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'Get Facts Straight First': US TV Host Under Fire After Falsely Claiming Pompeo Appeared on RT

In April 2019, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke at Texas A&M University about his experience as director of the CIA. The video with his remarks was later shared by Russian international network RT.
Sputnik

US-based MSNBC host and correspondent Joy Reid came under increased scrutiny this Tuesday after slamming US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for allegedly appearing on Russian TV network RT. In a now-deleted post, Reid retweeted a video with the RT logo of Pompeo speaking at Texas A&M University in April 2019 about his work at the CIA. Just like the user, who originally shared the clip, the TV host suggested that the US secretary of state had made the remarks while being a guest on the Russian news channel.

In the video, that was previously shared by RT on its social media, Pompeo reflected on his work as the director of the CIA, while saying “we lied, we cheated, we stole”.

“We had entire training courses”, the secretary of state said, when replying to a question about US foreign policy.

Reid seemed to believe that the remarks were made during Pompeo’s supposed appearance on RT, which caused her vociferous reaction. 

“Can you imagine what Republicans would have said if Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had gone on Russian State TV and said this during the Obama administration?” Reid said in a now deleted tweet, as quoted by Fox News. “Now? Republicans are unphased by this remarkably brazen Kremlin bowing. Putin really did win the year

The MSNBC host was rebuked for the error, which prompted Reid to later delete the tweet and clarify that Pompeo’s comments were actually made in Texas. The correspondent, however, did not apologise for her mistake.

Netizens were shocked that Reid had managed to escape almost unscathed for such an egregious error, slamming the journalist for failing to do her homework before making bold statements. 

Reid also came under fire back in 2018 after making dubious claims that some of her old blog posts containing homophobic statements were a result of hacker attacks.

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