NPR Calls Pompeo Skirmish 'Intimidation'

Mary Louise Kelly, Marie Yovanovitch, Mike Pompeo

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo erupted in an expletive-laden outburst Friday after an NPR broadcaster asked if he owed an apology to Marie Yovanovitch, who was recalled last year as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, according to The Wall Street Journal citing accounts by the broadcaster.

Pompeo asserted in an interview with Mary Louise Kelly, a co-host of “All Things Considered,” that he had “done what’s right” for every person on the State Department team.

When pressed on whether he could identify specific statements he had made in defense of Ms. Yovanovitch, Pompeo said, “I’ve said all I’m going to say today.”


After the interview ended, Mr. Pompeo glared at Kelly for several seconds, left the room and then instructed an aide to escort her to a private room at the State Department without a recorder, Kelly said on the air afterward and in an NPR statement about the encounter. Repeatedly using the “f-word,” Kelly said, Mr. Pompeo complained about being questioned on Ukraine because he had expected the interview to focus on Iran.

The State Department has not disputed the remarks NPR attributed to Mr. Pompeo from the post-interview session. But on Saturday morning, the State Department issued a statement by Pompeo asserting that her report was an attempt by the media “to hurt President Trump and this Administration.”

He also said in his statement that Kelly had twice lied by agreeing in advance that the interview would only cover Iran and that his discussion with her afterward would be off-the-record. “It is shameful that this reporter chose to violate the basic rules of journalism and decency,” he said.

Kelly said during her interview that she had informed State Department officials that she would ask about both Iran and Ukraine. She added in the NPR broadcast Friday night that she wasn’t told the post-interview meeting would be off the record and would never have agreed to that stipulation.

NPR Senior Vice President for News Nancy Barnes issued a statement on Saturday supporting Kelly.

"Mary Louise Kelly has always conducted herself with the utmost integrity," Barnes writes, "and we stand behind this report."

And in a Saturday interview with All Things Considered, NPR President and CEO John Lansing also came to Kelly's defense.

Lansing allowed that tensions can and do arise when journalists ask officials hard questions.

"But this goes well beyond tension — this goes toward intimidation," Lansing said. "And let me just say this: We will not be intimidated. Mary Louise Kelly won't be intimidated, and NPR won't be intimidated."

Pompeo is planning a trip to Kyiv in the week ahead, a visit that comes as President Trump faces the continuation of a Senate trial on House impeachment articles related to his request that the Ukrainian government investigate his political rival Joe Biden and other matters.