The pandemic does not appear to be slowing down the party schedule for the Secretary of State. The Washington Post reports the State Department sent out guidance last week warning “any non-mission critical events” be changed to “virtual events as opposed to in-person gatherings.” That guidance apparently does not apply to Mike Pompeo.
Pompeo and his wife Susan are hosting parties with hundreds of guests invited in the coming weeks. The Post writes:
A copy of one invitation, obtained by The Washington Post, welcomes guests to a Dec. 15 event titled “Diplomacy at Home for the Holidays” in the Benjamin Franklin Room, the department’s flagship reception space, which features cut-glass chandeliers and towering Corinthian columns. Invitations have already gone out to 900 people, said two U.S. officials familiar with the planning, raising concerns about a potential superspreader event.
“I’m flabbergasted,” said Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University. “An indoor event of this kind is dangerous on so many levels.”
The Trump administration’s health experts are imploring Americans to limit travel and attending large gatherings as COVID-19 infects millions of Americans.
