Aug 05, 2021 (marketwatch.com) - The US State Department said Wednesday it’s looking into the apparent disappearance of a nearly $6,000 bottle of whisky given more than two years ago to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by the government of Japan.
Pompeo knows nothing about the gift or an inquiry, a representative said.
In a notice filed in the Federal Register, the department said it could find no trace of the bottle’s whereabouts and that there is an “ongoing inquiry” into what happened to the booze. The department reported the investigation in its annual accounting of gifts given to senior U.S. officials by foreign governments and leaders.
The department’s Office of Protocol is required to record gifts given to U.S. officials and keep track of their disposition. Recipients have the option of turning gifts of a certain value over to the National Archives or another government entity or purchasing them for personal use by reimbursing the Treasury Department for their value.
The Japanese whisky was valued at $5,800 and was presented to Pompeo in June 2019, presumably when he visited the country that month for a Group of 20 summit that was also attended by President Donald Trump. But unlike other gifts, the department said there was no record of what had become of the bottle.
“The department is looking into the matter and has an ongoing inquiry,” it said in the Federal Register notice. The notice offered no additional detail. A representative for Pompeo said Pompeo “has no knowledge of the gift and has not been contacted by anyone regarding an investigation of it.”
The whisky matter came to light in the State Department’s annual accounting of gifts given to senior U.S. officials by foreign governments and leaders.
