Kari Lake Claws Back $17m For ‘mission Support’ Amid Deep Cuts To Us-funded Media

The United States Agency for Global Media is reprogramming more than $17 million in various agency funds already subject to deep cuts for unspecified “mission support,” according to a memo from senior adviser Kari Lake obtained by POLITICO on Friday.

Lake, a close ally of President Donald Trump, has looked to slash USAGM — which either directly controls or gives grants to media outlets that report predominantly for international audiences — as part of the administration’s campaign to slash the size of government and punish media outlets it views as hostile toward the president.

The memo says the agency is taking back $7.2 million from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, $3 million from Radio Free Asia, $5 million from the Middle East Broadcasting Networks and $2.18 million from the Open Technology Fund. Lake’s letter says the funds will go toward “mission support” without providing further details.

Lake’s letter offered a briefing to senators on the financial transfers.

The move comes as Lake on Friday delivered termination notices to hundreds of employees at Voice of America, which lies under the control of the USAGM — an overall cut of roughly 85 percent of her agency’s workforce.

“Kari Lake’s actions are a gift to Iran’s Supreme Leader, the [Chinese Communist Party] and the Kremlin,” said Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) in a post Friday about the job cuts. “Her decimation of US broadcasting leaves authoritarian propaganda unchecked by US backed independent media and is a perversion of the law and congressional intent.”

Lake’s decision also landed as a federal district court judge on Friday ordered the agency to fund the Open Technology Fund, a technology nonprofit promoting global internet freedom, as intended by Congress for the rest of the fiscal year.

Lake’s agency did not respond to a request for comment on Friday night, nor did the offices of Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), the top Senate appropriators for the agency.

Congress won’t have to wait long for answers, though. The House Foreign Affairs Committee is scheduled to receive testimony from Lake on June 25.