Friday, January 24, 2020

Somebody is guilty and not handling it well

Somebody besides Trump.



With the State Department facing continued questions over the treatment of Marie Yovanovitch before she was recalled as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would not say on Friday whether he owed the career diplomat an apology.

"I've defended every single person on this team," Pompeo said in an interview with NPR. "I've done what's right for every single person on this team."

  NPR
Yeah? Let's ask the people on that team.
Pompeo has come under criticism — including, at times, from career diplomats in his own department — for failing to more forcefully defend Yovanovitch in the face of political attacks. During testimony before impeachment investigators, for example, Michael McKinley, a former senior adviser to Pompeo, said he resigned from the department in part over what he interpreted as a "lack of public support for Department employees."

[...]

Pressed on whether he could point to specific remarks in which he defended Yovanovitch, Pompeo responded, "I've said all I'm going to say today. Thank you. Thanks for the repeated opportunity to do so. I appreciate that."
Oooh. Testy.
Immediately after the questions on Ukraine, the interview concluded. Pompeo stood, leaned in and silently glared at Kelly for a period of several seconds before leaving the room.
LOL. Mary Louise is not one to be cowed.
A few moments later, an aide asked Kelly to follow her into Pompeo's private living room at the State Department without a recorder. The aide did not say the ensuing exchange would be off the record.
No matter Pompeo didn't mention it either, that aide likely got reamed.
Inside the room, Pompeo shouted his displeasure at being questioned about Ukraine. He used repeated expletives, according to Kelly, and asked, "Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?"
We know, from Ambassador Sondland, that Trump doesn't.
He then said, "People will hear about this."
He was right about that.

The interview that pissed off Pompeo.


UPDATE:



And he now owes Mary Louise Kelly one, too.



Trump does the same.  And Pompeo is supposed to be such a religious man.


UPDATE 1/25:As if that weren't bad enough, now he's trying to pretend she got the country wrong without actually saying it:


Only MAGAheads would think she pointed to Bangladesh, because they might.  He'd be more believable if he at least pretended she pointed to something in the eastern European neighborhood.



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