US-run news outlet had earlier been branded ‘propaganda’ and ‘leftist’ by the White House as it sought to close it
Voice of America (VOA) may have been used to broadcast Donald Trump’s message to Iranians in Farsi during weekend military strikes, the president’s senior adviser told Congress on Wednesday, revealing how the crumbling, traditionally independent news service is possibly functioning as a conduit for presidential messaging.
Kari Lake, Trump’s handpicked choice to oversee the US Agency for Global Media, told the House foreign affairs committee that VOA crews worked on Saturday to deliver Trump’s message as bombing operations were under way.
“I’m very proud to say that when President Trump, when the bombings happened over the weekend, on Saturday, when President Trump started to speak, we had a crew in on Saturday delivering President Trump’s message to the people of Iran in Farsi,” Lake testified.
While VOA has historically served US interests globally, the comments from Lake, a former longtime television anchor who unsuccessfully ran as the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for Arizona’s governorship then its Senate seat, suggest a more immediate, personal form of presidential communication than the service’s traditional role of providing broader US policy context and news.
