Mike Pompeo says he has 'no idea' where the $6,000 bottle of missing Japanese whisky is and blames State Department 'incompetence' for lost bottle of booze
Mike Pompeo said Thursday he's as clueless as anyone when it comes to what happened to a $5,800 bottle of whisky gifted to him by Japan - and hinted it could've been his own State Department's fault.
The former Secretary of State broke his silence on what he called 'the great case of the missing whisky bottle' in an interview with Fox.
At the end of a discussion covering COVID vaccines, Iran's nuclear capabilities and Israeli-US relations, host John Roberts asked the Trump official: 'Any idea where the whisky is?'
'Look, a couple of facts - I have no idea, I assume it wasn't even touched' Pompeo said.
He claimed he never even personally got the expensive spirit.
Pompeo broke his silence on the missing whisky bottle in a Fox News interview
'I have no idea how the State Department lost this thing, although I saw enormous incompetence at the State Department during my time there,' he commented, adding 'had it been a case of Diet Coke, I'd have been all over it.'
Pompeo was gifted the bottle by the government of Japan on June 24, 2019, according to a State Department filing.
Records only state that its 'disposition' is 'unknown.'
A footnote in the filing states the department has an 'ongoing inquiry' into the case.
'I had no idea this was missing, that there was an investigation about it - this is all just crazy talk. I have no idea where this thing is,' he said.
A federal State Department filing lists the whisky's location as 'unknown'
Pompeo says he never even personally got the gift from the Japanese government (pictured meeting with Prime Minister Suga in October 2020)
'If they want to give me a holler, I'm happy to try and help them find it.'
Pompeo added that he 'wouldn't know the difference between a $58 bottle and a $5,800 bottle.'
The day the filing shows he received the bottle Pompeo was in Saudi Arabia meeting with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Days later however he met with Japanese officials and world leaders at the G20 summit in Tokyo.
The State Department's Office of Protocol is required to record gifts given to U.S. officials over $390 in value and keep track of their disposition. Recipients either have to turn them over to the National Archives or another government entity or purchase them for personal use at their valued cost.
Pompeo in Saudi Arabia on June 24, 2019 - the same day records say the gift was received
He met with Japanese officials at the G20 summit in Tokyo just days later (June 28, 2019)
It's illegal for an official to keep a gift without purchasing it and the person could face civil penalties.
The 92-page filing of gifts received by federal officials in 2019 also revealed that Donald Trump received multiple photos of himself, Melania Trump got a sterling silver jewelry box from the Queen and the monarch also gave several staff members signed pictures of herself - which Kellyanne Conway paid the government $2,830 to keep.
Diplomatic gifts are overseen by the State Department's Office of the Chief of Protocol.
In 2020 it was revealed the office was investigated by an internal watchdog which found Trump appointees running the department committed 'workplace violence' and that others failed to report it.
Pompeo had pushed for the ouster of the department's previous inspector general, Steve Linick, who was probing allegations that Pompeo and his wife had staffers doing domestic chores and errands like walking their dog and handling dry cleaning.