NPR demands answers from Pompeo about reporter barred from trip

Washington — NPR is demanding answers from the State Department after one of its reporters was dropped from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's five-country trip through Europe and Central Asia in the wake of a contentious exchange he had with NPR host Mary Louise Kelly.

John Lansing, NPR's president and CEO, and Nancy Barnes, its senior vice president of news and editorial director, sent the State Department a letter Tuesday asking Pompeo to confirm whether diplomatic correspondent Michele Kelemen was removed from the trip and whether she or any other NPR reporters will be excluded from future official trips with the secretary.

The NPR leaders also want the State Department to explain its justification dropping Kelemen from the trip and reverse the move.

Kelemen was designated by the State Department Correspondents' Association in early January to serve as the radio pool reporter during Pompeo's swing through Europe and Central Asia, documenting and disseminating information to other radio reporters not traveling with the secretary. She also received information about the trip from the State Department's press office.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/npr-demands-answers-from-pompeo-about-reporter-barred-from-trip/ar-BBZrAlV?li=BBnb7Kz