US President Donald Trump has called on Republicans to support his campaign to dismantle the state-funded news outlet Voice of America (VOA).
Launched in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda during World War II, the broadcaster later served as a key vehicle for pro-American messaging during the Cold War.
Trump has argued, however, that VOA has in recent decades veered toward partisanship, and vowed to shut it down as part of his broader push to eliminate wasteful government spending.
“Why would a Republican want Democrat ‘mouthpiece’ Voice of America (VOA) to continue? It’s a TOTAL, LEFTWING DISASTER – No Republican should vote for its survival. KILL IT!” the president wrote on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday.
Earlier that day, senior Trump adviser Kari Lake told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees VOA, is “rotten to the core” and should be reshaped to align with Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda.
Committee Chairman Brian Mast described USAGM as “a cesspool of spies, lies, and mismanagement” that “has promoted the very propaganda it was created to defeat.” He accused the agency of hiring foreign nationals, many of whom he said are “quite literally, security risks.”
Lake, who has been tasked by Trump with overseeing the dismantling of the agency, said last week that nearly 640 full-time staffers and more than 500 contractors have been laid off at USAGM and VOA.
Democrats and press freedom advocates have criticized the move. “The wholesale destruction of public media outlets like Voice of America represents an unprecedented gift from Trump to the dictatorial censorship regimes in countries like China and Iran,” Clayton Weimers, the executive director of Reporters Without Borders USA, said.
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