NPR reporter barred from Pompeo trip after testy interview

WASHINGTON • The US State Department has removed a National Public Radio (NPR) reporter from the press pool for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's upcoming foreign trip, a press association and NPR said, days after Mr Pompeo angrily responded to another NPR journalist's interview with him.

The removal of Ms Michele Kelemen, who was part of the pool of correspondents set to travel with Mr Pompeo on his trip to Britain, Ukraine, Belarus and Central Asia, can only be seen as retaliation for her colleague's interview, the State Department Correspondents' Association said on Monday.

"We respectfully ask the State Department to reconsider and allow Michele to travel on the plane for this trip," the association's head, Mr Shaun Tandon, said in a statement.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr Pompeo was interviewed last Friday by NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly, and was asked repeatedly about Ukraine and ousted US ambassador Marie Yovanovitch during a testy nine-minute exchange.

Following the interview, Ms Kelly said Mr Pompeo cursed at her and repeatedly asked her: "Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?"

In a statement last Saturday, Mr Pompeo said the reporter had lied in setting up the interview and in agreeing to conduct the post-interview conversation off the record. His statement did not dispute what she said about the content of the post-interview encounter. NPR has stood by its account of the meeting.

Ms Yovanovitch's removal was a key event in the actions that prompted the impeachment of President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power in his dealings with Ukraine and obstruction of Congress by the Democratic-led US House of Representatives last month.

REUTERS