Kari Lake declares US Agency for Global Media ‘rotten to the core,’ sets 2026 shutdown goal: 'A boondoggle'

Kari Lake told Congress the U.S. Global Media Agency is “rotten to the core" and said it would be shut down by 2026 under President Donald Trump’s executive order.

Kari Lake, senior advisor to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, speaks during a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing Wednesday in Washington, D.C. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to say, "Why would a Republican want Democrat ‘mouthpiece,' Voice of America (VOA), to continue? It’s a TOTAL, LEFTWING DISASTER — No Republican should vote for its survival. KILL IT!"

Lake didn’t hold back in describing what she found within USAGM.

"It’s really like a rotten piece of fish," she said. "And you’re looking at it, and you’re saying, ‘Is there anything we can pull out of here and eat?’ And it’s best to just scrap the whole thing and start over."

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She argued that instead of defending American values abroad, the federally funded national and international news agency had become compromised with hostile actors potentially influencing what gets broadcast on the U.S. taxpayer's dime.

"The [Chinese Communist Party] has more control over what we put out editorially than people who are management at the agency," Lake said. "Are any of these VOA employees who acted on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party ... still employed? It’s possible. We’re working to try to figure that out."

She accused the grantees — including VOA, Radio Free Asia and the Open Technology Fund — of resisting oversight and stonewalling basic financial reviews.

Kari Lake, senior advisor to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, speaks during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., said, "You just want to reduce it to its statutory minimum. And then you said … that it will be gone by 2026. You want it gone. The president wants it gone by 2026. ... You’re a propaganda machine for the Trump administration."

Dean said she had "no questions" for Lake, adding, "You have misled this committee. ... You’ve lost your credibility. You have poured it out in buckets."

Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Texas, claimed layoffs would "cede all of our soft power in the world to our adversaries," arguing, "354 million people listen to [VOA] every week."

Lake replied bluntly, "Those are government numbers. And I don’t trust those numbers."

Johnson shot back, "That’s a sad state of affairs when you don’t trust the government that you’re representing."

Lake defended the cuts, saying they follow the law and common sense.

"We are doing what is statutorily required," she said. "The statutory minimum President Trump put forth in his executive order ... and that’s what we’re going to do."

Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., expressed concern that cutting grantee staff could weaken U.S. influence in hot spots like Iran and North Korea. 

"We can do it with a smaller staff.," Lake replied. "This newsroom should have been downsized a long time ago. … It’s over. Too many people were working in the newsroom, and we’ve shrunk that down."

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She added that many grantee roles were redundant.

"Why do we need RFA to be doing a Mandarin news service when we at VOA are doing Mandarin?" Lake said.

Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., closed with a comparison. iHeartMedia runs a national operation at $90 million per year. USAGM’s budget? Nearly $1 billion.

Lake’s closing message was direct.

"We can do this smarter, leaner and with loyalty to American values," she said. 

Jasmine is a writer at Fox News Digital and a military spouse based in New Orleans. Stories can be sent to jasmine.baehr@fox.com

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/kari-lake-declares-us-agency-global-media-rotten-core-sets-2026-shutdown-goal-boondoggle