Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee are amplifying The Atlantic article titled, ‘What Is Kari Lake Trying to Achieve?’ As seen below with a link to the article, the House Foreign Affairs Dems wrote of President Trump’s senior advisor: “New reporting shows that Kari Lake’s takeover and ongoing destruction of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) has been mired in incompetence and abuse of taxpayer dollars.”
The House Dems also claim “Kari Lake is not using @VOANews and America’s global broadcasters as a tool to reach foreign audiences, combat censorship, or advance U.S. national security—instead she is focused solely on currying favor with Trump and advancing her own political ambitions.”
1/ New reporting shows that Kari Lake’s takeover and ongoing destruction of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) has been mired in incompetence and abuse of taxpayer dollars.
A few highlights…
https://t.co/sQfBH0KNe5
— House Foreign Affairs Committee Dems (@HouseForeign) February 14, 2026
The Atlantic‘s deputy executive editor, Yoni Appelbaum, added: “Kari Lake went to the White House to seek Trump’s blessing for a congressional run—and got left cooling her heels in the lobby.”
And The Atlantic‘s Anne Applebaum, who co-wrote the article, said of Lake: “She still hasn’t acknowledged that she has wasted more than $100m of taxpayers’ money, or admitted that the number continues to rise.”
[NOTE: Applebaum is a historian with a focus on democracy, autocracy, Russia and Eastern Europe, and the use of disinformation as it contributes to authoritarianism. She won a Pulitzer Prize in 2004 for her history of the Soviet Gulag system and wrote the widely circulated 2018 Washington Post article ‘This Is Why So Many Journalists Are At Risk Today’ about the increase of attacks on free press in numerous autocratic regimes. Applebaum’s position on what protections should be available for certain media — specifically the Voice of Palestine — has come under scrutiny by critics, underscoring the purported difficulty in some cases of determining the line between journalism and propaganda.]
As seen below on Newsmax, Lake defended her tenure running the once powerful American global media presence: “We’ve right-sized USAGM, and despite deep-state hit pieces claiming otherwise, we haven’t missed a beat. On Iran: We’re deploying every available tool to get the uncensored truth to the Iranian people.”
She still hasn’t acknowledged that she has wasted more than $100m of taxpayers’ money, or admitted that the number continues to rise. https://t.co/KfEjrrH3X6 https://t.co/gCu3g2Xbt2
— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) February 15, 2026
Former Voice of America senior White House correspondent Steve Herman responded to Lake’s claims: “Without missing a beat? Only several of VOA’s 48 language services are barely operational. Kari Lake has left nearly all staff on paid admin leave for the past 11 months despite a federal judge ordering her to bring them back.”
Without missing a beat? Only several of VOA’s 48 language services are barely operational. Kari Lake has left nearly all staff on paid admin leave for the past 11 months despite a federal judge ordering her to bring them back. See: https://t.co/N1Mbzh9zlo
https://t.co/y9HL5LFT4n— Steve Herman (@newsguyusa) February 14, 2026
Note: In February 2025, USAGM placed Herman on an extended “excused absence” pending an investigation into whether his “social media activity has undermined V.O.A.’s audiences’ perceptions of the objectivity and/or credibility of V.O.A. and its news operations.” After nearly two decades with VOA, Herman retired in May. In July he became the first executive director of the Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation at the University of Mississippi, which was established in 2024 “motivated by a deep concern for the rise of misinformation and the polarization of media.”
Lake’s tenure isn’t only under fire from Democrats and journalists. Bob Reid, former foreign correspondent for The Associated Press in Europe, Asia, Africa, Mideast, and retired Editor-in-Chief of the daily military newspaper Stars & Stripes, recently amplified a Washington Post op-ed by conservative Marc Thiessen, and added: “Kari Lake is making Trump’s job harder in Iran. She has gutted America’s ability to get good information to the Iranian people in a conflict.”
Kari Lake is making Trump’s job harder in Iran. She has gutted America’s ability to get good information to the Iranian people in a conflict. https://t.co/ncwoBnYuoo
— Bob Reid (@rhreid) February 13, 2026