'You've Lost Your Credibility—You've Poured It Out In Buckets': Madeleine Dean Rips Kari Lake To Her Face

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At today's House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) confronted Voice of America Director Kari Lake.

Transcript

00:00It's unconscionable.

00:01Chair now recognizes Representative Dean.

00:06Hi, thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:10I've just heard three or four or five members from the other side of the aisle

00:15say thank you for bringing reform.

00:19You're welcome.

00:20No, but let me finish my sentence, please.

00:23Because that's not what you're bringing.

00:26They obviously didn't hear your testimony.

00:28They did not read your testimony.

00:30And I'll read part of it.

00:32And you said it again today.

00:34I was sworn in at USAGM on March 3rd,

00:38and it became clear in the following weeks,

00:40today you said in days, that reform was not possible.

00:45They missed your premise.

00:47Reform's not possible.

00:48You figured that out in days.

00:50When asked what review you had done of this very large agency,

00:55you had no answer.

00:56I do have an answer.

00:58Excuse me.

00:59This is my time.

01:00You'll wait for my questions.

01:02You then went on to say,

01:04this is filled with a bloated staff who hates America.

01:09You have been holding up photographs after photographs,

01:13including the image of the President of the United States.

01:16I feel like I am suffering through a propaganda war through your testimony.

01:23So I can see why the other side of the aisle, which is now not here,

01:28was utterly confused and congratulating you for wanting to reform this agency.

01:35No, because here's what you said.

01:37And I'm a former professor of writing.

01:40I'm somebody who is really skeptical of euphemism.

01:43You've said over and over again,

01:46you just want to reduce it to its statutory minimum.

01:49And then you said, and that it will be gone by 2026.

01:54You want it gone.

01:55The President wants it gone by 2026.

01:58I ask unanimous consent to enter onto the record this article.

02:05Moscow and Beijing rejoice at the looming death of Radio Free Europe VOA.

02:10I ask unanimous consent.

02:15No, that is not for you to speak to.

02:17That's what we do here.

02:19This article, Chinese propaganda surges as the U.S. defunds Radio Asia.

02:26I ask unanimous consent.

02:29Our adversaries are delighted with your plan,

02:32delighted that you'll be stripping this thing out.

02:35And I'm puzzled.

02:36My question really today is for Republican members.

02:40Think of the vaunted VOA.

02:44I have had the opportunity to visit VOA

02:47and many of the journalists who have worked at VOA.

02:51It is something that this country has been very proud of.

02:54And yet in your beginning testimony,

02:57you talked about, oh my goodness,

03:00USAGM, quote,

03:01hires a large number of foreign nationals,

03:04including from countries hostile to America,

03:07and uses J-1 visas as a shadow jobs and backdoor immigration program.

03:12Number one, again, propaganda, misinformation,

03:15J-1 visas are non-immigrant visas.

03:18Number two,

03:20and this is just a question of logic and basic understanding.

03:25Think about it.

03:26Many of the journalists who report through these supported networks

03:31are native to the countries in which it is critical

03:34to transmit accurate, factual, and linguistically fluent information.

03:41Of course, we should be, they should be hired.

03:46But you use as though that's a bad thing,

03:50large number of foreign nationals,

03:53as though there's some other,

03:55as though there's a reason to demonize them.

03:58Foreign national journalists who actually understand what's going on.

04:01We should hire Americans.

04:02You know what?

04:04Voice of America is not only about talking about America.

04:08It's about reporting on the world.

04:10And millions of people for decades have relied upon it.

04:14So, for those of you who think this was about reform,

04:17it's not.

04:18It's about shutting down media.

04:21If you really wanted to reform it,

04:22if you really thought there were places to change,

04:25and I'm sure there are places to improve,

04:27then you would have spent more than a few days

04:30and come to a more serious conclusion.

04:34That's my worry about you in this position.

04:37You're just not serious about it.

04:39You are a propaganda machine for the Trump administration.

04:42It is an incompetent review that you have completed.

04:46Well, actually, you didn't complete it.

04:47It sounds like you never even started it.

04:49You didn't interview anybody.

04:51You've never run an agency like this.

04:54You're a former journalist, apparently, allegedly.

04:57Although, I don't trust your journalistic integrity

05:02when you hold up a single picture of a newsroom

05:05at a single moment in time

05:07and think that reveals anything.

05:10It reveals nothing.

05:11It's evidence of nothing.

05:13I don't know if they all just went to lunch.

05:15Who knows what that's a picture of?

05:17Your journalistic integrity...

05:19I've been to many newsrooms.

05:21Your journalistic integrity is shot.

05:24My son has an expression that he taught me years ago

05:26that trust and credibility is gained in drops

05:30and poured out in buckets.

05:33Sadly, you have poured out that trust and credibility

05:36over years.

05:39But I see why Mr. Trump put you in this position.

05:43He doesn't want a free press.

05:45He doesn't want Americans, soldiers across this globe,

05:50hearing the facts of what's going on.

05:52He doesn't want our adversaries to actually know what's going on.

05:57Look at what we're up to today.

05:59We can't get the facts.

06:01We can't even get a briefing on an attack by the United States

06:06using our exquisite military expertise

06:09from the President of the United States

06:12and those who put it forward.

06:13We can't get at the facts.

06:15All we're getting is propaganda.

06:17Totally obliterated the nuclear program of Iran.

06:21We have to rely upon that as our news source.

06:24I'll be going to a SCIF to try to get whatever little information we can.

06:29But honest to goodness, I have no question for you

06:33because you don't have any credibility.

06:36You have misled this other side of the aisle

06:39with some notion of reform

06:41when you even say you don't want reform.

06:44You just want to collapse the doggone thing.

06:47You've fired people.

06:48You let people go.

06:49You misled this committee

06:51worrying about who was vetting the hires.

06:56You didn't bother to say that in 2018 to 2021,

07:00the new hires were vetted by DOD.

07:04You've misled this committee.

07:06You're misleading America.

07:10You did it in your own state through your own elections.

07:13You did it with the presidential election.

07:16You've lost your credibility.

07:19You've poured it out in buckets.

07:21And I yield the remainder of my time.

07:25Any way I can respond to some of that?

07:27I didn't.

07:30I can?

07:31Okay.

07:31Well, let's start.

07:32I agree that we have an exquisite military.

07:34I've never heard it referred to by that.

07:36And I think that you would have been fighting,

07:39and hopefully you were fighting, Representative,

07:42when our military were being summarily fired

07:46because they didn't want to get an experimental shot.

07:49So hopefully you were sitting in that chair,

07:51standing up for the member,

07:53men and women in our military,

07:55being fired from the military.

07:57And hopefully you are opposed to the CCP propaganda

08:01that has snuck in to the VOA.

08:04But I'm not sure if you are.

08:06And you talk about, you know,

08:08you talk about me being upset

08:10that we're hiring foreign nationals.

08:12Madam Chairwoman,

08:13I really am not asking for any response,

08:15so I would ask that this stop.

08:18I don't know whose time she is on.

08:19Thank you very much.

08:25Thank you very much.

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