Kari Lake isn’t backing down.

In blunt testimony before Congress Wednesday, Lake declared the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the $950 million agency for which she is the senior advisor overseeing Voice of America (VOA), is «rotten to the core» and on track to be gutted by 2026.

«This place is rotten. It’s rotten to the core,» Lake told the House Oversight Committee. «President Trump has asked me to go in and help clean it up, and he’s also issued an executive order to reduce this agency down to its mandate, to what is mandated, statutorily required. That’s exactly what I’m doing. I don’t care if they attack me.»

She’s not acting alone. Lake provided Fox News Digital with a letter from House Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., demanding records on USAGM’s foreign hires, conflicts of interest and its handling of disinformation and national security.

EXCLUSIVE: KARI LAKE SAYS VOA’S PERSIAN NEWS SERVICE ‘RISING TO THE OCCASION’ AMID IRAN-ISRAEL CONFLICT

President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to say, «Why would a Republican want Democrat ‘mouthpiece,’ Voice of America (VOA), to continue? It’s a TOTAL, LEFTWING DISASTER — No Republican should vote for its survival. KILL IT!»

Lake didn’t hold back in describing what she found within USAGM.

«It’s really like a rotten piece of fish,» she said. «And you’re looking at it, and you’re saying, ‘Is there anything we can pull out of here and eat?’ And it’s best to just scrap the whole thing and start over.»

APPEALS COURT BACKS VOA OVERHAUL KARI LAKE SAYS WILL ‘MODERNIZE’ AGENCY: ‘HUGE VICTORY FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP’

She argued that instead of defending American values abroad, the federally funded national and international news agency had become compromised with hostile actors potentially influencing what gets broadcast on the U.S. taxpayer’s dime.

«The [Chinese Communist Party] has more control over what we put out editorially than people who are management at the agency,» Lake said. «Are any of these VOA employees who acted on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party … still employed? It’s possible. We’re working to try to figure that out.»

She accused the grantees — including VOA, Radio Free Asia and the Open Technology Fund — of resisting oversight and stonewalling basic financial reviews.

Kari Lake, senior advisor to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, holds up a photograph she says shows an empty Voice of America newsroom during a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing Wednesday in Washington, D.C. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

«Nearly $400 million, the hard-earned taxpayer dollars of hard-working American people, are going to these grantees, and they’ve stonewalled us from getting any information until the eleventh hour,» Lake said. «Finally, last night, knowing I would be sitting here, they finally agreed to say, ‘Oh, we’ll let you look at our books now.’ It’s a joke what’s going on.»

Lake found no shortage of support from Republicans on the committee, including Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., who said the agency should’ve been shut down years ago.

«We might as well be riding a Model T down the middle of the street. It might be … it looks good, and it brings back old memories, but, dadgum, it’s not very efficient,» Burchett said.

Lake agreed, adding, «It’s a relic.»

Democrats accused Lake of dismantling a strategic asset and repeating anti-VOA rhetoric similar to that used by China.

Kari Lake, senior advisor to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, speaks during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., said, «You just want to reduce it to its statutory minimum. And then you said … that it will be gone by 2026. You want it gone. The president wants it gone by 2026. … You’re a propaganda machine for the Trump administration.»

Dean said she had «no questions» for Lake, adding, «You have misled this committee. … You’ve lost your credibility. You have poured it out in buckets.»

Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Texas, claimed layoffs would «cede all of our soft power in the world to our adversaries,» arguing, «354 million people listen to [VOA] every week.»

Lake replied bluntly, «Those are government numbers. And I don’t trust those numbers.»

Johnson shot back, «That’s a sad state of affairs when you don’t trust the government that you’re representing.»

Lake defended the cuts, saying they follow the law and common sense.

«We are doing what is statutorily required,» she said. «The statutory minimum President Trump put forth in his executive order … and that’s what we’re going to do.»

Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., expressed concern that cutting grantee staff could weaken U.S. influence in hot spots like Iran and North Korea. 

«We can do it with a smaller staff.,» Lake replied. «This newsroom should have been downsized a long time ago. … It’s over. Too many people were working in the newsroom, and we’ve shrunk that down.»

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She added that many grantee roles were redundant.

«Why do we need RFA to be doing a Mandarin news service when we at VOA are doing Mandarin?» Lake said.

Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., closed with a comparison. iHeartMedia runs a national operation at $90 million per year. USAGM’s budget? Nearly $1 billion.

Lake’s closing message was direct.

«We can do this smarter, leaner and with loyalty to American values,» she said. 

El presidente brasileño Luiz Inácio da Silva no tiene planeado visitar a su amiga, la expresidenta Cristina Kirchner, durante su visita a Buenos Aires la semana que viene. Lula llegará a la Ciudad el próximo miércoles 2 de julio y volverá a Brasil al día siguiente, después de la reunión del Mercosur, el jueves 3. Además de que se quedará pocas horas en la capital argentina, otros hechos complican la posibilidad de la reunión entre ambos en el departamento de San José 1.111, donde Cristina vive y cumple prisión domiciliaria.

