- Democratic Rep. Andy Levin of Michigan grilled Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and appeared to troll the top diplomat during his testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Friday.
- During Pompeo's testimony, Levin displayed a blank map of the world and asked him question.
- Pompeo previously quizzed a news reporter if she could point out a country on a blank map after she asked him about the Ukraine scandal then engulfing the Trump adminstration.
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Democratic Rep. Andy Levin of Michigan grilled Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and appeared to troll the top diplomat during his testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Friday.
During Pompeo's testimony, Levin displayed a blank map of the world and asked where US embassies were purportedly threatened by the Iranian military.
The secretary of state previously raised eyebrows when he took a combative tone against an NPR news reporter during an interview earlier in January, and later gave her an impromptu geography quiz.
In her interview with Pompeo at the State Department, the reporter, NPR's "All Things Considered" co-host Mary Louise Kelly, raised a question about Ukraine. Pompeo claimed that the question was never agreed upon; however, email correspondence later revealed that there was not a mutual agreement.
The interview was cut short, and Kelly was led to Pompeo's private office, where the diplomat lobbed expletives at her and had aides bring him a blank map. Pompeo asked "if I could find Ukraine on a map," according to Kelly, which she responded by pointing out the country.
Kelly, a veteran reporter, received a master's degree in European studies from Cambridge University and has spent a decade covering national security issues.
After Kelly pointed out Ukraine on the map, Pompeo "put the map away" and said "people will hear about this," the reporter said. Pompeo later accused Kelly of lying and claimed she had incorrectly pointed out Bangladesh on the map.
It was unclear whether Rep. Levin used an identical map, but the significance was not lost. Levin displayed the map on a screen and asked Pompeo which US embassies were threatened by Iran - a claim the Trump administration initially made to justify an airstrike that killed Qassem Soleimani, an Iranian military commander responsible for the deaths of hundreds of US and coalition forces in the Middle East.
Lawmakers have scrutinized the Trump administration's shifting justification and claimed the pre-emptive airstrike thrust the US to the brink of war.
"To your left, you'll see a map of the world," Levin said to Pompeo. "Would you please point out for us on this map which of our embassies were under threat of imminent attack so that you had to kill Gen. Soleimani regardless of the consequences of American safety?"
"I'm happy to answer your question," Pompeo replied, adding that he was "not going to get into classified material."
"We all know Soleimani was a bad guy, but what I'm talking about is the decisions made ... that brought us to the brink of war, and you're not willing to tell us which embassies were under attack," Levin said.
"I'm never willing to disclose classified information," Pompeo said. "I assume you're not either."
"You can't hide behind classification on this one because you can't classify something that doesn't exist," Levin said. "The administration has given us shifting stories."
Pompeo reiterated that "multiple embassies" were threatened by Iranian-backed forces, and that his security staff had "enormous security concerns."
"Are you going to let me answer the question," Pompeo asked Levin, after being interrupted.
"No, because you're not answering the question, sir," Levin replied. "I'm not asking you to reveal classified information."
Pompeo received some support from Republican lawmakers during his testimony. Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York apologized on the committee's behalf and alleged the hearing "has been a joke."
"You're getting asked a lot of questions that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are choosing, either to answer the question for you, [or] if you don't answer in the first split second ... finishing with a question mark," Zeldin said. "It's an embarrassment."