Trump Admin Hires Far-Right Radio Host In Continuing Push To Turn VOA Into Pro-Trump Propaganda Outlet

The Guardian reports:

The Trump administration has accelerated its purge of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), in what critics warn is a further step towards turning Voice of America and other public broadcasters into propaganda outlets.

Seven senior officials had their security clearances withdrawn this week, making it impossible for them to continue in their roles.

They included the chief financial officer and former interim CEO, Grant Turner, and the agency’s general counsel, David Kligerman, who both said they had been fired for their resistance to the politicisation of the organisation under its new chief executive, Michael Pack, a Trump supporter and ally of right wing ideologue, Steve Bannon.

Politico reports:

The U.S. Agency for Global Media has hired Frank Wuco [photo], a controversial former talk radio host who once called President Barack Obama “a Kenyan” and said Nancy Pelosi was a Botox-using Nazi, according to three USAGM officials.

In 2017, CNN reported: “Among the conspiracy theories Wuco pushed were claims that former President Barack Obama’s memoir was ghost written by former anti-Vietnam War radical Bill Ayers, claims that former CIA director John Brennan converted to Islam and claims Attorney General Eric Holder had been a member of the Black Panthers.”

Earlier in his career, Wuco also worked as an adviser to parts of the military about how Islamic terrorists thought. As part of that, he created a jihadist alter-ego named “Fuad Wasul,” an identity he used to dress up in Islamic garb. He also had a radio segment called “Ask the Jihadist.”