Brad Sherman Tells Kari Lake Point Blank: 'You Don't Trust Donald Trump!'

Forbes Breaking News

During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) sparred with USAGM Kari Lake over funding for Voice Of America.

Transcript

00:00And over and over again, Russian propagandists tell us you can't trust the VOA.

00:06They're a phony organization. They tell a lot of lies.

00:09And you are here today repeating that Russia propaganda point.

00:14Again and again and again, Chinese government agents tell their people,

00:19do not believe the voice of America.

00:22They tell lies.

00:24And you are here repeating that Chinese propaganda point.

00:28What's particularly illustrative is my colleague said,

00:33you know, you have 300 to 400 million listeners per week nationwide, worldwide.

00:40And you said you can't trust that number.

00:44It comes from the government.

00:46That number is quite consistent with the numbers issued by the Trump administration in 2017 and 2018.

00:54Everybody in this room knows that I don't trust Donald Trump.

00:57Now they know you don't trust Donald Trump.

01:00Having administered that agency for four years, issues numbers as to how many listeners they have,

01:06and you say don't trust them.

01:08That's because there wasn't the one.

01:09Excuse me. It's my time.

01:11Donald Trump.

01:11Ms. Lake, you know the rules here.

01:14Follow the rules.

01:16Now, you had your opening statement.

01:19This is my five minutes.

01:20Mr. Putin wants to weaken America.

01:25There are those in America who want to help him.

01:28Those who want to help Putin know that they can't just scuttle an American aircraft carrier.

01:33So they're trying to do something that is far more dangerous to our role in the world and our national security,

01:39and that is to scuttle our international broadcasting.

01:42Now, we have a bipartisan Armenian caucus, two chairs, two co-chairs.

01:49You have eliminated all Armenian language broadcasting.

01:53Did you consult with any of the chairs or co-chairs of the Armenian caucus in Congress before you cut off that broadcasting?

02:02That's a yes or no question.

02:03No.

02:03That's how decisions are made, and I'm sure you didn't consult with the U.S. Ambassador in Yerevan either.

02:11I'd like unanimous consent to put in the record a report from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel

02:19detailing the terrible administration of USAGM during the latter months of the Trump administration.

02:29I'll point out that Ms. Lake tells us how terrible it is that she can't get information.

02:36You know who really needs information?

02:38Congress.

02:39You know who's sitting behind you?

02:41Mr. Michael Pack, the former under-Trump director, same job you have,

02:48who we had to try to subpoena to come here and give Congress information, and we got stonewalled.

02:54But had we had Mr. Pack here, in your testimony, you talk about how there's waste,

03:02and we would have detailed all the waste of your Trump-appointed predecessor

03:08and how the $1.6 million of personnel claims that you cite occurred chiefly under the Trump administration.

03:16So you're here basically saying that you don't think that we can't have international broadcasting

03:25because you can't run it.

03:28The idea that you say, well, China is telling Voice of America how to broadcast.

03:34Of course you try to interview Chinese diplomats.

03:38You interview members of Congress.

03:40I don't, that does not mean, you know, I tell them all the LA Times what they should do all the time.

03:46They tend not to listen.

03:48Every journalist is given advice by everybody in the world all the time.

03:54Now, I think Ms. Kim did a good job of illustrating the problems with closing down our broadcasting efforts.

04:11Our soft power is of critical importance, and I think Putin would be very happy.

04:18Now, as I pointed out, there are many settlements due to lawbreaking and violations that you cite,

04:28and of course they occurred back in 2020 under Mr. Pax.

04:31No wonder he refused the subpoena.

04:35No wonder he wouldn't testify here.

04:37I will give you credit.

04:39You're here.

04:40And you're here defending the indefensible, which is that America should be silent on the world stage.

04:50Our ability, bombs are powerful.

04:54Truth is more powerful.

04:57Taking the bombs away from our military would be bad.

05:00Taking truth away from our public diplomacy efforts is worse.

05:04I yield back.

05:05I yield back.

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