JTA: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will address Republican National Convention from Jerusalem

Pompeo has come under fire for mixing official government business with a political event for his expected speech from an “undisclosed location” in Jerusalem, Axios first reported. Among those to pan the move was the Jewish Democratic Council.

“It is unprecedented and highly unethical for a sitting Secretary of State to address a political convention while on official foreign travel,” Halie Soifer, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. “In addition to violating the Hatch Act, Secretary Pompeo’s plans to speak at the Republican National Convention from Jerusalem underscore the president’s ongoing effort to politicize the U.S.-Israel relationship,”

The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities while on duty or in a government building.

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