President Donald Trump is under fire after praising his Secretary of State for attacking, smearing, and then lying about a veteran NPR reporter last week.
"I think you did a good job on her," Trump told Mike Pompeo during a White House event Tuesday held to unveil his new Middle East peace plan. Many in the room, including Ivanka Trump, who has positioned herself as a women's activist, laughed and clapped.
On social media the president's words are being compared to those of bullies and rapists.
One journalist said: "It is what so many women recognize as language that accompanies assault. When men back each other up regardless of the facts."
Pompeo attacked NPR's Mary Louise Kelly, claiming she had agreed his remarks on Ukraine would be off-the-record, which she did not. Subsequently revealed emails prove Pompeo was lying or misinformed.
But the Secretary of State did not only have a disagreement with a reporter. After the interview he forced her to identify Ukraine on an unmarked map. He then issued a scathing press release on State Dept. letterhead falsely claiming she had lied to him twice and falsely suggesting she had identified Bangladesh instead of Ukraine.
Kelly hold a masters from Cambridge in European Studies and has been a State Dept. reporter for two decades.
Here's what many are saying: