(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly had an interview with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss Iran and Ukraine which made a lot of sense because she was talking to the guy who ostensibly understands American foreign policy and in the last few weeks he nearly started a cataclysmic war with the former while we all learned that all the President’s stooges were trying to assassinate our ambassador to the latter. Any reporter conducting a foreign policy interview that doesn’t touch those countries should be fired immediately.
Except, Pompeo didn’t want to talk about Ukraine, probably because between accepting the interview and the time he sat down with Kelly more evidence came out about the administration’s bumbling efforts and he realized every interview he gave would just be another landmine of potentially damning misstatements. So he told Kelly that he wouldn’t talk about Ukraine, a fact which she reported because she’s a reporter and that’s what reporters do.
Pompeo decided to use State Department letterhead to complain about the reporter because a public tantrum is exactly the dignified use of the office that the Founders intended:
The last dig refers to the most bizarre act of a sitting United States Secretary of State. Apparently in an effort to lash out at Kelly for asking him about his job, he had aides bring him a map without country names and dared Kelly to find Ukraine on the map. Because Kelly has an advanced degree in European Studies from FUCKING CAMBRIDGE, she pointed to Ukraine and Pompeo got even more angry. He now seems to be implying that he thinks she failed to correctly point to Ukraine which terrifyingly suggests that — given the credentials of the two parties involved — the Secretary of State of the United States thinks Bangladesh rests on the Black Sea.
Putting aside how dumb it is to try to best a European Studies expert on European geography, isn’t Ukraine one of the easiest countries to identify? Even the dullest tool in the shed knows the breadbasket of Europe has to be by Russia which is the biggest country on the map already. Everyone’s played Risk and had to jealously guard that 5 Army Europe bonus. Pompeo is, despite all appearances, a lawyer yet he apparently missed the “don’t ask questions you don’t already know the answer to” lesson because this was a downright atrocious flex.
How this story becomes fodder for law firm gossip is that Kelly is married to Williams & Connolly partner Nick Boyle, and Williams & Connolly is the firm where Mike Pompeo worked until 1997. Boyle didn’t overlap with Pompeo, joining the firm in 2001 after Pompeo bolted from legal practice. But it’s safe to say Pompeo isn’t making any friends at his old firm.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.