The United States Agency of Global Media — the organization that runs Voice of America — laid off about 85% of its staff. Senior adviser Kari Lake defended her decision during a House Committee meeting.
The former Arizona gubernatorial candidate was appointed as senior adviser for USAGM by President Donald Trump earlier this year.
“Within days of my role as senior adviser that reform was nearly impossible. The agency incompetent and mismanaged and deeply corrupt, politically biased,” Lake said.
After 1,400 employees were laid off, U.S. Rep. for Arizona Greg Stanton questioned Lake’s credibility in making this decision during Wednesday.
“Are you finally ready to admit you lost the 2022 Arizona election?” Stanton said.
Before Stanton interjected, Lake said “It saddens me that you are from Arizona and you are OK with the — ”
Stanton finished the statement by concluding the answer was no. He said she is unreliable because of how she handled the last governor race election — which she lost.
“Instead of conceding, you embarrassed yourself and our state by lying — again and again for years, blaming everything under the sun for your loss," Stanton said.
Others on the committee questioned how the agency would continue on the reduced staff that broadcasts to millions each week.
“Those are government numbers, and I don’t trust those numbers,” Lake said.
Lake continued to defend her decision and offered to show emails to other lawmakers questioning her throughout the meeting.
“354 million people listen to it every week, so I would hardly classify it as a relic,” said Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Texas).
