Amid feud with NPR, Pompeo tells Kazakhs the U.S. is committed to press freedoms

The State Division is committed to training journalists in press freedoms, Secretary Mike Pompeo stated on Sunday in comments that come instantly on the heels of his feud with NPR.

Whereas in Kazakhstan, Pompeo told the journalist Aigerim Toleukhan that freedom of the press helps “construct out civil society inside of countries.” “We’re here, we’re here to assist, and we’ll proceed to do that,” he stated.

However Pompeo also stated journalists have been expected to behave a certain approach, “telling the truth and being trustworthy.” When asked a few combative interview with an NPR reporter final week and the State Department’s barring one other reporter from the public radio network from touring together with his press pool on a visit to Ukraine, Pompeo prompt it was because of this lack of honesty.

“I didn’t have a confrontational interview with an NPR reporter any more than I've confrontational interviews all the time,” he stated. “We take tons of and a whole lot of questions. We speak brazenly.”

Pompeo continued: “With respect to who travels with me, I all the time deliver an enormous press contingent, however we ask for sure sets of behaviors, and that’s merely telling the truth and being trustworthy. And once they’ll do this, they get to participate, and if they don’t, it’s just not applicable.”

Last week, the secretary had a testy conversation with NPR host Mary Louise Kelly. In an interview, Kelly asked Pompeo probing questions about his position in the Ukraine scandal at the coronary heart of President Donald Trump’s impeachment proceedings. Pompeo answered curtly.

He reportedly met with Kelly behind closed doorways afterward, shouting and swearing at the “All Things Thought-about” host and difficult her to level out Ukraine on a clean map. (She did.)

Trump on Pompeo's confrontation with NPR reporter: 'You did a good job on her'

Pompeo issued a statement accusing Kelly of lying and implying that the journalist stated the conversation can be off the report. Days later, he barred the NPR veteran reporter Michele Keleman from flying on his aircraft for a trip to Ukraine, a transfer the State Department Correspondents’ Affiliation concluded was retaliation.

On Sunday, Toleukhan asked Pompeo what sort of message his exchanges with the NPR reporters would send to nations like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, whose governments routinely suppress press freedom.

“It’s an ideal message about press freedoms,” he replied. “They’re free to ask questions … there’s a reporter from that very business who was at a press conference just yesterday. I hope the rest of the world will comply with our press freedoms and the great issues we do in the USA.”

Src: Amid feud with NPR, Pompeo tells Kazakhs the U.S. is committed to press freedoms
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