Fuentes del gobierno en Brasilia hicieron hincapié en el hecho de que sería necesaria una autorización de la Justicia de Argentina para que Lula la pueda visitar. “Muy complicado”, dijeron. Además se observó que Lula estará en Argentina en un viaje presidencial para una reunión con los otros presidentes del Mercosur. Un viaje oficial.

Cuando se les recordó que el presidente Javier Milei estuvo en Brasil con el expresidente Jair Bolsonaro, en julio del año pasado, para el foro de la derecha CPAC, fuentes de Brasilia observaron que el argentino “no estaba en un viaje oficial” de su país. “Fue un viaje por asociación ideológica. Diferente de una reunión como la que hará Lula en Buenos Aires, por el Mercosur”, dijeron.

En Brasil, en caso de una visita a Cristina, Lula podría ser criticado, observaron, por sus opositores y en un momento en que no tiene buenos índices de popularidad. Según encuesta Ipsos-Ipec, difundida la semana pasada, 55% de los encuestados rechazan cómo el presidente brasileño conduce su gobierno y 39% lo aprueban. Los datos son casi iguales a los resultados de marzo. Otra encuesta, del instituto Paraná Pesquisas, publicada ese miércoles 25 indicó que el gobierno Lula es reprobado por el 56,7% y tiene el respaldo de 39,8% de los brasileños.

Lula está en un poco más de la mitad de su tercer mandato presidencial y aún no dijo públicamente si será candidato en las elecciones del año que viene, el 2026. A pesar de su popularidad tendría posibilidad de ser otra vez elegido o ser “muy competitivo”, según analistas brasileños, principalmente por datos como la baja desocupación y otros números positivos de la economía de Brasil.

Hoy, sin embargo, hay críticas por su comunicación y por un caso que empezó en el gobierno Bolsonaro, que siguió en la administración actual y que fue descubierto hace poco, con cobros que no correspondían a los jubilados. Muchos vincularon el escándalo a su gobierno y no al anterior, afectando su imagen.

Lula no tiene un sucesor claro dentro de su círculo próximo ni dentro de su partido, el PT. Al mismo tiempo, Bolsonaro fue considerado «inelegível» -inhabilitado por la Justicia- y en su armado político hay varios nombres, que incluyen al gobernador de San Pablo, Tarcisio de Freitas, y a la propia esposa del expresidente, Michelle Bolsonaro, que aparecen en las encuestas con posibilidad de tener apoyo para ocupar el Palacio de Planalto.

En tanto, la relación bilateral entre Brasil y la Argentina sigue enfocada, principalmente, en las cuestiones comerciales y económicas. Lula y Milei no se hablan. Ya estuvieron algunas veces en un mismo espacio físico, como el G7 en Italia, G20 en Río de Janeiro y la Cumbre del Mercosur en Montevideo. En cada uno mantuvieron distancia.

La semana que viene, en la Cumbre del Mercosur, en el Palacio San Martín, vuelven a verse. Y la expectativa es que sea un encuentro “frio” y “protocolar”. Muy diferente de la larga conversación entre Lula y Cristina, cuando él manifestó solidaridad y ella lloró, como contó el mismo Lula.

A su vez, Lula y Milei tienen visiones de gobiernos y de mundo totalmente diferentes, especialmente en tiempos de Donald Trump en Estados Unidos, pero parecen concordar hoy en algo: el acuerdo comercial Mercosur y Unión Europea podría salir del papel, con avances importantes en la reunión de Buenos Aires.

De hecho, la diplomacia de ambos países coincide en que el acuerdo sería firmado en diciembre en Brasilia, cuando la presidencia del bloque estará con Lula. Porque la semana que viene, en el Palacio San Martín, recibirá el traspaso del mando del Mercosur de manos de Milei.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., was ebullient Tuesday afternoon.

The South Dakota Republican just concluded a lengthy lunch meeting with fellow GOPers and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about the Big, Beautiful Bill.

«Good afternoon. Everybody having fun yet?» Thune asked the Congressional press corps as he approached the microphone in the Ohio Clock Corridor of the Capitol for his weekly exchange with reporters.

«Ask us around 3:45 Sunday morning,» suggested yours truly.  

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: MARATHON WEEKEND AWAITS SENATE AS JOHNSON PREPARES HOUSE FOR ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ BATTLE

If you are an insomniac…

Or don’t want to see the National Symphony Orchestra Pops perform Dolly Parton’s musical canon at the Kennedy Center…

Or you don’t have tickets to see the Savannah Bananas play at Nats Park this weekend…

The U.S. Senate may be the place for you.

Action on the Big, Beautiful Bill could happen at any time of the day or night this weekend.

The Senate is attempting to pass the Big, Beautiful Bill sometime on Saturday or Sunday. Maybe even early Monday.

Presuming Senate Republicans can pass the bill.

«If the bill is going to pass, do you expect that you at least have two or three members on your side who would vote no?» I asked Thune.

«Could be,» replied Thune.

«Why?» I countered.

