CASPER, Wyo. (AP) - In a story April 30 about a cancelled speech by a U.S. State Department official, The Associated Press, relying on a spokesman for Casper College, erroneously reported the reason the speech was cancelled. A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said the speech was cancelled due to a scheduling conflict, not because Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had frozen all scheduled appearances by department staff. A college spokesman now says the school was wrong to have blamed Pompeo for the cancellation.
A corrected version of the story is below:
Wyoming college backs off blaming Pompeo for scrapped speech
A spokesman for Casper College in Wyoming says the school was wrong to have blamed U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for cancelling an upcoming speech by a State Department official
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) -A spokesman for Casper College in Wyoming says the school was wrong to have blamed U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for cancelling an upcoming speech by a State Department official.
The college said earlier this week that the speech by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Timothy Lenderking scheduled for Thursday had been canceled because Pompeo had frozen all speaking and travel engagements as part of a policy review.
State Department spokeswoman Grayson Vincent says no such freeze has been ordered and the decision to cancel did not come from Pompeo. Vincent blamed it instead on scheduling conflicts and said the speech may take place in the fall.
College public relations director Chris Lorenzen said Wednesday that his office should only have announced that the speech was canceled.
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