Whiskey Bottle Worth $5,800 Gifted to Pompeo By Japan Gone Missing
21:45 GMT 04.08.2021 (Updated: 13:21 GMT 06.08.2022)
© AP Photo / Charlie Neibergall
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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US State Department said that it is conducting an inquiry into the disappearance of a whiskey bottle worth $5,800 that the former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo received as a gift from the government of Japan in 2019.
As it appears from the list of gifts received by US federal employees from foreign sources in 2019, the bottle of whiskey was gifted to Pompeo on June 24 and its current location is unknown, the State Department said on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, the New York Times reported that Pompeo said he had no recollection of receiving the bottle of whiskey and did not know what happened to it or that there was an inquiry into its whereabouts. The report said it was unclear whether Pompeo did actually receive the bottle, as he was traveling in Saudi Arabia on June 24, 2019.
US officials can keep gifts that are worth less than $390 and must pay for those that are above that amount. Moreover, the US Constitution does not permit accepting gifts from a foreign government under threat of civil penalties or impeachment.
Netizens rushed to comment on the news, jokingly noting how it was suspicious that Pompeo did not know the whereabouts of the precious bottle and suggesting their own versions of what might have happened to the whiskey.
Pompeo drank the whiskey and tossed the bottle. Of course he doesn’t know where that bottle is. Now.
— Sister Resister 🐕🦺🐈⬛🐾 (@JaceSister) August 4, 2021
"No recollection" is what happens when you drink a whole bottle of Whiskey. AKA a 'blackout'
— Archivist1000 (@Archivist1000) August 4, 2021
My gues as to where it went... pic.twitter.com/etAdssf5UB
— Vinnie (@vincentthechin) August 4, 2021
Under questioning Mr Pompeo said; hiccup, hicupp, I Haave no idea wheere the whiskey went, hiccup.”
— martin mcmahon (@MartinJmcmah) August 4, 2021
