Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who serves as the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee chairwoman, on Thursday announced an investigation by her panel into alleged “gross negligence” and “rampant cronyism” that she says took place at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which is supposed to be a neutral media outlet funded by taxpayers.
The investigation comes on the heels of President Donald Trump’s signing of an executive order dismantling several federal agencies, including the USAGM, which oversees Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. “The non-statutory components and functions of the following governmental entities shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law,” the executive order said.
The administration claims hundreds of millions of dollars in waste occurred at the dismantled agencies. The Georgia Republican said she wants a separate investigation into what she said was a “direct threat to national security” emanating from the USAGM.
Greene sent a letter to Kari Lake, who serves as the Trump administration’s senior advisor overseeing USAGM, Fox News reported. In the letter, the representative said that in the past decade, the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence found “gross negligence and intentional defiance of national security protocols, resulting in unfettered and unauthorized access of sensitive information by federal employees.”She said that a “full-scale investigation” that was done in 2020 by McGuireWoods, an independent law firm, confirmed testimony from whistleblowers who noted that there was severe mismanagement and corruption in the agency.
Greene also said that the people responsible for the mismanagement were fired during the first Trump administration, but “nearly all” of them were rehired by the Biden administration, “allowing them to resume their previous activities with zero consequences.”
“The congresswoman is demanding access to information regarding all grant agreements awarded through the Open Technology Fund, all settlement agreements for individuals implicated in the McGuireWoods report and any additional communications or information that Lake deems relevant,” the Fox News report said.
“For years, USAGM engaged in rampant cronyism, issuing corrupt contracts to friends and family through the Open Technology Fund (OTF), while senior officials bypassed security protocols, mishandled sensitive information, and obstructed investigations,” the representative’s office said to Fox News.
Greene told the outlet that the Biden administration’s decision to rehire the people responsible for the mismanagement was an “insult to taxpayers” and a “direct threat to national security.”
