Kari Lake Takes Shot At Robert De Niro: He Went 'Off The Deep End Lately' Following Anti-Trump Rant

During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday, USAGM Kari Lake slammed actor Robert De Niro.

Transcript

00:00Chair now recognizes Representative Biggs. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mrs. Lake, thank you.

00:07I appreciate your testimony. It's become clear that one of our most urgent concerns is how our

00:14own taxpayer-funded outlets like USAGM, VOA, OCB, and their grantees appear to be churning out

00:25spreading content that doesn't just look down on America, but actively works against our national

00:33security and vital interest. This is a betrayal, and if it's happening, it's not just problematic,

00:42but it's a deep-rooted corruption that needs to be exposed and rooted out.

00:47In light of this, I have just a few questions. Are you aware of any instances where VOA or its

00:57grantees have misled their audience or provided false information?

01:04There are a lot of cases where that has happened. I mean, you could, if you just look at the political

01:10bias, I would say that you're misleading. I'm going to, I'm going to throw one case out because

01:16people will remember this video, and it was of Robert De Niro, the actor who has really seemed

01:23to go off the deep end lately, putting out a rant against the president, and he called them all kinds

01:29of things, a dog, an awful thing, said you want to punch him in the face. That video was played on VOA

01:34Ukraine for the audiences in Ukraine to see to make them believe that that was the sentiment of the

01:41American people. When Joe Biden literally failed and practically fell on his face in the debate,

01:47when everybody, when all of a sudden the Democrats realized, okay, we got a problem here, and we're

01:51going to have to acknowledge that Joe Biden has serious cognitive problems, VOA wouldn't even report

01:57that. They made it sound like his debate was fine. Only days later did they come in and try to make up

02:03ground. You can talk about the October 7th terrorist attack in Israel, refusing to call that a terrorist

02:09attack, refusing to call the terrorist who inflicted that kind of carnage on Israel terrorists.

02:15That could go on and on, but you look at the waste that they have perpetuated against the American

02:21people, the $850,000 spent on a New York concert. Why are we spending money that's meant for putting

02:29our American message out on a concert in New York? Why are we doing that? When I first got in,

02:35one of the first things that came across my email was a complaint that we had a cross-dressing man

02:41reporting to VOA to the Pakistan audience. Why are we putting a cross-dressing man on the air

02:50to tell America's story in Pakistan? We got to get things right. This is insane. It's completely out

02:56of control. And the chairman said, I think, I can't remember the exact figure. I think he said

03:01the iHeartRadio has a budget of about $80 or $90 million. This is a nearly billion-dollar budget,

03:08and we're putting out, in many cases, schlock, something that's unwatchable, and worse yet,

03:14that's un-American, pro-CCP, that is supporting our enemies. It's unconscionable that we would do that.

03:21I would agree with that, and so would my district. And moving on, have you encountered any situations

03:28where VOA or its grantees have promoted or reported anti-American sentiment? And I think you just

03:35touched on that briefly. I did. And I'm happy to pull more. If you don't mind, I'd be happy to pull

03:41more examples of that, and we can submit it to you later. Okay. And just in looking at it from a

03:48different perspective, are you aware of any cases where VOA or its grantees have promoted propaganda

03:55from an adversarial nation? Yes, and I think I've made that clear today. We have CCP influence,

04:02where literally folks over at the Chinese embassy are telling the folks at VOA how to cover China.

04:12That's one example. Those are very concerning. Thank you very much for your response, and I yield back.

04:20I yield back. Chair not recognized. Representative Schultz. Ms. Lake, over and over and over again,

04:29Russian propagandists tell us you can't trust the VOA. They're a pho-