Trump Envoy Accuses VOA Reporter of ‘Treasonous’ Behavior for Reporting a Quote Critical of the President
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Presidential Envoy for Special Missions Richard Grenell accused Voice of America’s Chief National Correspondent Steve Herman of acting in a “treasonous” way for posting a quote critical of the Trump administration while reporting on recent lawsuits being filed against the Trump administration following the shuttering of USAID over the weekend.
“A lawsuit is being filed tonight on behalf of AFSA and AFGE against Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Scott Bessent, USAID, the State Department, and the Department of Treasury for shutting down USAID, ‘causing a global humanitarian crisis, and costing thousands of American jobs,'” Herman wrote in a social media thread.
As part of that reporting, Herman spoke to Skye Perryman – the president of Democracy Forward, a nonprofit legal services and public policy research organization. Perryman was critical of Trump and Elon Musk’s treatment of USAID and told Herman that eliminating USAID “makes Americans less safe at home and abroad” – which Herman also shared on X.
Grenell noticed Herman’s post and replied, “Aren’t you a taxpayer funded “reporter” for @voa?”
“Why are you working against President Trump’s reform plans for the U.S. budget? You weren’t elected. It isn’t too much to suggest this is treasonous. You don’t get to work against the official U.S. government policies while being paid by US taxpayers. You should be immediately fired,” added Grenell, who Trump also recently made the Kennedy Center’s interim executive director.
VOA first broadcasted in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda during World War II and its charter ensuring its editorial independence from any government official was signed into law by President Gerald Ford in 1976. In 1994, Congress went further and passed a law to create an explicit “firewall” between the VOA and the partisan politics of Washington, D.C..
“An essential guarantee of the journalistic credibility of Voice of America content is the ‘firewall’ enshrined in the 1994 U.S. International Broadcasting Act. The firewall prohibits interference by any U.S. government official in the objective, independent reporting of news, thereby safeguarding the ability of our journalists to develop content that reflects the highest professional standards of journalism, free of political interference,” notes the VOA’s website, adding:
USAGM reforms contained in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2017 maintained the longstanding statutory firewall language protecting the professional independence of VOA and all other USAGM journalists. The firewall ensures that VOA can make the final decisions on what stories to cover, and how they are covered.
Grenell’s post raised eyebrows across the media. Brett Bruen reacted by writing:
Hey Ric,
I oversaw Voice of America in the Obama White House
Know well, it isn’t an outlet for presidential propaganda
Want to shut it down?
Go through the process
But it’s got a Congressional charter that guarantees its independence
So, stop threatening its journalists.
NPR’s David Folkenflik added some context to Grenell’s attack, writing, “Trump special envoy suggests below it’s treason for VOA reporter simply to relay a news report. During Trump’s first term, his appointee investigated VOA journos for bias over posts of news articles. Federal judge found the inquiry unconstitutional.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated to accurately reflect Herman’s current job title.
