Originally published at: Mike Pompeo has "no recollection" of receiving a $5,800 bottle of Japanese whiskey as a gift | Boing Boing
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It may not have been Pompeo himself. It may have been one of his equally bent subordinates.
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According to the NYT:
It was unclear whether Mr. Pompeo ever received the gift, as he was traveling in Saudi Arabia on June 24, 2019, the day that Japanese officials gave it to the State Department, according to a department filing on Wednesday in the Federal Register documenting gifts that senior American officials received in 2019. Such officials are often insulated by staff members who receive gifts and messages for them.
So, it’s possible within the vast multiverse of infinite possibilities that he’s telling the truth.
(edited for nuance)
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That must be some mighty good whiskey.
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I too cannot remember the last time I had a blackout from consuming a bottle of whiskey.
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It was an administration of grifters, of course one of his underlings took it.
In fact I would have been tempted myself. That $5800 is just going to be converted into urine anyway.
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It’s possible. I mean, there is a first time for everything.
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I didn’t say “probable”, mind
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What truth, that he doesn’t remember?
I buy that bit.
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“Look, people bribe me with exorbitantly expensive bottles of liquor all the time. I can’t be expected to remember each and every incident.”
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Possible, yes. Probable, no.
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Did you say that with a straight face? 
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He probably wouldn’t have taken the job if he thought people were serious about the part of not accepting expensive bri-- er… gifts.
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To be fair it might have been some oblivious staffer who necked with mates and has just started wailing
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the critical information is missing in EVERY story about this: WHAT brand/maker was the whiskey? how old was it? Hibiki, Nikka, Yamazaki… what, what??
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“his client has “no recollection of receiving the bottle of whiskey and does not have any knowledge of what happened to it.””
Ah, the patented Ronald Reagan defense. Haven’t seen that one in awhile.
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Leaving aside the specifics of this case, its fascinating how personal gift giving is still a common custom of international diplomacy, yet many, many countries like the US forbid their officials from keeping the gift, despite accepting it as part of the process. Since the whiskey was probably purchased with public dollars, rather than personally by the Japanese diplomat, this is in effect the government of Japan gifting the government of the US with a bottle of whiskey, which as abstract institutions, they are incapable of enjoying.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think public officials should be allowed to keep such personal gifts, but if nations are going to gift each other things, it would seemingly make more sense to give something like a piece of art that could be publicly displayed in the other country.
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