Senior Trump administration official Kari Lake said she was not aware that President Donald Trump was intent on downsizing the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) and its broadcast outlets until the day he signed an Executive Order that effectively did just that.

“I didn’t know about this executive order until the 14th, but I had seen that there were a lot of executive orders coming down,” Lake said during a September 9 deposition, a transcript of which was released this week.

She continued: “I heard rumblings that there may be an executive order, but we didn’t know if our agency or what agency could be on it.”

The order signed on March 14 required the USAGM and a handful of unrelated agencies to cut down on expenses by eliminating contracts, slashing jobs and winding down non-essential operations.

Officially, Lake serves as a special advisor to USAGM, a role held since January. On paper, she describes herself as the acting CEO of the agency, a role that is disputed by some.

Less disputed is that Lake moved quickly to cut jobs and expenses after Trump’s Executive Order was signed in March. Her actions led to hundreds of workers — employees and contractors — at Voice of America and other outlets being laid off, and later terminated, which triggered numerous legal challenges. The September 9 deposition is connected to one of those lawsuits.

The decision to fire workers at Voice of America and other broadcasters was not embraced by all. During her deposition, Lake affirmed that she ultimately signed a reduction-in-force order this past June after Voice of America acting CEO Victor Morales “refused to do his job,” according to the transcript.

Morales was placed on administrative leave a short time later. The order was ultimately rescinded because of errors, and then re-issued last month.

Lake also testified that she had little advance notice of another Trump order on August 28 that canceled collective-bargaining agreements at several federal agencies, including USAGM, citing national security.

“I think I heard like 24 hours in advance, and I figured we wouldn’t be on it,” she said, later clarifying she had “a little bit of knowledge” after a White House or Office of Personnel Management notification.

Lake’s testimony came as part of a deposition sought by lawyers for VOA journalists and director Michael Abramowitz, who are challenging how the agency has complied with federal law and a preliminary injunction. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth has pressed Lake for answers and warned he could hold her in contempt if she fails to demonstrate compliance with the International Broadcasting Act and congressional appropriations that govern USAGM.

Lake’s testimony came as part of a deposition sought by lawyers for VOA journalists and director Michael Abramowitz, who are challenging how the agency has complied with federal law and a preliminary injunction. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth has pressed Lake for answers and warned he could hold her in contempt if she fails to demonstrate compliance with the International Broadcasting Act and congressional appropriations that govern USAGM.

In her deposition, Lake criticized Lamberth, saying the judge shows a “lack of respect” for presidential authority and has made “very radical” rulings, though she insisted she does not “harbor hate” toward him.

Lake: Reports on layoffs “fake news,” “propaganda”

The layoffs at USAGM effectively crippled Voice of America and other broadcasters, which found themselves with a substantially-reduced editorial and operational staff.

To address this, Lake — a former television news anchor — said she addressed this by having a “graphic made with music that had the VOA charter written on it, so that it could play on a loop.”

A few weeks later, Lake revealed a new partnership with Herring Networks, the owner of One America News (OAN), specifically geared toward Voice of America. Under the partnership, Herring agreed to license news stories and TV programming to USAGM for use on Voice of America and other outlets, as long as the material was not broadcast in the United States, according to a memorandum of understanding obtained by The Desk.

Programming from OAN has yet to air on VOA. Still, current and former staffers have criticized the arrangement, saying they feel it costs VOA its editorial independence and global standing as a reliable source for news.

Lake feels otherwise, characterizing OAN as aligned with Trump’s perspective and being “pro-America.”

“I think that they love, and President Trump loves this country,” Lake said. “They have a common sense, pro-America perspective…I think they’re pro-America, and because President Trump is (pro-America), they kind of equal each other.”

Lake has fewer compliments for news outlets that were aggressive in its coverage of USAGM’s layoffs.

“The Washington Post is the biggest piece of garbage in journalism in this country,” she said when asked to opine about an editorial that criticized Lake’s wrongful assertion that Voice of America’s China-based operations were an extension of that country’s political propaganda machine.

Lake was also confronted about her view that Voice of America should not operate in countries where commercial broadcasters have an international presence. When asked for her views about CNN International — which is available in many of hte same countries as Voice of America — Lake described the network as “garbage, trash, the worst of hte worst — but some people love it, some people enjoy it.”

She also took issues with a news story published by this outlet in June, which reveled job cuts affecting more than 630 USAGM workers that month.

“Oh, Matthew Keys,” Lake remarked when presented with a copy of the story. “You pick all the good ones, all the good fake news…I try not to read the fake news.”

After disparaging the outlet, Lake was asked if it was true that 639 employees at USAGM had received reduction-in-force notification, as reported.

“That seems very accurate,” Lake acknowledged.

“Is it accurate that the June (reduction-in-force) included Persian-language workers who had been asked to return from leave to cover the Israel-Iran conflict?” an attorney asked?

“I mean, you’re asking me to verify Matthew Keys’ reporting,” Lake said.

After the attorney clarified his intent, Lake responded: “Yes, some Persian-language workers who were laid off earlier this year but asked to return to work were RIF’d, yes.”

Critics argue the downsizing of Voice of America and other USAGM broadcasters have left critical corners of the world without access to reliable journalism.

Lake acknowledged some countries, like China, lacked protections for journalists who gather and report the news on an independent basis, but said she wasn’t sure about other parts of the world, including Mali, Sudan, Nicaragua and the Congo.

When asked about USAGM’s statutory requirement to provide information about “developments in each significant region of the world,” Lake said she felt certain countries were significant, including Iran and Cuba, but had no views about other parts of the world, like Africa.

“You may think it is,” Lake told the attorney conducting the deposition. “I may think it’s not. I’m not saying I don’t, I just haven’t put out an opinion on that. I haven’t given it a lot of thought.”

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Read more:

• Trump administration sued for union-busting at USAGM, Voice of America
• Judge questions Kari Lake’s efforts to dismantle Voice of America
• USAGM fires Voice of America Director Michael Abramowitz
• USAGM finalizes firings at Voice of America
• Documents outline deal between Voice of America, One America News
• USAGM fires hundreds of Voice of America contractors
• Judge sides with Voice of American journalists in lawsuit over firings