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Mike Pompeo swore at reporter and asked her to point out Ukraine on a map

Mike Pompeo called the reporter
Mike Pompeo called the reporter

Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, demanded a journalist point to Ukraine on a map during a rant littered with expletives.

Mary Louise Kelly, a National Public Radio reporter, said America's top diplomat made the bizarre request after she questioned him about Ukraine during a testy interview.

The German-born former BBC journalist said she correctly identified Ukraine.

Mr Pompeo later implied she had pointed to Bangladesh. In a statement he said: "It is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine."

The extraordinary row began following a nine-minute interview.

Mr Pompeo said it had been agreed beforehand that Ms Kelly would stick to the subject of Iran. Ms Kelly has disputed that.

She asked him about Ukraine and the removal of Marie Yovanovitch as US ambassador to Kyiv, a key aspect of Donald Trump's impeachment trial.

Ms Kelly said she was then invited to Mr Pompeo's private living room, without her tape recorder.

She said the secretary of state "shouted at me for about the same amount of time as the interview itself lasted."

The journalist said: "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."

She said Mr Pompeo then asked his assistants to bring out a map of the world without the countries named, to see if Ms Kelly knew where Ukraine was.

"I pointed to Ukraine. He put the map away," she said, adding that Mr Pompeo responded, "People will hear about this."

After Ms Kelly spoke publicly about the incident Mr Pompeo issued a statement in which he did not dispute her account.

But he said: "NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly lied to me, twice. First, last month, in setting up our interview and, then again yesterday, in agreeing to have our post-interview conversation off the record.

"It is shameful that this reporter chose to violate the basic rules of journalism and decency."

Mr Pompeo said it was another example of how "unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and this Administration."