President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday directing his administration to dismantle the United States Agency for Global Media and six other government offices.
The action will impact the USAGM’s grantees and subsidiaries, including the Voice of America and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting.
‘A significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States and promoting freedom and democracy.’
Trump’s order, “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy,” calls for the government entities to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”
The president previously tapped Kari Lake, a former Arizona news anchor and former Republican gubernatorial and Senate candidate, as a senior adviser to the USAGM and the head of the VOA, a federal broadcasting network.
The USAGM and Lake released a statement on Saturday explaining the decision to shut down the agency and its affiliates, highlighting several of the “most egregious findings,” including “massive national security violations,” “eye-popping self-dealing,” and “obscene over-spending.”
The Trump administration slammed the agency for being “a product that often parrots the talking points of America’s adversaries,” noting “$100s-of-millions being spent on fake news companies.”
The Associated Press reported that the USAGM terminated its contracts with the media outlet, as well as Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
The USAGM’s statement claimed that the agency was “not salvageable.”
“From top to bottom this agency is a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer — a national security risk for this nation — and irretrievably broken. While there are bright spots within the agency with personnel who are talented and dedicated public servants, this is the exception rather than the rule,” the statement read.
“It is unfortunate that the work that was done by self-interested insiders in coordination with outside activist groups and radical leftist advocacy organizations to ‘Trump-Proof’ the agency made it impossible to reform,” the statement continued. “In fact, they weren’t just ‘Trump-Proofing’ the agency from political leadership; they were accountability-proofing the agency from the American people.”
The agency noted that most of its staff would be placed on paid administrative leave.
Lake called the president’s move “a significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States and promoting freedom and democracy.”
Last week, Lake posted a video on X explaining that the USAGM under the Biden administration entered into a $250 million annual lease for a new Washington, D.C., skyscraper. She stated that the building — featuring floor-to-ceiling windows, large fountains, Italian marble finishes, and at least 26 conference rooms — has sat empty.
“Here’s the kicker: They already have a building that they’re located in that is paid off,” Lake stated.
Elon Musk responded to Lake’s findings, stating, “The government was spending a quarter billion dollars of your taxpayer money per year on an empty building!”
Lake told Musk, “Worse yet, this building is not even equipped to do TV or Media broadcasting. That would cost millions of dollars more to build out. And a well-connected broker walked away with a $10 million commission. A Colossal waste! I am terminating this lease on behalf of the American Taxpayer.”
Trump’s executive action also directed the dismantling of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, and the Minority Business Development Agency.
Trump requested that the agencies’ leaders submit a report within seven days to the Office of Management and Budget acknowledging their “full compliance with this order and explaining which components or functions of the governmental entity, if any, are statutorily required and to what extent.”
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News, Donald trump, Trump, Trump administration, Trump admin, Kari lake, United states agency for global media, Agency for global media, Usagm, Voice of america, Voa, Office of cuba broadcasting, Federal mediation and conciliation service, Woodrow wilson international center for scholars, Institute of museum and library services, United states interagency council on homelessness, Community development financial institutions fund, Minority business development agency, Politics
