by Matthew Holloway | Sep 26, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
The full deposition of Kari Lake, acting CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), was unsealed and filed publicly on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In the September 9th questioning from plaintiffs’ lawyers in lawsuits challenging layoffs at Voice of America (VOA) and its parent agency, Lake dismantled the narratives woven by the terminated staffers in outlets like the Washington Post and NPR.
Lake has been accused of “gutting” VOA through alleged illegal firings and union-busting. The headlines painted a scene of “fearful journalists” and “dismantling” America’s global voice, framing the cuts as a political purge in defiance of court orders. However, Lake’s sworn testimony tells a different story.
In the 549-page transcript, Lake coolly describes a deliberate, team-driven effort to comply with President Trump’s March 14, 2025, Executive Order “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy,” which mandated slashing agencies like USAGM to their “statutory minimum” within seven days, as previously reported by AZ Free News.
“I effectuated — I got busy working to effectuate the President’s executive order,” Lake stated plainly during the deposition, responding to questions about her rapid response to the EO. Far from the “unaware” operative depicted in the Post’s coverage—which claimed she learned of the order “the day of” and blindsided staff—Lake described proactive preparations based on “rumblings” and immediate collaboration with career officials.
“We made the decision to determine what (the) statutory minimum was, and in the process of doing that, we worked with the senior leadership at the agency to come up with what our plan would be. We placed everybody on paid leave and worked with senior leadership, career leadership, and they came up with the plan.”
This new information decisively counters the union-led narrative of a “union-busting attack on workers’ First Amendment rights,” as put forth by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and amplified by Politico. Lake emphasized that reductions in force (RIFs) affecting hundreds were “the same process that went into the first one,” guided by non-partisan experts, such as Victor Morales, a 36-year agency veteran.
“This was an agency decision based on everything that’s led up to [it],” she added, rejecting any indications of personal retaliation. These firings also included a subsequent round after an August 28 executive order excluded the USAGM from the Federal Labor-Management Relations Program.
The deposition also highlighted Lake’s repeated warnings about foreign infiltration plaguing USAGM, which were emphasized during her congressional testimony with Congressman Abe Hamadeh in June. “This place is rotten. It’s rotten to the core,” she told the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. “President Trump has asked me to go in and help clean it up, and he’s also issued an executive order to reduce this agency down to its mandate, to what is mandated, statutorily required. That’s exactly what I’m doing. I don’t care if they attack me.”
Media critics have dismissed her findings as fearmongering to justify cuts, but under oath, Lake was firm, identifying “massive national security violations, including spies and terrorist sympathizers and/or supporters infiltrating the agency, eye-popping self-dealing involving contracts, grants, and high-value settlement agreements…”
Pressed on her posts to social media stating that “the CCP has infiltrated VOA and you are paying for it,” Lake confirmed her statement without hesitation, saying simply, “Yes.” When asked about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) meetings with VOA managers to shape coverage, she replied, “In the past, they have.”
These revelations appear to fly in the face of NPR’s portrayal of Lake’s reforms as baseless paranoia endangering journalists abroad, with reporters “fearful” over visa revocations amid supposed “lax security” excuses.
Instead, Lake clearly laid out the overhaul as a mission to restore integrity: “I think it’s important to effectuate the President’s executive order and make sure that what we’re putting out is honest, truthful reporting.”
She highlighted fiscal wins, like canceling an “obscenely expensive 15-year lease that burdened the taxpayers,” and anticipated operating “above the originally proposed statutory minimum” while adhering to the law.
The lawsuits, Widakuswara et al. v. Lake and Abramowitz et al. v. Lake, both stem from the firing of VOA staff and former VOA Director Michael Abramowitz, whom Lake attempted to reassign before a judge intervened to block it. But Lake invoked executive privilege on White House chats and stressed the EO’s clarity: “In the executive order, it says right here in Section 2(a), ‘such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.'”
Along that same line of reasoning, Solicitor General of the United States D. John Sauer announced in late August that the Department of Justice is prepared to defend the removal of Abramowitz from his position writing, “Under Article II, inferior executive officers must be removable at will by the President or by a department head acting on the President’s behalf.”
