Joe.My.God. LGBT News
USA Today reports:
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday accused an NPR reporter of lying to him after he made news Friday for allegedly shouting at her after an interview about Ukraine.
Pompeo suggested she could not point out Ukraine on a map, contrary to her account of the testy conversation. But he did not dispute Kelly’s most explosive allegation: that he shouted and swore at her and suggested Americans don’t care about Ukraine.
“NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly lied to me, twice,” Pompeo said in a statement released by the State Department. “First, last month, in setting up our interview and, then again yesterday, in agreeing to have our post-interview off the record.”
Pompeo’s official response to @NPRKelly interview doesn’t deny her account of his bullying & cursing. This is an attack on news organizations from the top US diplomat, someone who is supposed to defend press freedoms. It’s obvious he’s playing to an audience of one — Trump. pic.twitter.com/OhUR6bOQRf
— Edward Wong (@ewong) January 25, 2020
Pompeo also undermines his credibility on the facts of the episode in the statement. There is little chance @NPRKelly, a Cambridge-educated expert on Europe, would have pointed to Bangladesh if he asked her to identify Ukraine on an unlabeled map.
— Edward Wong (@ewong) January 25, 2020
— DivaKnevil Ⓥ ??????? (@DivaKnevil) January 25, 2020
I’m not sure why, but I can’t stop laughing at this. The only thing better would be to have written Bangladesh in a sharpie with 3 or 4 letters out of place.
— Michael Carlucci (@mcarlucci42) January 25, 2020
Let’s put it a different way. Pompeo got pantsed by a reporter, and now he’s lying about it. Because he is pandering to a base that really has no idea where anything is, and cannot believe anyone is smarter than they are. https://t.co/VvABLxbLpM
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 25, 2020
Should note here that Kelly says she never agreed to an OTR, and wouldn’t have. Pompeo kept talking regardless, and is now claiming it was OTR. https://t.co/onElxcpGKi
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 25, 2020