For cursing out a reporter and accusing her of lying,
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has earned high praise from President Trump.Trump on Tuesday celebrated Pompeo after his recent confrontation with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly. Kelly last week said Pompeo angrily berated her after an interview in which she asked about Ukraine, cursing her out and demanding she find
Ukraine on a map. Pompeo in a subsequent statement only doubled down, claiming Kelly "lied to me" and that she incorrectly pointed to Bangladesh and not Ukraine, even though Kelly has a master's degree in European studies from Cambridge University. The State Department subsequently removed another NPR reporter from an upcoming Pompeo trip in apparent retaliation. This earned Trump's seal of approval on Tuesday, as after Pompeo received a round of applause during a
White House event, Trump said, "That reporter couldn't have done too good a job on you yesterday, huh? I think you did a good job on her, actually."Trump then asked if Pompeo is running for
Senate but quickly added, "I guess the answer's no after that, huh?" The
New York Times' Michael Barbaro wrote Tuesday this is "the latest case of Trump celebrating poor treatment of the media."