US Government News Agency Attempted To Stonewall Congressional Corruption Probe, Report Finds
12th June 2024
As they do.
The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees American-funded news outlets across the globe, attempted to stonewall a congressional investigation into corruption at the agency and privately pleaded with a lawmaker to end the probe as investigators began to uncover widespread misconduct at the organization’s highest levels, according to a report obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee, led by Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), determined that senior USAGM employees spent years trying to shield agency executive Setareh Sieg from discipline over allegations she “used taxpayer funds for personal travel, falsified her educational credentials to obtain high-level employment, and engaged in a pattern of favoritism that materially benefitted some employees at the expense of the public.”
The report on the committee’s investigation, released Tuesday and reviewed in advance by the Free Beacon, shows that the allegations against Sieg, the onetime director of Voice of America’s Persian News Network, “have merit and are supported by substantial evidence.” The conclusion was reached even as USAGM officials tried to protect Sieg from scrutiny and pleaded with McCaul’s team to drop the years-long probe.