Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s vendetta against NPR has apparently just begun. The secretary of state made headlines over the weekend for a reportedly explosive post-interview exchange with NPR journalist Mary Louise Kelly, who interviewed the secretary of state Friday about Ukraine and his lack of public support for former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. After the testy interview, Kelly reported that she was ushered into a private room, where Pompeo “shouted his displeasure at being questioned about Ukraine” using “repeated expletives,” telling Kelly, “Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?” NPR’s report of the exchange prompted Pompeo to release a statement Saturday calling Kelly a liar and smearing the “unhinged” media—and now, his State Department is taking further steps to seemingly punish NPR for their reporting.
NPR journalist Michele Kelemen was reportedly notified Monday that the State Department had removed her from the press pool for an upcoming trip to the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. Though the State Department has given no public reason for Keleman’s removal, its timing just a few days after Pompeo’s NPR outburst suggests the removal is a retaliatory measure, particularly as NPR publicly stood by Kelly and her reporting in the wake of Pompeo’s attacks. “Mary Louise Kelly is one of the most respected, truthful, factual, professional and ethical journalists in the United States,” NPR CEO John Lansing said in an NPR interview about Pompeo’s comments, which he called “blatantly false.” The CEO added that Pompeo’s statement, which alleged that Kelly “chose to violate the basic rules of journalism and decency,” goes beyond tension and “toward intimidation.” “And let me just say this,” Lansing continued. “We will not be intimidated.”
Keleman, similarly, has received an outpouring of support in the wake of the news of her ouster from the press pool, as journalists defend their respected colleague over the secretary of state’s attacks. “Michelle is a consummate professional who has covered the State Department for nearly two decades,” the State Department Correspondants’ Association said in a statement protesting the move, which the organization concludes is the State Department “retaliating against National Public Radio as a result of [Pompeo and Kelly’s] exchange.” “The journalists who cover the State Department are dedicated to informing the public and holding this and every administration accountable by asking questions about the issues of the day. The State Department has a long tradition of accompanying secretaries of state on their travels and we find it unacceptable to punish an individual member of our association.”
Pompeo, meanwhile, has garnered widespread criticism for his behavior with Kelly, which reportedly included the secretary of state asking the NPR journalist to correctly identify Ukraine on a map. (Kelly—who holds a masters degree in European Studies from Cambridge University—reports that she did, though Pompeo’s statement laughably insinuated that Kelly had somehow misidentified Bangladesh as Ukraine.) Five Democratic senators wrote to Pompeo to “express [their] profound disappointment and concern” over Pompeo’s “irresponsible” comments—and even the secretary of state’s Republican allies weren’t totally on board. “For goodness sake, Mr. Secretary, don’t be such a baby,” Fox News host Steve Hilton said on air Sunday. “You should be able to handle tough questions by now and don’t be such a bully.”
The secretary of state’s outburst came as Pompeo has increasingly come under fire over the unfolding Ukraine scandal, as the diplomatic community has expressed outrage over Pompeo’s leadership, particularly his seeming unwillingness to openly defend Yovanovitch and other career State officials. “He is catering to his boss and nobody else,” one former high-ranking State official told my colleague Abigail Tracy earlier in January. Per CNN, senior diplomats are apparently “incensed” by Pompeo’s NPR tantrum and embarrassed by his leadership, and have become so accustomed to Pompeo’s “angry eruptions” that he’s earned the nickname “Mount Mike.” “And there were have it. A Mount Mike eruption on the record,” one State official told CNN about Pompeo’s reported exchange with Kelly. And the secretary of state is still getting even further engulfed in the Ukraine chaos. According to leaked revelations in the New York Times from former adviser John Bolton’s upcoming book, Pompeo reportedly knew about the Ukraine plot and the baseless nature of the campaign against Yovanovitch that prompted her ouster, even as he seemingly took no steps to defend the ambassador. Pompeo reportedly privately acknowledged to Bolton that Rudy Giuliani‘s smear campaign against Yovanovitch “had no basis,” adding that Giuliani “may have wanted her removed because she might have been targeting his clients who had dealings in Ukraine as she sought to fight corruption.”