There’s not enough government funding for COVID relief, but there’s plenty of money to protect a former member of the Trump administration and his former aide from a perceived threat.
The State Department says it’s paying more than $2 million per month to provide 24-hour security to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a former top aide, both of whom face “serious and credible” threats from Iran. The State Department reported to Congress that the cost of “protecting” Pompeo and former Iran envoy Brian Hook between August 2021 and February 2022 amounted to $13.1 million. The report, which was obtained by The Associated Press on Saturday, is dated February 14th and marked “sensitive but unclassified.”
The AP reports that as a former Secretary of State, Pompeo was automatically given 180 days of protection by the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security after leaving office. But that protection has been repeatedly extended in 60-day increments by Secretary of State Antony Blinken due to “a serious and credible threat from a foreign power or agent of a foreign power arising from duties performed by former Secretary Pompeo while employed by the department,” the report said.
“Do you think Americans care about f*cking Ukraine?"
– Mike Pompeo to NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly while demanding she point to Ukraine on an unmarked map & screaming obscenities at her all because she dared to ask him if he owed Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch an apology. pic.twitter.com/lPoxNrTMS8
— Jo 🌻 (@JoJoFromJerz) March 2, 2022
Biden Administration officials say the threats against Pompeo were discussed in the nuclear talks in Vienna, where Iran is demanding the removal of all Trump-era sanctions. Those sanctions include a “foreign terrorist organization” designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that Pompeo and Hook were instrumental in approving.
Amazing. The USG pays $0 for my family’s security despite employing the people who created the threats to our safety.
US pays $2M a month to protect Pompeo, aide from Iran threat | AP News https://t.co/gyqME3JmUW
— Rachel Vindman 🌻 (@natsechobbyist) March 13, 2022
The latest 60-day extensions will expire soon and the State Department, in conjunction with the Director of National Intelligence, must determine by March 16th if the protection should be extended again, according to the report.
Swalwell clip: Trump, Pompeo, and Tucker Carlson are rooting for Russians and that’s being replayed on Russia TV
Tucker: It’s an awful thing to say.. The question is why are they saying it. It doesn’t make sense… pic.twitter.com/Li5k9p7HN9— Acyn (@Acyn) March 1, 2022