President Trump asked why NPR exists following Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s reportedly heated clash with one of the media organization’s reporters.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released a strongly worded statement yesterday accusing National Public Radio (NPR) of bias. Today, Donald Trump retweeted a message from Conservative radio host Mark Levin, who asked, “Why does NPR exist?”, according to The Hill.
“A very good question!” Trump posted with Levin’s tweet.
A very good question! https://t.co/8z6uQLKz8M
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2020
Levin inquired about the publicly funded but privately owned national radio station, saying there are “thousands” of radio stations in the country and satellite radio.
“Why are we paying for this big-government, Democrat Party propaganda operation,” Levin wrote.
While it is estimated that only a small percentage of funding for NPR comes from U.S. taxpayers via grants, NPR does admit it relies on federal funding.
“The loss of federal funding would undermine the stations’ ability to pay NPR for programming, thereby weakening the institution,” according to the NPR website.
Trump’s latest attack on the radio station comes after reporter Mary Louise Kelly, who co-hosts the news program “All Things Considered,” reported on Friday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo allegedly yelled at her while using the “F-word and many others” after she questioned him about Ukraine in an interview that she was asked not to audio-record.
“Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?” Pompeo allegedly said while asking her to point to Ukraine on a map.
Pompeo accused Kelly of lying to him, alleging that the post-interview conversation was off the record and that the interview was supposed to focus on Iran.
“It is shameful that this reporter chose to violate the basic rules of journalism and decency,” Pompeo said Saturday.
NPR has stood behind Kelly.