State Division bans NPR reporter from touring with Pompeo

In obvious retaliation for a reporter asking Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a question he didn’t like, the State Division has banned NPR from touring with the secretary throughout his upcoming journey to Europe.

The episode illustrates how sensitive the Trump administration is to any protection that isn’t Fox Information-style fawning, and is the most recent escalation in its one-sided feud with NPR — which has actually gone out of its way to cover Trump fairly.

The State Division Correspondents’ Affiliation responded to the transfer with an announcement saying it “protests the choice to take away NPR correspondent Michele Kelemen from Secretary Pompeo’s airplane on his upcoming journey to Europe and Central Asia … we will solely conclude that the State Division is retaliating in opposition to NPR.”

Kelemen was reportedly scheduled to function the pool radio reporter for Pompeo’s journey, which is able to take him to Britain and Ukraine.

The State Division didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark; it hasn’t commented to other reporters who’ve reached out in regards to the scenario both. An NPR spokesperson instructed Vox in an announcement that “Michele Kelemen was knowledgeable that she wouldn’t be touring. She was not given a motive.”

Information that the State Division has banned NPR comes two days after President Trump posted a tweet suggesting he’d wish to see it go the way in which of the dinosaur.

In actuality, solely 1 percent of NPR’s funding comes from tax dollars, and Trump has already tried to eradicate funding for the Company for Public Broadcasting in every of his price range proposals.

Pompeo and firm are doling out remarkably harsh punishment in retaliation for an inexpensive query

The backstory of NPR’s banishment started final Friday, when veteran correspondent and All Issues Thought-about host Mary Louise Kelly performed an interview with Pompeo that went off the rails when she requested him a query about whether or not he thinks he owes an apology to former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

Yovanovitch was ousted final 12 months from her function as a part of the Trump administration’s shadow Ukraine diplomacy, bringing an finish to her 33-year-long profession as a overseas service officer. Despite the fact that it has turn into abundantly clear within the months since that Trump didn’t have good causes to take away her (although the president is allowed to take away any ambassador for any motive), Pompeo hasn’t provided her any public help.

As an alternative of answering the query, Pompeo lashed out — something he’s in the habit of doing when reporters ask him questions he doesn’t like.

After repeatedly refusing to reply Kelly’s query on the finish of the interview, Pompeo summoned Kelly into his personal front room, the place Kelly says he profanely berated her and insulted her intelligence by demanding she level to the placement of Ukraine on an unmarked map.

Pompeo then adopted that up with an announcement wherein he accused Kelly of mendacity in regards to the phrases of their interview — one thing Kelly denies — and prompt she was unable to find Ukraine on a map, writing, “It’s value noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine.” (Kelly has a grasp’s diploma in European research, so Pompeo’s declare is doubtful at finest.)

So, to recap, Pompeo bullied a reporter and publicly insulted her intelligence, and the State Division has now banned one other reporter from her outlet from touring with him. And Pompeo’s boss weighed in to say he’d wish to see the reporter’s outlet go away solely.

The entire episode is a stark illustration of how the Trump administration is without doubt one of the worst in American historical past for any media outlet that makes an attempt to cowl it critically.

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