Overview

• Lake testified June 25 before the House Foreign Affairs Committee defending her reforms at the U.S. Agency for Global Media and Voice of America, calling the agency “rotten to the core” and citing President Trump’s directive to reduce it to its statutory minimum.
• Under Lake’s leadership, Voice of America and related grantees have cut roughly 600 employees—about 85% of staff—with plans to transfer core functions to the State Department to save taxpayer dollars.
• Democratic lawmakers accused Lake of politicizing editorial oversight, spreading unsubstantiated personal claims, and undermining U.S. soft power by leaving broadcasts vulnerable to Russian, Chinese and Iranian influence.
• Federal judges have issued orders to preserve agency operations and a June 27 hearing will consider why Lake has not complied with mandates to restore funding and resume services.
• Republican allies praised the cuts as a necessary streamlining of a “bloated” bureaucracy and said the reforms will align Voice of America more closely with America First messaging overseas.