Mike Pompeo accused a veteran NPR reporter of 'lying,' being 'unhinged,' and misidentifying Bangladesh for Ukraine on a map

Reuters

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Costa Rica's President Carlos Alvarado hold a joint news conference in San Jose

• In a Saturday statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused an NPR host and veteran reporter of lying, being an example of the "unhinged" media, and misidentifying Bangladesh as Ukraine on a map.
• On Friday, NPR's "All Things Considered" host Mary Louise Kelly interviewed Pompeo, and asked him questions about the United States' support for Ukraine and the ouster of former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
• But Kelly said that after the interview, Pompeo yelled at her for asking the questions on Ukraine in his office, cursed her out, and asked her if she could identify the country of Ukraine on a map.
• In his Saturday statement, Pompeo said that Kelly "lied to me, twice" last month and on Friday in "agreeing to have the post-interview conversation off the record," but did not deny that he cursed and yelled at her.
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In a Saturday statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused an NPR host and veteran reporter of lying, being an example of the "unhinged" media, and misidentifying Bangladesh as Ukraine on a map.

On Friday, NPR's "All Things Considered" host Mary Louise Kelly interviewed Pompeo, and asked him questions about the United States' support for Ukraine and the ouster of former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, both of which are currently at the center of the ongoing impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.

But Kelly said that after the interview, Pompeo yelled at her for asking the questions on Ukraine in his office, cursed her out, and asked her if she could identify the country of Ukraine on a map.

"I was taken to the Secretary's private living room where he was waiting and where he shouted at me for about the same amount of time as the interview itself," Kelly recounted after the interview. "He was not happy to have been questioned about Ukraine."

"He asked, 'Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?'" she added. "He used the F-word in that sentence and many others."

Kelly added that Pompeo asked his aides to bring a blank map into his office and told her to point to Ukraine, saying, "people will hear about this."

In his Saturday statement, Pompeo said that Kelly "lied to me, twice" last month and on Friday in "agreeing to have the post-interview conversation off the record," but did not deny that he cursed and yelled at her.

His statement continued, "it is shameful that this reporter chose to violate the basic rules of journalism and decency. This is another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and this administration."

Pompeo ended his statement by saying: "It is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine," seemingly implying that Kelly misidentified Bangladesh as Ukraine on the map he brought into the office.

Kelly, a highly-respected veteran foreign correspondent and national security reporter who has reported from Russia, Iraq, and North Korea, additionally holds a master's degree in European studies from Cambridge University, making it highly unlikely that she would confuse Ukraine and Bangladesh, located in southeast Asia.

Representatives for NPR did not immediately return Insider's request for comment on Pompeo's statement.

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We're supposed to believe a national security reporter with decades of experience and a master's degree in *European studies* misidentified Ukraine as...Bangladesh? https://t.co/fndbewJmYC

- Bradford Pearson (@BradfordPearson) January 25, 2020

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