MARI STULL AKA "VINO VIXEN"
Senior Adviser, Bureau of International Organization Affairs
2018-2019
TRUMP APPOINTEE COMPILES LOYALTY LIST OF U.S. EMPLOYEES AT U.N., STATE
June 13, 2018
Mari Stull, a former food and beverage lobbyist-turned-wine blogger under the name “Vino Vixen,” has reviewed the social media pages of State Department staffers for signs of ideological deviation. She has researched the names of government officials to determine whether they signed off on Obama-era policies — though signing off does not mean officials personally endorsed them but merely cleared them through the bureaucratic chain. And she has inquired about Americans employed by international agencies, including the World Health Organization and the United Nations, asking their colleagues when they were hired and by whom, according the officials.
“She is actively making lists and gathering intel,” said one of the sources, a senior diplomat. Stull was named in April as a senior advisor to the State Department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs, which manages U.S. diplomatic relations with the United Nations and other international institutions.
LOBBYIST TURNED WINE BLOGGER VETTING UN, STATE PERSONNEL FOR LOYALTY TO TRUMP: REPORT
June 13, 2018
“She is actively making lists and gathering intel,” one senior diplomat told the website. “She is gunning for American citizens in the [United Nations] to see if they are toeing the line."
At least three senior officials in the bureau, Molly Phee, Erin Barclay and Nerissa Cook, are expected to leave the agency or move to different positions as a result of Stull's efforts, according to Foreign Policy.
Some of her efforts reportedly include researching whether employees had signed off on Obama administration policies opposed by the Trump administration, even if the staffer did not personally back the policy.
FEDERAL WATCHDOGS TARGET BULLYING, RETALIATION AT STATE DEPARTMENT
September 7, 2018
The inspector general’s inquiry was triggered between May and June by complaints from State Department employees, who informed the Office of the Inspector General, as well as other senior State Department officials, that Stull had used her position to retaliate against officials suspected of having supported Obama-era policies. Stull’s alleged retaliation, according to several current and former U.S. officials, received the support of Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Kevin Moley, a Trump appointee.
Stull, a former food lobbyist who wrote a wine blog under the pseudonym “Vino Vixen,” is part of an informal network of political appointees who five State Department officials say constitute a parallel power structure in the State Department to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, which seeks to inject the president’s domestic policy agenda into foreign affairs.
ALLEGED BLACKLISTER ‘VINO VIXEN’ OUT AT STATE
January 15, 2019
Stull, nicknamed the “Vino Vixen” for the name of a blog she maintained before joining State, served as a senior adviser in the State Department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs. According to a June 2018 report from Foreign Policy, Stull allegedly led a quiet campaign vetting career diplomats for “disloyalty” to the Trump administration.
The State Department Inspector General is investigating allegations of retaliation against career officials, including by Stull, according to State and legislative sources.
'VINO VIXEN,' ALLEGED BLACKLIST CREATOR, LEAVES STATE
January 15, 2019
She also harbored strong skepticism of career civil and Foreign Service officials who serve in nonpartisan roles at State. Stull was also among a handful of conservative appointees pushing a proposal to bar U.S. diplomats from using phrases such as “sexual and reproductive health” and “comprehensive sexuality education.”
Last year, Foreign Policy reported that Stull was “actively making lists and gathering intel” about government employees she suspected of not supporting President Donald Trump's agenda.
Her actions reportedly spurred at least three senior officials in the bureau to leave. They also are reported to have led the State Department’s inspector general and the Office of Special Counsel, both of which are federal watchdogs, to investigate.
INSPECTOR GENERAL FINDS POLITICALLY MOTIVATED HARASSMENT AT STATE DEPARTMENT
August 15, 2019
The report, released Thursday, is a sweeping condemnation of Moley and more specifically of his former senior adviser, Mari Stull. A former lobbyist and consultant for international food and agriculture interests, Stull left the department in January following press reports that, among other things, she had compiled a list of staffers deemed insufficiently loyal to the Trump administration.
The 30-page report — based on what it said were interviews with dozens of current and former employees, as well as documents — chronicled numerous episodes of Stull berating and belittling employees, and Moley’s repeated failure to deal with complaints reported to him.
Both Stull and Moley, it said, “frequently berated employees, raised their voices, and generally engaged in unprofessional behavior toward staff,” and reportedly moved to retaliate against those who had held their jobs under the previous administration.
RETALIATION WAS THRIVING AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT
August 20, 2019
But, according to the IG report, current and former IO employees said Moley and a former Schedule C adviser, Mari Stull, “frequently berated employees, raised their voices, and generally engaged in unprofessional behavior toward staff.” In one instance he and Stull hollered at a junior desk officer for routing a document a notch up the chain of command for approval, as required under normal procedures. Moley and Stull wanted it routed directly to them. The staff members ended up crying.
Stull’s tenure at State, which ended late last year, reads like a caricature of the bad political appointee. She moonlights as a wine blogger with the handle Vino Vixen, though at State, her alleged compilation of loyalty lists produced nothing but sour grapes.
Both Moley and Stull were counseled to improve their behavior by senior State offices, all the way up to Deputy Secretary John Sullivan.