The State Department has removed NPR reporter Michele Kelemen from a press pool of journalists traveling to Europe and Central Asia this week with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after his tense interview and reported dustup last week with another NPR journalist, Mary Louise Kelly, according to an organization representing correspondents who cover the department.
"We can only conclude that the State Department is retaliating against National Public Radio as a result of this exchange," Shaun Tandon, president of the State Department Correspondents' Association, said in a statement, reports The Hill.
Kelemen, the State Department, and NPR did not comment on the statement.
Pompeo Saturday accused Kelly, the co-host of "All Things Considered" of lying after she reported about a heated exchange that had occurred between the two of them after she'd asked him on air about Ukraine, rather than staying on the topic of Iran.
Kelly said on Friday that Pompeo gave her a tongue-lashing in private after their interview, and insisted she'd confirmed that she would be asking Pompeo both about Iran and Ukraine.
She also said he cursed at her and asked her if she could find Ukraine on an unmarked map, which she said she did after his aides brought one in. He also implied she hadn't identified Ukraine, saying in his statement that it is "worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine."
Pompeo is expected to travel to Ukraine on Thursday after his trip there was canceled in December during the crisis in relations between the United States and Iran.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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