As Lake navigates the legal hurdles raised before her, her deposition emerges as a counter to the media narrative. While outlets like the Washington Post describe “contentious court battles” and “radical cuts,” Lake’s testimony underscores a lawful cleanup of a bloated, fatally infiltrated bureaucracy. She summarized the situation best, saying, “The President put out an executive order calling for the reduction to the statutory minimum,” and “it was the decision of the team, the senior leadership team, that we needed to follow the President’s executive order.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Aug 21, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
A letter from Solicitor General of the United States D. John Sauer to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson has revealed that the Department of Justice is prepared to defend the removal of former Voice of America (VOA) Director Michael Abramowitz from his position. Abramowitz’s removal was ordered by Acting Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) Kari Lake.
The letter sets a clear argument that restrictions under 22 U.S.C. 6205(e)(l) against Abramowitz’s termination for cause under 5 U.S.C. § 7543, are rendered unconstitutional by Article II § 2 Clause 2.
Solicitor General Sauer explained the restriction against Abramowitz’s termination writing, “The head of Voice of America, an inferior executive officer, is appointed by the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Agency for Global Media. See 22 U.S.C. 6205(e)(l). A federal statute provides that the Chief Executive Officer may remove the head of Voice of America only with the approval of the Independent Broadcasting Advisory Board.”
The Solicitor General then laid out the legal position of the administration that the DOJ “will file in defense of the removal of Michael Abramowitz from that office.”
He wrote:
“Under Article II, inferior executive officers must be removable at will by the President or by a department head acting on the President’s behalf. See Seila Law LLC v. CFPB, 591 U.S. 197, 215 (2020).
“The Supreme Court has recognized only one narrow exception to that ‘general rule.’ Ibid. That exception extends, at most, to certain domestic inferior officers ‘with limited duties and no policymaking or administrative authority.’ Id. at 218.
“The head of Voice of America falls outside that exception. Among other things, he exercises significant policymaking or administrative authority in supervising Voice of America, and Voice of America’s activities implicate the President’s authority to manage foreign affairs.”
Sauer added that this opinion is supported by the precedent set in Seila Law LLC v. CFPB, 591 U.S. 197, 215 (2020) in which the Supreme Court ruling penned by Justice Robers is clear: “In our constitutional system, the executive power belongs to the President, and that power generally includes the ability to supervise and remove the agents who wield executive power in his stead. While we have previously upheld limits on the President’s removal authority in certain contexts, we decline to do so when it comes to principal officers who, acting alone, wield significant executive power. The Constitution requires that such officials remain dependent on the President, who in turn is accountable to the people.”
In short, it is the Solicitor General’s legal opinion that because of the unique, Congressionally-mandated duty of Voice of America to carry out foreign policy objectives and the significant authority the VOA Director has over them, the President and his appointed Acting Chief Executive Officer, Kari Lake, must have the power to appoint and remove personnel from the agency at will to satisfy the President’s duties under the Constitution as vested by Congress: “the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.”
As previously reported by AZ Free News, Abramowitz was informed of his dismissal after he declined reassignment to the agency’s Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station of the International Broadcasting Bureau in Greenville, NC, and that the USAGM maintains “the Chief Executive Officer, acting on the President’s behalf, may lawfully remove the Voice of America Director, an inferior officer.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Aug 12, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Legal documentation obtained by AZ Free News has revealed detailed allegations surrounding the pending termination of Voice of America (VOA) Director Michael Abramowitz and the assertions of U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) Acting-CEO Kari Lake that efforts to block his termination are unconstitutional.
As previously reported by AZ Free News, Abramowitz received a notice of reassignment to become the Chief Management Officer of the VOA’s Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station of the International Broadcasting Bureau in Greenville, NC. It was conveyed to him in a July 8th memo that “this geographic reassignment was needed to ensure adequate front-office supervision of USAGM’s primary domestic transmission facility for VOA content during this key transitional period.”
Per the response to Abramowitz’s legal motion, USAGM leaders informed Abramowitz at that time that his “presence in Greenville was needed to support an evaluation of the potential for an expanded USAGM staff presence at that facility.”
In a notification sent to Abramowitz, Senior Advisor to USAGM John Zadrozny wrote:
“The memorandum further directed you to complete and return the acknowledgment section to the Office of Human Resources at ExecutiveResources@usagm.gov no later than July 29, 2025.
“It also stated in no uncertain terms that, should you decline to accept the reassignment, you would be subject to removal under adverse action procedures pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 7543. On July 29, 2025, you declined the reassignment.”
In a post to X on Monday, Lake explained, “The Former VOA Director was offered the opportunity to continue his employment at our transmitting station in North Carolina, a place that could benefit from his experience. Unfortunately, he declined his reassignment.”
The document further describes the justification for Abramowitz’s removal, stating, “The reassignment to Greenville was strategically aligned with agency priorities. Specifically, your presence at the Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station was needed to ensure executive-level oversight and leadership during a critical period. This new role would have included directing and focusing staff at the facility on clearly defined operational and strategic priorities, while continuing to maintain and improve day-to-day operations there. It also involved providing regular feedback, direction, and training to ensure the facility staff remained engaged in fulfilling key agency objectives, including efforts to streamline agency functions in accordance with statutory requirements.”
Addressing Abramowitz’s argument that “Congress expressly provided that the ‘head[] of Voice of America . . . may only be . . . removed if such action has been approved by a majority vote of the [International Broadcasting] Advisory Board,’” the USAGM leadership counters that “the Chief Executive Officer, acting on the President’s behalf, may lawfully remove the Voice of America Director, an inferior officer.”
In the filing, USAGM argues, “The power to remove an inferior officer can be vested only in ‘the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments,’” citing the U.S. Constitution as well as other legal precedents. “Here, that means the Voice of America Director—an inferior officer—must be removable at will by the President or the Agency’s Chief Executive Officer (the head of the Agency) acting on the President’s behalf.”
The agency also argues that, along constitutional grounds, due to the USAGM’s status as an executive branch agency, the U.S. District Court “lacks the power to enjoin Mr. Abramowitz’s removal as the Voice of America Director.” It notes that “under traditional principles of equity, courts of equity have no power over appointments and removals.”
In a brief statement to AZ Free News, Lake wrote, “We have numerous SES (Senior Executive Service) employees, all of whom are paid handsomely, and some of whom have been sitting home on paid administrative leave collecting a paycheck, but not working. That’s not fair to the taxpayer. We have positions where we need their skills, and we are attempting to get them into place where they can be helpful to our mission.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Aug 10, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Kari Lake’s work as Acting-Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) has progressed significantly in recent months after damning revelations in June on the state of the agency and its subsidiary operations including Voice of America (VOA). In her latest move to root out waste and international influence at VOA, Michael Abramowitz, the Biden-appointed now-former Director of VOA, was reportedly terminated Friday after he refused reassignment to a posting in Greenville, North Carolina.
According to a legal filing from Abramowitz, he was informed on July 8, 2025, that he was “removed from his ‘current position of Director, Voice of America’ and reassigned to a different one—as Chief Management Officer in Greenville, North Carolina,” and if he did not “accept” this reassignment he would face “adverse action procedures.”
Abramowitz reportedly responded in an email that the decision to “remove [him] from [his] position as Director of Voice of America[] . . . is illegal” because, “[u]nder the law,” the VOA director “can only be removed . . . with the approval of the International Broadcasting Advisory Board.”
As reported by the Washington Post, Abramowitz was subsequently terminated for “failure to accept directed geographic reassignment.”
Responding to the initial WaPo article on Abramowitz’s termination, Lake lampooned it as “biased,” and “anti-American propaganda,” in a post to X.
As previously reported by AZ Free News, Abramowitz has consistently worked in opposition to Lake and the Trump administration, actively speaking out against Lake’s program to “rightsize” the agency to within its statutory limits.
Responding to a raft of cost-saving measures Lake announced in early May, which included the termination of at least 584 employees and the end of J-1 visa employment, Abramowitz said he was “heartbroken” over the downsizing.
“I find this action inexplicable, and to my knowledge, no rationale has been provided by USAGM for this decision,” he wrote in a statement to the Post. “We will continue to make efforts to help individual PSCs, especially those who face possible return to hostile countries, in any and every way we can during this difficult time,” he continued, in a clear break from USAGM leadership under Lake.
In a letter he posted on Linkedin, Abramowitz informed VOA staff of his imminent ouster writing, “I wanted you to be aware that my lawyers have filed a motion in federal court today challenging efforts by USAGM to remove me as director of Voice of America. They believe USAGM’s action is plainly illegal. I can’t say much about the details of the case beyond what is laid out in the court filing. But I do want to stress that this action is not about me personally but about preserving the rule of law and fulfilling VOA’s vital mission of delivering fact-based news and information about America to the world.”
Correction: This story has been updated to reference Kari Lake’s new title as Acting-Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Jun 29, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Salacious past rumors surrounding Democrat Congressman Greg Stanton (D-AZ01) resurfaced Wednesday during Congressional testimony from Senior Advisor for the U.S. Agency for Global Media Kari Lake before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Lake’s testimony, entitled Spies, Lies, and Mismanagement: Examining the U.S. Agency for Global Media’s Downfall, laid out a devastating case against the agency that manages Voice of America (VOA) as well as the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Lake described an editorial firewall at the VOA, which prevents U.S. policymakers from influencing coverage yet allows foreign actors like the Chinese government to exert huge pressure. During her testimony, Lake also confronted Stanton with the prospect that VOA could potentially report on long-held rumors that the Congressman had a homosexual affair several years ago. In such an event, she explained, Stanton would be powerless to prevent the government news outlet from reporting the story he contends is false. In fact, he would be sued for even trying to.
According to VOA, “The firewall prohibits interference by any U.S. government official in the objective, independent reporting of news,” as per the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2017.
“Your job is to tell the people of the world the truth about America,” Stanton said. “And because of that, there is a more fundamental issue that I want to address today, and that is character.”
Under that thin veneer of justification, Stanton then followed with a lengthy tirade launching ad hominem attacks on Lake’s character, her truthfulness about elections, and openly accused her of lying about the conduct of both the Arizona and U.S. Presidential elections. Citing her legal battles following her gubernatorial and senatorial election defeats, the Arizona Congressman scorned Lake as “an adjudicated liar.”
Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Issa was compelled to intervene when Stanton accused Lake of being a “liar” and a “loser” and called upon the Congressman to adhere to the House rules of decorum.
Lake, finally able to answer when Stanton yielded his time back to the chair, replied, “That was complete insanity. Can I respond to that because that was complete insanity? I wish I could yield back the last five minutes of my life, and I want to apologize to the people of Arizona that we have somebody who’s representing the folks in one of our great parts of the Valley that doesn’t care about the integrity of our elections.”
Turning to address Stanton she continued, “But you weren’t here, you came in late, and we were talking about USAGM today, the Agency for Global Media, and how they can put out absolute, abject lies, and we can’t control any… We have no say over what the editorial content is, and I would hope that you would not be okay with that.”
Lake then made a personal appeal to Stanton, referencing a long-held rumor in Congress, the existence of which has been independently verified by AZ Free News.
“They could literally put out a lie about anybody here, and I know you’ve been a victim of that. I know you’ve been a victim. I remember the stories about you when they said you had a gay lover, and those were going out.”
“Mr. Chair,” Stanton burst out angrily. “I hope you honor what you just gave as a caution to everyone, and I move those words be stricken.”
Undeterred, Lake continued her point, “To tell you that those kind of lies, and you said they were lies, those kinds of lies can be broadcast today on VOA, and you can’t pick up the phone, Representative Stanton, and call them and say, ‘Hey, you’re putting out lies about me.’ You would not be able to do that because they would sue you for breaking the firewall.
“So, lies are being told on Voice of America; it’s inappropriate. You’ve been subjected to lies that you said were lies about you in the media before, and how would you like those lies were put on Voice in America right now? Because they could do it, and you couldn’t do a thing about it. You couldn’t stop it. You couldn’t stop all those lies that you said were said about you if they went on Voice of America today. You’d have to sit and take it.”
Chairman Issa ruled on Stanton’s request to strike Lake’s comments, noting that Lake “was responding and I thought rather complimentary. That in fact those were untrue and she was defending that. So, I’ll leave it as that. I think Mr. Stanton would agree that those were untrue statements, and she said so.”
Stanton, seeming to recover his composure, attempted to resume his attacks on Lake, again claiming Lake to be “an adjudicated liar,” only to be cut off by Chairman Issa.
Chairman Issa then reclaimed time for himself and appeared to admonish Stanton and the other Democrat members for their attacks against Lake saying, “I’ll be brief in saying if everyone on the dais had the accusations of their opponents or even quite frankly sometimes the legal battles, all of us would have a bad day here. That is part of politics. But we’re not here to discuss politics today. We’re here to discuss the spending of hundreds of millions of dollars and a question of whether or not it was best spent on behalf of the American people.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
