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babylonsister

(171,079 posts) Mon Jan 27, 2020, 08:40 PM Jan 2020

State Department drops NPR from Pompeo trip after Ukraine dust-up

Can they get any more juvenile?

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/27/media/npr-mike-pompeo-state-department/index.html

State Department drops NPR from Pompeo trip after Ukraine dust-up
By Brian Stelter, CNN Business
Updated 6:42 PM ET, Mon January 27, 2020

New York (CNN Business)Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appears to be escalating his criticism of NPR — this time not just with words but with actions.

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Kelly said Pompeo also questioned her intelligence by directing her to identify Ukraine on a blank map of the world. An aide fetched the map for Pompeo. Kelly, who has a Master's degree in European studies, said she pointed to Ukraine, and Pompeo moved on. In a statement the next day, he implied (without outright claiming) that she actually pointed to Bangladesh, a country thousands of miles away. Kelly's colleagues thought the insinuation was laughable.

The action involving Kelemen was publicly announced by the State Department Correspondents' Association, a group that represents members of the diplomatic press corps.

The association said it "protests the decision to remove NPR correspondent Michele Kelemen from Secretary Pompeo's plane on his upcoming trip to Europe and Central Asia."

"The removal of Michele, who was in rotation as the radio pool reporter, comes days after Secretary Pompeo harshly criticized the work of an NPR host. We can only conclude that the State Department is retaliating against National Public Radio as a result of this exchange," the association's president Shaun Tandon said.

"The State Department press corps has a long tradition of accompanying secretaries of state on their travels and we find it unacceptable to punish an individual member of our association," Tandon added.