Biden-backers bash ‘errand boy’ Pompeo ahead of Jerusalem address

Democrats are unloading on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ahead of his planned address to the Republican National Convention from Jerusalem.

An aide to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden who has worked for the State Department calls Pompeo’s Tuesday speech “flat out disgraceful.” Aide Bill Russo says it’s “an abuse of taxpayer money.”

Another top Biden deputy, Kate Bedingfield, blasts Pompeo as President Donald Trump’s “errand boy” and says he has a record of “repeated and blatant use of his office for overtly political purposes.”

Secretaries of state regularly travel abroad on behalf of a US administration’s agenda, but Pompeo’s speech to a party convention from foreign soil is an outlier.

Pompeo is in Khartoum, Sudan, but pre-recorded the speech Monday night from Jerusalem’s King David hotel, using the city as a backdrop. The Trump administration has consistently used its pro-Israel policies related to recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as a campaign talking point.

Russo mocks Pompeo’s explanation that he will address the GOP convention on personal time. Russo notes that the speech is still part of “official travel” and that taxpayer money “got him there” and is “paying for his protection” and for “the staff on the ground” with him.

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says Pompeo’s move “violates his own policy.” Booker referred to Pompeo’s “memos and instructions” sent recently to his department’s employees forbidding political work while on official travel, even on one’s own time.

— AP