In a remarkable development, Kari Lake, Senior Advisor to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), declared that the agency will reduce its workforce by 85 percent to better align with President Trump’s objective of minimizing federal bureaucracy across various government agencies.
For context, in a post on X dated June 20, 2025, Kari Lake revealed what she referred to as “mass terminations” at the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), resulting in the agency functioning at what Lake termed “the statutory minimum.” Additionally, in her announcement, Lake clarified that the purpose of the workforce reduction was to prioritize the interests of the American taxpayer.
Moreover, Lake disseminated a press release in which she characterized USAGM as a “bloated, biased, and dysfunctional agency,” emphasizing that the decision to terminate the vast majority of the agency’s workforce was “about putting America first and cutting off taxpayer funding.” Furthermore, Lake stated that by dismissing 639 employees at the agency, she aimed to dismantle “a decades-old slush fund of government waste and liberal media activism.”
Continuing her remarks, Lake asserted that the agency is now “lean and focused” and serves as a “clear example of responsible government — cutting waste, restoring accountability, and fulfilling the promise to prioritize American taxpayers.” Additionally, the press release shared by Lake confirmed that since February 2025, the agency has implemented two rounds of the ‘Fork in the Road’ program, which provides “full pay through September 30, 2025.”
When the USAGM senior advisor made the announcement public, prominent America First politician Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican representative from Georgia, commended Lake online, stating, “This is the power of @DOGECommittee oversight. We exposed it. Trump is cutting it. Great work, Kari!”
Additionally, Rep. Greene, who holds the position of Chairwoman of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, declared in a press release dated March 20, 2025, that she had “formally requested key records” from Lake “in light of serious allegations concerning corruption, financial mismanagement, and national security failures.” Furthermore, the congresswoman accused the agency of having long “engaged in rampant cronyism, awarding corrupt contracts to friends and family through the Open Technology Fund (OTF).”
Moreover, Rep. Greene’s press release detailed that, due to President Trump’s leadership, several corrupt USAGM officials were dismissed in 2020. Nevertheless, the congresswoman pointed out, “The Biden Administration quietly reinstated many of these same individuals, permitting them to return to their former activities without facing any consequences.” In addition, Rep. Greene insisted on obtaining access to any settlement agreements, grant agreements, and pertinent communications from “a third-party investigation” into USAGM “conducted by the law firm McGuire-Woods.”
Significantly, Lake’s announcement regarding USAGM’s substantial workforce reduction occurred just months after President Trump instructed federal agencies to persist in “the reduction of the federal bureaucracy” on March 14, 2025, urging a list of agencies, including USAGM, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the Minority Business Development Agency, and others, to “minimize the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the least presence and function mandated by law.”