«Well, we’ve got a lot of very independent thinking senators who have reasons and things that they’d like to have in this bill that would, in their view, make it stronger,» answered Thune. «Hopefully when push comes to shove and everybody has to say yes or no, we’ll get the number of votes that we need.»

HOUSE CONSERVATIVES GO TO WAR WITH SENATE OVER TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

There’s more political pushing and shoving in the U.S. Senate than there is in a line of fourth graders waiting for the water fountain after recess. And senators may advance beyond pushing and shoving to actual fighting as Republicans grouse about the bill’s contents.

It’s about the math. Senate Republicans can still lose three votes and pass the bill with a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Vance. Fox was told that the bill was in trouble if there are ten potential noes now. But if the universe of prospective nays is only five, they can probably whittle that down enough to pass the bill.

Here are the GOP senators worth keeping an eye on because of possible problems they could have with particular provisions in the legislation:

Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., Rick Scott, R-Fla., Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Mike Lee, R-Utah, John Kennedy, R-La., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, John Curtis, R-Utah and Jim Justice, R-W.V.

That’s 11. And many of those on the list could vote yes. They may hold out until the end to either score a provision in the bill they want. Or, they want to understand the final product.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., is one of several members of his party expressing skepticism of the bill. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

«We don’t know what’s in the bill. The parliamentarian has thrown out some provisions,» said Kennedy. «Look, I’m labor. I’m not management. But I got one vote, the same as management does. And I’m willing to work nights. I’m willing to work weekends. But what I’m not willing to do is have someone pat me on the head and say ‘shut up and just vote for it.’»

Kennedy said he unearthed «a few things in this bill that we weren’t told about. And I’m not happy.»

With hat tips to boxing analysts Al Bernstein and Larry Merchant, Thune reverted to discussing the physicality of senators.

«When push comes to shove, you’re looking at whether or not you’re going to allow the perfect to become the enemy,» said Thune. «You have to recognize that this is a process whereby everybody doesn’t get everything they want.»

SENATE GOP AIMS TO APPROVE MAJOR LEGISLATION NEXT WEEK AS TRUMP TOUTS PARTY UNITY

One of the most outstanding issues remains SALT, the deduction for state and local taxes in high-tax states.

«We’ll have a solution on that in 24 to 48 hours,» said Bessent after his huddle with GOP senators.

«I know that there are a lot of conservatives who don’t like it,» said White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on Fox Business. «A lot of very important people in the House, who want it as big as it can be. And, Secretary Bessent is in there working with people to find exactly the right number that’ll land the bill.»

White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett recently spoke of the bill on Fox Business. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

So when does the Senate finish?

«The question of when will the Senate get it done, that’s a great question,» said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo. «They’ve had it for over six weeks. I’m waiting.»

The Senate will likely take a procedural vote to formally get on the bill on Friday. If the Senate votes to get on the bill, 20 hours of clock time starts to run under special Senate budget rules. The procedural vote only needs a simple majority.

The 20 hours of time is split. Democrats will probably burn all 10 of their hours. Republicans will use a few of their hours. So, the Senate probably begins its «vote-a-rama» on the bill late in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

A «vote-a-rama» is where the Senate takes hours and hours of consecutive roll call votes on amendments to the package.

It would culminate with passage of the Big, Beautiful Bill in the Senate late Saturday or early Sunday.

SENATE REPUBLICANS LOOK TO SWEETEN MEDICAID POT TO SILENCE DISSENT ON TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

Note that it is impossible to game out when this could happen. But frankly, a final vote could come at any time of the day or night all weekend long – if not early Monday.

Also, this scenario presumes everything goes swimmingly.

The most recent vote-a-rama ran just under ten hours earlier this year. A 2021 vote-a-rama consumed 14 hours and 48 minutes, with the Senate considering a total of 40 amendments.

We believe this vote-a-rama might be on the longer end.

More food for thought: how fast can the House vote on the bill? (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Here’s the other wild card:

How fast can the House pivot to pass the bill and align with the Senate?

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., signaled the House may aim to vote on Tuesday.

Also, the «72-hour rule» to allow the House to read the bill before voting does not apply. The Senate is sending back to the House an «amendment» to the original House plan. Thus, the «72-hour rule» is not in play under these circumstances.

However, the question is if Johnson faces pressure to let the bill marinate for a few days.

TRUMP PRESSURES CONGRESS TO PASS ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,’ INSISTING ‘NO ONE GOES ON VACATION UNTIL IT’S DONE’

But some House conservatives aren’t happy with the Senate measure.

«We’re not going to get jammed on this. We’re just not,» said Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C.

Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, believes the Senate should just accept the House measure – since the House could barely pass its version in May.

«We did the hard work of threading a very tight needle with this legislation. So it does not need to come back looking too much different from what we ended up passing out of the House,» said Pfluger.

So the question is whether the Senate can pass its bill. And if the House can accept whatever the Senate passes.

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So, as I said, if you don’t have a lot to do this weekend, Capitol Hill may be the spot to be.

Especially at 3:45 Sunday morning.