LISTEN: NPR Host Says Pompeo Erupted Over Questioning, Dropped F-Bombs, and Asked If She Could Find Ukraine on a Map

All Things Considered co-host Mary Louise Kelly claimed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shouted at her, dropped the F-bomb, and tried to ridicule her geographical knowledge after he abruptly left an NPR interview with her after she questioned him about Ukraine.

“What is happening there is an aide stopped the interview and said, ‘We’re done, thank you,’ and you heard me thank the Secretary. He did not reply. He leaned in, glared at me, and then turned and with his aides left the room,” detailed Kelly. “Moments later, the same staffer who had stopped the interview, reappeared, asked me to come with her — just me, no recorder — though she did not say we were off the record, nor would I have agreed. I was taken to the Secretary’s private living room where he was reading and where he shouted at me for about the same amount of time as the interview itself had lasted.”

“He was not happy to have been questioned about Ukraine. He asked, ‘Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?’ He used the F-word in that sentence, and many others. He asked if I could find Ukraine on a map. I said yes,” she continued. “He called out to his aides to bring him a map of the world with no writing, no countries marked. I pointed to Ukraine, he put the map away. He said, ‘People will hear about this,’ and then he turned and said he had things to do, and I thanked him again for his time and left.”

Pompeo abruptly left the interview with Kelly after refusing to answer any more questions.

“I’ve said all I’m gonna say today. Thank you. Thanks for the repeated opportunity to do so, I appreciate that,” Pompeo declared in the interview after being pressed about former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

“One further question…” Kelly replied, prompting Pompeo to add, “I’m not gonna… I appreciate that, I appreciate you want to continue to talk about this. I agreed to come on your show today to talk about…”

“And you appreciate that the American public wants to know as a shadow foreign policy, as a back channel policy on Ukraine was being developed, did you try to block it?” Kelly interrupted.

“Ukraine policy’s been run from the Department of State for the entire time that I have been here, and our policy was very clear,” Pompeo proclaimed.

The two then talked over each other before Pompeo left.

Listen above via NPR.