Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the removal of an NPR correspondent from his latest trip abroad sent the “perfect message” about press freedoms.
NPR correspondent Michele Kelemen was told last week she would not be allowed to travel to Ukraine, Britain, and Central Asia with Pompeo, despite being the designated radio pool reporter. The State Department did not explain why she was removed from the trip, but it came after one of Kelemen’s colleagues clashed with Pompeo days earlier.
Pompeo berated NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly after she asked him about Ukraine and whether he supports his diplomats, in reference to the ouster of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. Pompeo then asked Kelly if she could identify Ukraine on an unmarked map and allegedly told her people in the United States do not care about the country.
After the incident became public, the secretary of state accused Kelly of lying about what happened.
Pompeo was then asked about the encounter during an interview with a foreign correspondent in Kazakhstan on Sunday morning, as well as what kind of message it sent to countries whose governments regularly suppress press freedoms.
“It’s a perfect message about press freedoms. They’re free to ask questions,” Pompeo said. “In America, that’s the greatness of our nation: Reporters like yourself get to ask me any question and all questions. We take hundreds and hundreds of questions. We talk openly. We express our view; they ask their questions. That’s how we proceed in America.
“And with respect to who travels with me, I always bring a big press contingent, but we ask for certain sets of behaviors, and that’s simply telling the truth and being honest. And when they’ll do that, they get to participate, and if they don’t, it’s just not appropriate — frankly, it’s not fair to the rest of the journalists who are participating alongside of them.”
