Administration removes Trump allies from outlets

WASHINGTON >> The acting chief of the U.S. Agency for Global Media has fired the leaders of multiple federally funded news outlets as part of President Joe Biden’s administration’s sweeping effort to clear the agency of allies of former President Donald Trump.

The acting chief, Kelu Chao, fired the heads of Radio Free Europe/radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Network on Friday evening, according to two people familiar with the matter.

They had been appointed in December by the agency’s chief executive at the time, Michael Pack, an ally of former Trump aide Steve Bannon, as part of a broader effort to remove what he believed was partisan bias from the news outlets. Numerous current and former employees at the agency had accused Pack of trying to turn it into a mouthpiece for the Trump administration.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Agency for Global Media declined to comment.

The dismissals are the latest in a series of changes at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, and the federally funded news outlets it oversees, under the Biden administration.

On Thursday, the director of Voice of America and his deputy were removed from their posts, and the head of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting also resigned. A day before that, Pack stepped down at the request of the Biden administration.

Ted Lipien, who ran Radio Free Europe/radio Liberty, was once a highranking official at VOA and became a sharp critic of the media agency. Stephen Yates, who led Radio Free Asia, was previously chair of the Idaho Republican Party and also served as former Vice President Dick Cheney’s deputy national security adviser. Victoria Coates, who ran the Middle East Broadcasting Network, was a deputy national security adviser in the Trump administration.