Kari Lake, the staunch Trump ally and senior adviser at the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) will tout massive cuts to an agency that’s been a target of Republican hostility for years on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
Politico reports: “USAGM, which oversees Voice of America, provides news and information to countries around the world, targeted primarily at nations with limited press freedom. The agency’s dates back to the founding of VOA in 1942 to combat Nazi propaganda. In addition to VOA, the agency oversees or funds Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting and Middle East Broadcast :Lake announced last week that USAGM eliminated 1,400 positions — after Trump signed an executive order gutting the agency. Last said in a memo Friday that 250 employees remain at the agency,which directly oversees Voice of America and funds several other independent broadcast outlets stationed around the world.
“We are fighting an war, and there’s no better weapon than the truth, and I believe VOA can be that weapon,” she said at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, about a week before she was appointed as a senior adviser to the agency. But since then, she’s executed the dismantling of an agency Republicans, including Trump, have held in contempt dating back to the first Trump administration.
When asked about a Russian operative at the WH, she didn’t answer. “We can root out the Russian, Chinese, Iranian propaganda that has been prevalent on our airwaves at VOA, and we’re going to work to do that,” U.S. Agency for Global Media senior adviser, Kari Lake, told members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. “Some say it’s the Voice of anti-America.”
This is one more step toward shutting down a free press; VOA and Radio Free have been some of the only non-propaganda news many countries get. After firing 1,400 employees this week, there are about 250 left; Lake insists on “hiring American” even though hiring staffers without the ability to speak the language will cause more distrust and thus less ability to cultivate sources.
