VOA Head Has Contentious Appearance On Capitol Hill

Kai Lake Testifies Wednesday on Capitol Hill

Kari Lake, a senior adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) appointed by President Donald Trump, testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday. The hearing focused on her controversial efforts to reform or dismantle USAGM, which oversees Voice of America (VOA) and other government-funded media outlets.

Lake called USAGM “rotten to the core,” alleging it was corrupt, biased, and a national security threat. She advocated abolishing the agency or transferring its viable parts to the State Department.

She criticized the 1994 congressional firewall ensuring VOA’s editorial independence, claiming it allowed “biased, anti-American” reporting.

Lake defended her mass layoffs of 639 USAGM employees (85% of the workforce) and the integration of One America News (OAN) programming into VOA, arguing these addressed waste and bias.

She claimed, without specific evidence, that VOA had been influenced by Chinese government representatives and promoted anti-American narratives.

Congressman Hamadeh asks @KariLake, President Trump's Senior Advisor at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, to elaborate on what access the Chinese Communist Party had within Voice of America. pic.twitter.com/72N9qnzOqP

— Office of Congressman Abe Hamadeh (@RepAbeHamadeh) June 25, 2025

Days prior, Lake announced layoffs that crippled VOA’s operations and introduced OAN content, prompting lawsuits from VOA journalists alleging violations of the agency’s mandate for independent journalism.

Democrats, like Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) and Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ), accused Lake of undermining VOA’s global credibility and U.S. soft power, with Stanton citing her history of election fraud claims to question her trustworthiness.

The hearing was contentious, with debates over VOA’s role in promoting U.S. interests versus maintaining journalistic independence.