WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will address the Republican National Convention Tuesday from an “undisclosed location” in Jerusalem, officials said Sunday, in a move that breaks decades of precedence in not using the office for partisan purposes.
Pompeo will speak to the virtual confab while he’s on an official trip to the Middle East to push for broader Arab-Israeli rapprochement after Israel and the United Arab Emirates struck an agreement to fully normalize relations.
In the past, America’s top diplomats have avoided political events, such as the national conventions, for fear of using their office for partisan gain.
Former US president Barack Obama’s secretary of state John Kerry, for instance, sat out the 2016 Democratic convention. And when Obama was officially nominated for a second term in 2012, Hillary Clinton was literally half a world away, traveling to the Cook Islands, Indonesia, China, East Timor, Brunei and far eastern Russia.
It’s not just Democrats. When Republicans nominated John McCain in 2008, then secretary of state Condoleezza Rice was on a trip to Portugal, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Former US president George W. Bush’s first secretary of state, Colin Powell, likewise did not speak to the 2004 Republican National Convention.
The decision was immediately criticized by Democrats and former State Department officials.
Obama’s deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman called it “unprecedented and wrong.”
“At a time when peace and security in Middle East is so tough, Jerusalem should not be a prop for the RNC, and [Mike Pompeo] should not be tarnishing the office of [secretary of state],” she tweeted.
News of the secretary speech, slated for Tuesday night, was first reported by Axios.
On Sunday, Pompeo tweeted: “Looking forward to sharing with you how my family is more SAFE and more SECURE because of President Trump. See you all on Tuesday night!”
Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel defended Pompeo’s appearance during a CBS interview Sunday, saying party would be paying for all the convention costs.
She said it was “appropriate” for Pompeo to deliver a speech at the gathering. “The programming, the staging, everything that we’re doing will be paid for by the Republican National Committee and the campaign,” she said, adding that Republicans are “not using taxpayer dollars to pay for our convention.”
According to a report by the McClatchy News Service, Pompeo’s speech was reviewed by four teams of lawyers.
“His lawyer, the State Department lawyers, RNC lawyers, White House lawyers have all worked on his appearance to make sure it is completely lawful and appropriate, including screening and approving all of his remarks,” a source told the wire service. “They have all signed off on this.”
The report also said the speech was concerning to Israeli officials, who expressed worry that it could exacerbate an already growing divide on Israel in the United States.
Jerusalem is the site of one of US President Donald Trump’s most controversial foreign policy decisions. In December 2017, he announced that he would formally recognize the city as Israel’s capital and move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv.
The decision alienated the administration from the Palestinian leadership, which has since refused to engage with Washington. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said it meant the White House could no longer act as an honest mediator in peace talks.
Speaking from Jerusalem, however, is likely to appeal to evangelical Christian supporters.
On Monday, Trump told his supporters that moving the embassy was done for evangelical Christians.
“And we moved the capital of Israel to Jerusalem,” Trump said at a rally held at an airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, apparently referring to his decision to move the facility from Tel Aviv. “That’s for the evangelicals.”
Jerusalem has been Israel’s declared capital since its founding in 1948, although much of the international community does not recognize it as such; under the initial UN Partition Plan, Jerusalem was identified as an international city.
“You know, it’s amazing with that — the evangelicals are more excited by that than Jewish people,” he said to cheers from the crowd. “That’s right, it’s incredible.”
How sweet. Showing just how cozy we are with our masters and where we’re being ruled from. Strutting right out in front of us. A mockery of humanity.
I spied on it last night, The RNC. Not all of it because the stomach can only take so much. And there were jewels thrown in amongst the plastic speeches flowing out of plastic mouths. Nods to Liberty and self-rule. Nods to Mom and Pop. Nods to restoration of decency. They went for the jugular through the heart. Then the jab – The vaccine cometh, cometh with Trump’s hard work. Jab here, jab there, pun tolerated in the insanity. But ever hidden was our prize, our way out, our Bill of Rights. They told us what those who formed this country fought for: that we would live free and each decide his of her own course, and more nods to “The Constitution.” But the prize remained hidden, as if it were The sparkling Arkenstone to empower the people to forever stand in defence of their lives. Hidden.
But the people say, “Hidden No More!!” Let the sunshine on the jewel and all who see it fight for upholding.
Thank you, Henry, for bringing the prize out of darkness and into our hands. Thank you!!
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Wow! And people still think the Jews don’t own our country.
This is Treason to the core.