Secretary of State Pompeo is also under great pressure in the US President’s Ukraine affair. His reaction to a reporter’s critical question speaks for itself.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo publicly reprimanded a radio journalist, causing irritation. In an unusual official statement, Pompeo accused the NPR radio reporter, Mary Louise Kelly, of lying on Saturday and accused her of shameful behavior after she previously reported Pompeo’s outburst of anger.
The starting point for the controversy was an interview Kelly had had with Pompeo. It was initially about Iran. When Kelly brought the subject to the Ukraine affair, Pompeo became narrow-lipped and tried several times to avoid and stall the subject.
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He is criticized in the affair over the premature dismissal of former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch last year. Yovanovitch complains that she was the victim of a homicide campaign that was promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Pompeo is accused of not supporting the diplomat.
“Do you owe Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch an apology?” Asked Kelly from Pompeo, to which he reacted gruffly. According to the reporter, after the end of the interview there was a heated scene with Pompeo, in which he shouted at her about Ukraine issues and used multiple expressions.
Pompeo sends afterwards against Kelly
He asked her if she thought the Americans were interested in Ukraine – and if she could even find the country on the map. Pompeo then instructed his advisors to provide the journalist with a world map without country names and asked Kelly to identify Ukraine. When Kelly put her finger on Ukraine, Pompeo removed the card.
Pompeo then responded on Saturday with its statement. In it, he accused Kelly of lying to him – first when she arranged the interview, and then when she later agreed that the exchange after the interview was confidential. It was “shameful” that Kelly violated the “basic rules of journalism and decency”. “This is yet another example of how the media has struggled to harm President Trump and his government.”
Pompeo also indicated that Kelly had not found Ukraine on the world map. “It is worth saying that Bangladesh is not Ukraine,” he said. With this addition, he might have tried to suggest that the reporter made a mistake while marking the map. But Pompeo himself provided no explanation and caused some confusion with this remark.
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