Kari Lake, a top Trump ally and senior adviser at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, defended sweeping cuts to the taxpayer-funded news agency that serves nations with restricted press freedom during a tense Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday.
In her first appearance before Congress, Lake defended her leadership and argued that USAGM should be downsized, with the goal of dismantling it entirely.
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“Within days, in my role as senior adviser, it became increasingly clear that reform was nearly impossible,” Lake said in her testimony. “The agency was incompetent and mismanaged and deeply corrupt, politically biased, and frankly, a serious threat to our national security.”
Established during World War II with the launch of Voice of America to counter Nazi propaganda, the agency now oversees or funds a network of outlets, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.
Lake announced last week that USAGM had slashed 1,400 positions, an 85% reduction in staff since March, when President Donald Trump issued an executive order to overhaul the agency. In a Friday memo, she said just 250 employees remain at USAGM.
She also leveled a wide range of criticisms, citing what she called excessive executive spending, expensive legal settlements with former staffers, and a scrapped lease for a new headquarters.
“This is a billion-dollar agency. We know for a fact money is being wasted and the content that is going out is not supportive of this country and the great people of this country have been forced to pay for it,” she told lawmakers on Wednesday. “I don’t take pleasure in people losing their jobs, but I’ll tell you in the media landscape, newsrooms are getting smaller. We can’t continue to operate at this level.”
Lake urges dismantling of USAGM, citing security and mismanagement
The former local news anchor painted a grim picture of USAGM, alleging deep-rooted corruption, mismanagement, and lax security protocols. She urged Congress to dismantle the agency entirely and fold its core functions into the State Department, in which, she argued, Voice of America once operated more effectively under closer alignment with U.S. foreign policy.
Lake repeatedly described the agency as a national security risk, pointing to the case of Pavel Rubtsov, also known as Pablo González, a freelance cameraman who briefly worked for VOA and was later arrested in Poland on espionage charges. He was returned to Russia in a 2024 prisoner swap that also freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
She further claimed the agency had unlawfully exploited J-1 visas to hire foreign journalists, calling the practice “blatant and unlawful.” Though she framed it as a violation, USAGM holds a special State Department designation allowing such hires to stay for up to three years, far longer than the typical J-1 arrangement.
Her most forceful objection was aimed at the statutory firewall that bars government interference in editorial decisions, a protection she claimed ties her hands in addressing what she views as bias in VOA’s reporting. Lake pushed for VOA to hire more Americans, arguing that foreign-born reporters often lacked the cultural grounding to communicate the nation’s values effectively. “If you were born in another country,” she said, “you don’t know our history, you don’t know our culture. … How do you effectively tell America’s story?”
Her comments drew swift pushback from Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA), who argued that foreign journalists are essential to VOA’s global mission. “Voice of America is not only about talking about America. It’s about reporting on the world,” she said, noting that millions have relied on its coverage for decades.
“VOA built its reputation on facts, independence, and objectivity. Unfortunately, lies and distortion are being used to dismantle it,” said Patsy Widakuswara, a former Voice of America White House bureau chief who is leading a lawsuit against Lake and USAGM.
Widakuswara continued, “Despite the many falsehoods aired today, we were encouraged by the many members of Congress who highlighted VOA’s successes and its important role in countering adversarial propaganda.”
Democrats sharply criticized Lake’s sweeping cuts to the agency, calling them reckless and demanding to know what assessments, if any, guided her decisions. When Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the committee’s top Democrat, pressed her on the issue, Lake dismissed his concerns as “ridiculous questions.”
During the hearing, Lake referenced an incident involving a former USAGM employee who allegedly threatened to “cut a congressman’s throat” yet continued to have access to the agency’s building. She said the case remains under investigation and declined to identify the lawmaker involved.
