While testifying before a House committee on Wednesday, Kari Lake faced severe criticism over her handling of the United States Agency for Global Media.
The former news anchor and current senior advisor to the USAGM was called before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs to discuss the future of the agency that runs Voice of America (VOA). Recent drastic cuts to the agency and lay-offs have concerned politicians on both sides of the aisle and Lake came in for a drubbing from critics.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., went after Lake for the way she went about cutting media grants and placing VOA employees on administrative leave.
“These are complex questions,” said Lake.
“It’s either, you did a review or you didn’t,” Meeks shot back, before repeatedly asking her if she “had a record” of what she reviewed.
Lake held up a picture of Donald Trump, refused to answer, and said the question was “ridiculous.”
Kari Lake responding to tough questions in the House Foreign Affairs Committee by holding up a picture of Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/fGTqpZl9vN
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 25, 2025
During her testimony, Lake said that it was her goal to “reduce” the USAGM “to its statutory minimum” and “that it will be gone by 2026.”
Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., accused Lake of ducking accountability for her actions. Bringing up Lake’s unsucessful Senate bid, Stanton said she blamed “everything under the sun” for her failures. He said Lake spread “lies” about the election’s integrity after he loss. Lake defended her actions, saying the media could “literally put out a lie about anybody here.”
“You’ve been the victim of that,” she said. “I remember the stories about you where they said you had a gay lover…Those kind of lies could be broadcast today by VOA.”
Lake addressed concerns from Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., about eliminating languages from international broadcasts by describing the 84 languages covered by VOA as “languages we don’t have to be covering.”
Lake claimed VOA was a “relic” and was challenged by Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Texas. When Johnson said that over 350 million people listen to the network weekly, Lake questioned the stats.
“Those are government numbers,” Lake said. “I don’t trust those numbers.”
Johnson called Lake’s response “pathetic.”
“That’s a sad state of affairs,” said Johnson, “that you don’t trust the government you’re representing and the agency that you’re in charge of.”
Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., dressed down Lake her time, calling her a “propaganda mouthpiece for Trump.”
“You have no credibility,” Dean said. “Your journalistic integrity is shot.”
Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., ceded his remaining time to Lake, who used it to claim that VOA had not “told the story of America properly or positively.” Lake again claimed that VOA was a mouthpiece for Iranian, Chinese, and Russian “propaganda,” and praised Joe Rogan as an example of a “smaller newsroom…that reaches millions of people.”
Addressing Donald Trump’s desire to shutdown the agency, Lake said she was “happy to do what the president wants to do.”
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