Trump appointee: Why not sue ‘lying’ reporter?
Re: “Pompeo lashes out at NPR journalist,’” (TNT, 1/26).
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s attack on NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly deserves more attention than this brief article gave it. I heard the interview and Kelly’s description of Pompeo’s meltdown afterward.
Leave aside the questions that Pompeo would not or could not answer. He claims he agreed only to talk about Iran. Kelly says his staff agreed she could ask about Ukraine. Pompeo now accuses her of lying; Kelly says she has emails to prove her side of the story.
All this reminds me of my father Vern Shomshak’s stories about working for The News Tribune. His investigative reporting sometimes angered prominent people, who threatened to sue him and the paper for libel.
His response? “Go ahead.” They never did, or at least never won, and never quashed the story.
If Pompeo believes Kelly lied on air, why doesn’t he sue? Surely this would be a triumph for the Trump administration against the “lying media.”
But Trump and his minions never have. I expect Pompeo won’t, either.
Dean Shomshak, Gig Harbor
This story was originally published February 5, 2020 at 3:58 PM with the headline "Trump appointee: Why not sue ‘lying’ reporter?."