Foundation for hostages pulls prize for Pompeo

A US foundation that fights for hostages has reversed plans to present an award to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo due to his response to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Pompeo called the about-face by the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation -- named in memory of the journalist killed in Syria -- "unfortunate" and said that media organizations as well as the moderator did not want to be associated with President Donald Trump's administration.

"I regret that there was pressure applied by the media for that award to be withdrawn," Pompeo told Fox News in an interview Friday.

"I think some of the folks who were underwriting the dinner didn't want to be part of it," he said.

"Award or no award, we're going to keep working at this problem," he said of freeing US hostages abroad.

Foley, a freelance journalist, was captured in Syria in 2012 and beheaded by the Islamic State group in August 2014, with video footage of his killing sparking outrage around the world.

The Foley Foundation said in a statement that it decided not to present the award to Pompeo "due to the dramatic change in circumstances when the administration did not press for genuine accountability from the Saudi government for the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi."