In a fiery interview on Steve Bannon’s War Room Monday, Kari Lake, special advisor to the federal agency overseeing Voice of America (VOA), defended recent actions to scale back the government-funded media outlet, claiming its content no longer aligns with pro-American values.
Lake, a former Arizona gubernatorial candidate and close ally of former President Donald Trump, made clear that the administration’s goal is to drastically reduce VOA’s operations. “President Trump wants this agency scaled back, boiled down to the bare minimum, and that’s what we’re doing,” she said. “And you could argue that they stopped being pro-America, they stopped putting out a pro-America story many years ago.”
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Her comments come amid growing controversy after six VOA journalists filed a lawsuit against her, alleging that the administration’s efforts to shut down or gut the agency violate constitutional protections.
Lake pointed to recent editorial decisions as justification for the restructuring, highlighting a particular image that deeply offended Trump supporters. “And I recently tuned in and saw a graphic on Voice of America that showed President Trump with a swastika over his face,” she said. “That’s not what our taxpayer-funded media should be putting out.”
While the graphic in question has not been independently verified, Lake’s claims have amplified ongoing concerns within conservative circles about alleged partisan bias in publicly funded media organizations. However, Lake also framed the issue as a matter of fiscal responsibility, suggesting that reforming agencies like VOA is part of a broader effort to rein in government spending.
“This is about getting our government, you mentioned it, getting our government back in line to where we’re not spending like drunken sailors, we’re not completely in debt,” she told Bannon. “We’ve got to get this debt under control, Steve, or we won’t have a country anymore.”
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“We are either bankrupt or on the verge of bankruptcy, and we have to start cutting,” she added. VOA, a Cold War-era institution originally established to promote American ideals abroad, has faced repeated scrutiny over the years regarding its editorial independence and role in shaping foreign perceptions.
As the legal battle between the agency’s journalists and the administration unfolds, questions about media freedom and fiscal priorities are likely to dominate headlines in the weeks ahead.
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