‘I Am Confidant I Will Do So Again’
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo does not appear to be taking seriously the First Amendment concerns raised by his “faith-based media only” conference call that caused tremendous outrage last week. The Secretary banned all regular State Dept. press, all mainstream press, and invited only reporters from “faith-based” media outlets to attend.
Amid questioning from U.S. Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA), not only did Secretary Pompeo defend his decision to exclude all reporters except those from “faith-based” outlets, he promised to do it again.
Pompeo also refused the Congresswoman’s request to release a transcript of the call, or even the names of the invited participants, both of which would be standard operating procedure in any other administration. In fact, Congresswoman Wild called the decision to not release a transcript, “highly unusual.”
“To me, this instance raises concerns about First Amendment violations,” Rep. Wild noted. “The administration should not be granting some media outlets access to briefings, while selectively excluding others based on the administration’s preferences.”
Almost mockingly, Sec. Pompeo told Rep. Wild he talks to the press frequently, “and when I do I don’t release transcripts of those conversations.”
“Those are interviews that I grant to individual reporters. They write certain pieces of it and certain other pieces they don’t,” Pompeo said, glibly. “This was, this was no different from that in any material respect.”
“I am confident I will do so again,” he said, smugly.
Asked point-blank, “Will you release a transcript of that briefing?” Pompeo smugly replied, “No.”
“Will you identify who the participants were in that briefing?”
“No,” he again responded, smugly.
Pompeo went on to defend his positions by claiming “every Secretary of State that I’m aware of has done so consistently.” He mentioned several, but not Sec. Hillary Clinton.
Later in her questioning Rep. Wild questioned Pompeo on his trips to Iowa, Texas, and Kansas – areas political candidates visit to advance their political ambitions. He is rumored to be considering a run for the governorship of his home state of Kansas.
Apparently feeling that the questioning was somehow beneath him, Pompeo sarcastically replied, “Look, it’s true: I did not visit Martha’s Vineyard.”
What the Secretary refuses to admit or even acknowledge about his concerning conference call is that this was a briefing on “international religious freedom,” which means policy – and the American people have a right to know about policy the administration is enacting. More so, because Pompeo limited the call to “faith-based” outlets only, the appearance of a potential First Amendment violation is apparent. Based on a reported list of which outlets asked questions on that call, it appears no reporters from Muslim-based outlets were invited.
Secretary Pompeo is an evangelical Christian who has discussed the Rapture while speaking to a group of CIA officers while serving as the head of CIA, and he has framed battles in the Middle East as religious wars.
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