Pompeo steps up attacks on NPR reporter
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued an unusual statement Saturday attacking NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly after a contentious interview with questions about Ukraine that she said ended with him unleashing an expletivelaced tirade.
In a direct and personal attack, America’s chief diplomat said the journalist had “lied” to him, and he called her conduct “shameful.”
NPR said it stood by Kelly’s reporting.
Pompeo accused Kelly of lying to him “twice,” including while setting the interview up in December and by disclosing his alleged outburst following that conversation, which he said was “off the record.” He cited no evidence.
“It is no wonder that the American people distrust many in the media when they so consistently demonstrate their agenda and their absence of integrity,” Pompeo said in the statement.
Kelly, in Friday’s interview, asked Pompeo about former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who was recalled from her role. The diplomat was seen as an impediment to President Donald Trump’s demands that Ukraine investigate Democrat Joe Biden. A tape revealed this week appears to capture Trump saying “take her out.”
Pompeo has repeatedly refused to answer questions from reporters about Trump’s decision to recall Yovanovitch and has sidestepped questions about the reason for her removal, beyond saying the president lost confidence in her.
Kelly, the host of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” said Pompeo’s aides agreed to questions on the topic ahead of time.
After the NPR interview, Kelly said she was taken to Pompeo’s private living room, where he shouted at her “for about the same amount of time as the interview itself,” using the “Fword” repeatedly.
Kelly said Pompeo asked whether she thought Americans cared about Ukraine and if she could find the country on a map.
“I said yes, and he called out for aides to bring us a map of the world with no writing,” Kelly, who graduated from Harvard and has a master’s degree in European studies from Cambridge University, said in discussing the encounter on “All Things Considered.” “I pointed to Ukraine. He put the map away. He said, ‘People will hear about this.’ ”
Pompeo seemed to suggest that she didn’t, in fact, point to the correct country: “It is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine,” Pompeo said in his statement.
The spat lit up social media, with the Twitter hashtags #Bangladesh, #Pompeo and #PompeoMeltdown trending Saturday.
Nancy Barnes, NPR’s senior vice president of news and former Houston Chronicle executive editor, said in a statement that “Kelly has always conducted herself with the utmost integrity, and we stand behind this report.”