"He asked, ‘Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?’ He used the F-word in that sentence and many others,” Kelly told her co-host Ari Shapiro, according to a transcript of the program.

In his statement Pompeo did not deny using the language Kelly mentioned. Instead, he said that Kelly had agreed to "have our post-interview conversation off the record."

Kelly told Shapiro that when she was called back to Pompeo after the interview for the private tongue-lashing, she told his office she would be relaying on air what had happened.