Kari Lake Orders End of U.S. Taxpayer Funding for Globalist Hungarian Radio

The U.S. Agency for Global Media has formally transmitted a congressional notice to House officials informing them that the agency will terminate and cease funding the Hungarian-language service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, effectively ending U.S. taxpayer support for woke content broadcast in a NATO allied country.

Kari Lake, Acting Executive Director of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), sent an official congressional notification to the Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Government, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, Mario Díaz-Balart. The agency provided the notice pursuant to section 7015(a) and the International Broadcasting Operations section of the Department of State for Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2024, as carried over under the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2025 for the full year.

The notice informs Congress that after consultation with the State Department, USAGM is “terminating and no longer funding the Hungarian-language service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) known as Szabad Europa.”

According to the document sent Wednesday, the administration’s position is that “the initial rationale for adding Szabad Europa to RFE/RL’s 2019 programming is not consistent with the national interests of the United States” and that the programming “undermined President Trump’s foreign policy by opposing the duly elected Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban.” The notification also highlights that Orban “was (and is) the leader of Hungary, which is both a powerful ally of the United States and a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).”

The letter further states that U.S. taxpayer dollars used for the development or distribution of U.S. government-funded content to audiences in NATO allies will end, stating that “USAGM will end the use of all U.S. taxpayer dollars for the purpose of developing content for, or distributing content to, the populations of our NATO allies”, and that the focus going forward is to reallocate resources “consistent with Administration priorities”, rather than for broadcast programs. within allied countries that are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The notice also notes that USAGM, Voice of America, Office of Cuba Broadcasting, and non-federal grantees that receive taxpayer funds “do not exist to further the interests, policies, or agenda of the European Union or any other foreign government, federation, or international body, but rather exist solely to serve the American people,” and the Administration’s position is that the termination of Hungarian service reflects that standard.