Fox News host Steve Hilton called Mike Pompeo a “baby” and a “bully” Sunday night after the secretary of State reportedly lashed out at an NPR host.
“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo got into an ugly dust up with an NPR reporter this week and I’ve got something I want to get off my chest,” Hilton said on his program, “The Next Revolution.”
“First, I want to make clear I’m a big fan of the secretary. I appreciate his tough stand on many issues, not least China,” Hilton said.
“I listen to NPR a lot and I can tell you that Mary Louise Kelly is one of the very few hosts on there who actually seems fair and is not totally biased against President Trump,” the host later said.
“For goodness sake, Mr. Secretary, don’t be such a baby. You should be able to handle tough questions by now, and don’t be such a bully. Foul-mouth ranting at a reporter doing her job is an embarrassment to you and the administration,” Hilton, a former director of strategy for former British Prime Minister David Cameron, added. “You should apologize and people will think much more of you if you do.”
NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly said Pompeo became so frustrated with questioning about whether he defended former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch before she was fired that he began swearing at Kelly after their interview concluded.
“Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?” Pompeo also reportedly asked before questioning Kelly if she could identify Ukraine on a map.
Pompeo, meanwhile, accused Kelly of lying to him about the parameters around their post-interview conversation, and described the incident as “shameful.”
“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,” he said in a statement. “It is shameful that this reporter chose to violate the basic rules of journalism and decency.”
“This is another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and this Administration. It is no wonder that the American people distrust many in the media when they so consistently demonstrate their agenda and their absence of integrity.”
Pompeo replaced former Exxon Mobil Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of State in April 2018.