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US State Department Bars NPR Reporter from Pompeo Trip After Testy Interview

Reuters

   The U.S. State Department removed a National Public Radio reporter from
   the press pool for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's upcoming foreign
   trip, a press association and NPR said on Monday, days after Pompeo
   angrily responded to another NPR journalist's interview with him.
   The removal of NPR reporter Michele Kelemen, who was part of the
   traveling pool of correspondents with Pompeo on his planned trip to the
   UK, Ukraine, Belarus and Central Asia, can be seen only as retaliation
   for her colleague's interview, the State Department Correspondents'
   Association (SDCA) said.
   "The State Department press corps 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,"
   Shaun Tandon, the head of the association, said in
   a statement.
   The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for
   comment.
   Pompeo was interviewed on Friday by NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly, and
   was asked repeatedly about Ukraine and ousted U.S. Ambassador Marie
   Yovanovitch during a testy nine-minute exchange.
   Yovanovitch's removal was a key event in the actions that prompted the
   impeachment of President Donald Trump by the
   Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives last month. Following the
   interview, Kelly said Pompeo cursed at her and
   repeatedly "used the F-word" and asked her: "Do you think Americans
   care about Ukraine?"
   In a statement on Saturday, Pompeo said the reporter had lied in
   setting up the interview and in agreeing to conduct the
   post-interview conversation off the record. His statement did not
   dispute what she said about the content of the
   post-interview encounter.
   NPR stood by its account of the meeting. On Monday, NPR confirmed the
   removal of Kelemen, who has covered the State Department for two
   decades, and said she was informed that she would not be traveling but
   she was not given a
   reason why.
   "We respectfully ask the State Department to reconsider and allow
   Michele to travel on the plane for this trip," Tandon of
   SDCA said.

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