NEW IG report: The Trump administration rescinded a prestigious"Courage Award" for a female journalist because she criticized Trump on Twitter and later gave a false explanation for the decision to Congress & press. The report has all the receipts/memos washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
The journalist @JessikkaAro endured death threats & cyber attacks for her work exposing Russian troll factories. The State Dept. said it mistakenly told her she won the award but the IG found that the decision to give it to her was signed off at highest levels (Pompeo)
She would've received the award had some State Department interns not found her tweets and Facebook posts, the IG found. Senior officials worried about optics of having her onstage next to Pompeo and "First Lady [Melania Trump].“
The “media could highlight the tweets and Facebook posts during the ceremony,” which could cause “potential embarrassment to the Department, particularly given the involvement of the Secretary and the First Lady [Melania Trump].”
The department told Congress that @JessikkaAro “ultimately was not selected to receive the award, due to the highly competitive selection of candidates.” But "every person OIG interviewed in connection with this matter acknowledged” that the tweets caused the rescission
The guys to first break the story before Congress and the IG started investigating were @ReidStan & @RobbieGramer 👏 foreignpolicy.com/2019/03/07/u-s…
New comment from @JessikkaAro reacting to the IG report: "In my heart, I feel like an international woman of courage. That, the Trump administration can't take away from me."
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