VOA layoffs draw bipartisan fire as Iran-Israel war tests US messaging
The war between Israel and Iran thrust VOA’s foreign policy role into the spotlight. Earlier this month, staff members from the Persian-language service who had previously been placed on leave were recalled to help counter Iranian state media narratives. Just days later, some of those same employees received termination notices.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle questioned Lake about the impact of her cuts in the context of the conflict in Iran. Rep. Bill Keating (D-MA) pressed Lake on the decision to reduce funding for key services such as Radio Farda and the Middle East Broadcasting Network, warning that such moves could jeopardize the safety of journalists and weaken America’s soft power at a critical moment.
“This puts journalists in danger,” Keating said, challenging Lake on how she was ensuring continued support for reporters operating in hostile regimes.
Lake pushed back, asserting that her team had, in fact, broadcast Trump’s recent statement on Iran in Farsi in real time. She described the coverage as swift and effective, claiming the Persian service translated and aired Trump’s remarks immediately after U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
A LinkedIn post from Widakuswara told a different story. It criticized the lack of a staffing plan, claimed coverage collapsed due to the earlier removal of key Persian-language staff, and called the strategy of rehiring journalists only “as needed” deeply unrealistic and harmful to credible global news reporting.
“Our Persian colleagues describe their coverage that day as a catastrophic failure,” she wrote. “It was streamed on social media but not even a minute in, the audio cut out. It was not uploaded to the VOA Persian website until hours later.”
Lake grilled on election denial and applauding authoritarians
Democrats highlighted her failed statewide runs in Arizona in 2022 and 2024, noting her close alignment with Trump and her promotion of false claims about the 2020 election. They argued that this record undermines her credibility to lead a news organization.
In one of the most heated exchanges of the hearing, Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ) lambasted Lake over her credibility, arguing that her history of election denialism disqualifies her from leading an agency tasked with promoting factual information abroad.
Stanton called her an “adjudicated liar” and warned that her presence at the helm of U.S. international broadcasting undermines America’s ability to counter propaganda from regimes in China, Russia, and Iran.
Lake fired back, refusing to acknowledge she lost the election, and instead pivoted to concerns about editorial independence at USAGM.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) took aim at Lake’s past praise of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whom Lake once called “the greatest in Europe.” She questioned whether Lake agreed with Orbán’s authoritarian policies, including a ban on LGBT pride parades and state control of 80% of Hungary’s media. “Do you think that’s OK?” Jayapal asked, to which Lake responded, “I think Viktor Orbán has put the people of his country first,” avoiding a direct answer.
On the other side, Republican members argued that taxpayers shouldn’t be expected to fund journalism they believe fails to reflect American values adequately.
Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) strongly defended Lake’s actions, framing her overhaul as a patriotic effort to root out corruption, bias, and foreign influence, particularly from China. He expressed outrage at reports that VOA’s Mandarin service had interactions with the Chinese Embassy and even hosted events and allegedly allowed editorial input from CCP officials.
“Is this the voice of America, or is this the voice of Beijing?” Barr asked, criticizing what he called pro-communist influence within the agency.
A social media account run by former VOA employees, “savevoa,” pushed back on the allegations, firmly denying that the VOA Mandarin Service had regular contact with the Chinese Embassy and insisting that “Chinese Embassy officials have never been able to influence its content.”
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CONDUCTS LAYOFFS AT VOICE OF AMERICA
Just minutes after Wednesday’s hearing concluded, Trump took to social media, writing: “Why would a Republican want Democrat ‘mouthpiece,’ Voice of America (VOA), to continue? It’s a TOTAL, LEFT WING DISASTER — No Republican should vote for its survival. KILL IT!”
Donald J. Trump Truth Social 06.25.25 02:40 PM EST
— Commentary Donald J. Trump Posts From Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) June 25, 2025
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 said she’s been tasked with completing all necessary staffing and budget changes at VOA by the start of fiscal 2026 in October and pledged to move quickly in carrying out further reforms at the agency.
“We need to start scaling back some of the waste. And I do think it’s wasteful to spend money at an agency that’s supposed to be telling America’s story that is not telling America’s story,” Lake said.