Pompeo accused reporter Mary Louise Kelly of mendacity, however didn’t deny her account of what occurred.
“NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly lied to me, twice,” Pompeo asserted, with out proof. “First, final month, in organising our interview and, then once more yesterday, in agreeing to have our post-interview dialog off the report.”
“It is shameful that this reporter selected to violate the essential guidelines of journalism and decency. This is one other instance of how unhinged the media has turn into in its quest to harm President Trump and this Administration. It isn’t any surprise that the American folks mistrust many within the media after they so persistently reveal their agenda and their absence of integrity,” he added.
Pompeo minimize off their recorded interview when Kelly pressed him repeatedly on why he has not defended former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. After the interview, Kelly stated that she was taken to Pompeo’s personal lounge, the place he shouted and cursed at her and challenged her to seek out Ukraine on a map.
“He requested, ‘Do you suppose Americans care about Ukraine?’ He used the F-word in that sentence and plenty of others,” Kelly advised “All Things Considered” co-host Ari Shapiro on Friday.
“He requested if I may discover Ukraine on a map. I stated sure, and he referred to as out for aides to deliver us a map of the world with no writing. I pointed to Ukraine. He put the map away,” she stated. “He stated, ‘People will hear about this.'”
Kelly stated that an aide by no means requested that the assembly with Pompeo be held off the report — nor would she conform to that. She additionally stated she advised the State Department afterwards that she was going to report what occurred, however didn’t hear again.
Pompeo ended his assertion by saying, “It is value noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine,” implying that Kelly, who beforehand lined nationwide safety for NPR and has a masters in European Studies from Cambridge University, recognized Bangladesh on the map as a substitute of Ukraine.
Members of the media rapidly got here to Kelly’s protection following Pompeo’s accusations.
“Pompeo’s official response [to Kelly] does not deny her account of his bullying & cursing,” wrote New York Times diplomatic correspondent Edward Wong. “This is an assault on information organizations from the highest US diplomat, somebody who is meant to defend press freedoms. It’s apparent he is taking part in to an viewers of 1 — Trump.”
“Pompeo additionally undermines his credibility on the info of the episode within the assertion,” Wong wrote. “There is little likelihood [Kelly], a Cambridge-educated professional on Europe, would have pointed to Bangladesh if he requested her to establish Ukraine on an unlabeled map.”
Nancy Barnes, NPR’s senior vice chairman of reports, stated on Saturday that Kelly “has all the time performed herself with the utmost integrity, and we stand behind this report.”
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