An NPR reporter came to her colleague’s defense after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ripped her for asking him about Ukraine.
On Friday morning, Pompeo cut off an interview between himself and Mary Louise Kelly because he claimed that she vowed not to ask him about Ukraine but did anyway. Kelly said she was confronted by Pompeo in his office after the interview where he berated her and ordered her to point out Ukraine on a map.
The two disagreed as to whether the meeting in Pompeo’s office was off the record. Following the interview, Pompeo released a statement blasting Kelly.
“It is shameful that this reporter chose to violate the basic rules of journalism and decency,” he wrote. “This is another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and this Administration. It is no wonder that the American people distrust many in the media when they so consistently demonstrate their agenda and their absence of integrity.”
On Sunday, Kelly’s colleague Kelsey Snell defended Kelly and claimed that NPR had emails documenting that Pompeo was aware that she would be asking him about Ukraine and Marie Yovanovitch, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.
“Mary Louise is a great journalist and somebody whose integrity I’ve never seen questioned before,” Snell said on Face the Nation. “She works incredibly hard and always is incredibly prepared. I think it’s important to note that in his statement, Secretary Pompeo never disputes the facts that are reported in the entirety of the question. We aired her interview unedited and he never disputes any of the facts there.”
She added: “And there is a chain of emails, Mary Louise has told our CEO and has shared with the folks higher up at NPR, a chain of emails where she establishes that she plans to talk to the secretary about Ukraine. As a network, we fully stand by her.”
Several Democratic senators demanded that Pompeo apologize to Kelly, including Bob Menendez of New Jersey, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, and Jeff Merkley of Oregon.
