Mary Louise Kelly said the secretary of state launched into a tirade after she asked tough questions about Ukraine

This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

Donald Trump has praised Mike Pompeo for his treatment of a prominent radio journalist, who the secretary of state reportedly swore at and called a liar after she asked questions about Ukraine.

“I think you did a good job on her, actually,” the president said.

Trump was referring to Mary Louise Kelly, the host of a news programme on the National Public Radio (NPR), whose interview with Pompeo on Friday triggered what Kelly described as an obscenity-laden rant from the secretary of state, during which he asked her: “Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?” and challenged her to find Ukraine on a world map.

NPR host says Pompeo shouted 'F-word' tirade when she asked about Ukraine Read more

“For the record, I did,” Kelly wrote in an op-ed published in the New York Times on Tuesday.

“Journalists don’t sit down with senior government officials in the service of scoring political points,” Kelly wrote. “We do it in the service of asking tough questions, on behalf of our fellow citizens. And then sharing the answers – or lack thereof – with the world.”

Kelly had asked Pompeo about his failure to defend the former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who was abruptly ousted from her post on Trump’s order last May.

After the interview, Pompeo summoned Kelly to his private quarters in the state department and launched into a tirade that she said lasted as long as the interview itself. After Kelly went on air to talk about the encounter, Pompeo issued an extraordinary statement through the state department calling her a liar.

However, emails between Kelly and state department officials showed that she, not Pompeo, had told the truth when she said she had notified his office that she would raise the subject of Ukraine.

Pompeo did not deny he had delivered the tirade described by Kelly, but he claimed that the meeting after the interview was off the record. Kelly said she was told by a staffer not to bring a recording device into the room but “she did not say we were off the record, nor would I have agreed”.

Pompeo implied that Kelly had failed to identify Ukraine on an unlabelled world map and had pointed to Bangladesh instead. Kelly, who has a master’s degree in European studies from the University of Cambridge and many years of experience as a foreign correspondent, said she pointed to it right away.

After NPR issued a statement supporting Kelly’s reporting, the state department barred an NPR correspondent from the travelling press party flying with Pompeo to Europe this week. The correspondent, Michele Kelemen, had been poised to provide pooled coverage for all radio outlets.

On Tuesday, the news organization’s president, John Lansing, sent a letter to the state department seeking “clarification” on why Kelemen was blocked, and what it meant for future trips. The department has not yet responded, according to NPR.

NPR reporter removed from Pompeo trip in 'retaliation', says press group Read more

At a White House appearance on Tuesday that was supposed to mark the launch of a US plan for the Middle East, Trump praised Pompeo for his work on the issue.

“That was very impressive, Mike. That reporter couldn’t have done too good a job on you yesterday. I think you did a good job on her, actually,” the president said, drawing laughter from officials in the room.

After Pompeo’s attack on Kelly, Trump, who has previously proposed eliminating federal funding for public broadcasting, once again called NPR’s future into question.

On Sunday, he retweeted a rightwing pundit as asking: “Why does NPR still exist? Why are we paying for this big-government Democrat Party propaganda operation.”

“A very good question!” Trump added in a tweet of his own.