LOST TREASURE

State Dept. Loses $5,800 Whiskey Bottle Gifted to Mike Pompeo in 2019

The former secretary of state said in a statement that he didn’t even remember the whiskey bottle.

A $5,800 bottle of whiskey was gifted to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by Japan in 2019, and no one seems to know where it is. The disclosure was made by the State Department in a departmental filing Wednesday, saying it was investigating the whereabouts of the whiskey. Pompeo, who was in Saudi Arabia when Japan issued the gift, said in a statement to The New York Times that he didn’t even remember the gift, never mind its location. “He has no idea what the disposition was of this bottle of whiskey,” his lawyer said. The issue at hand is the value of the gift. American officials are not allowed to accept gifts over $390, nor are they allowed to accept any gifts from a foreign government, per federal regulations. Officials told the Times that the government was never paid for the bottle and the State Department’s inspector general is looking into the incident.