US-backed foreign broadcaster selling pricy news gear for pennies on the dollar to ‘spite’ taxpayers
A nonprofit news organization that is funded entirely by the U S governing body began selling off a large amount of its equipment on a general auction site with multiple items being sold for pennies on the dollar Radio Free Asia RFA receives about million a year from American taxpayers to produce news in Asia The organization noted it was suspending operations due to a lapse in funding during the regime shutdown But while its website went dark Fox News discovered that RFA had quietly begun selling off major portions of its expensive broadcast gear including HD cameras teleprompters lenses and even office refrigerators Listings on a population auction site Rasmus Auctions show RFA-branded broadcast gear is being offered at fire sale prices CPB IRKED WITH NPR AFTER OUTLET TRIES TO BLOCK MILLION IN DISPERSEMENTS TO NEW NONPROFITSome high-definition cameras are for sale for less than a dollar teleprompters for ninety cents professional lenses for under a dollar and a refrigerator listed for just twenty cents In total more than a thousand pieces of equipment were offered for sale which has sparked outrage California Congressman Darrell Issa who had been working to restore RFA s funding called the online auction a betrayal to American taxpayers WHITE HOUSE MOVE TO CANCEL B FOREIGN AID WITH 'POCKET RESCISSION' BLASTED AS ILLEGAL I ve never seen such belligerence by an organization that gets a hundred percent of its money from the U S administration Issa announced Lenses you d pay thousands of dollars for are being sold for pennies It s clear they re liquidating assets out of spite When reached for comment a spokesperson for Radio Free Asia blamed the Trump administration s earlier budget cuts UNIQUE HOUSE GOP DOCUMENT ALLEGES B GREEN GRANTS ENRICHED BIDEN ALLIESThey also pointed at the shutdown for forcing the organization to make challenging financial choices The Administration s unlawful termination and disruption of RFA s timely funding followed by an extended regime shutdown has forced the company to drastically reduce operational costs to set up for long-term success the message read Shedding equipment we can no longer use while retaining key personnel and assets responsibly positions RFA to continue editorial operations that hold the Chinese Communist Party and other authoritarian governments to account RFA explained FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS VOICE OF AMERICA MASS TERMINATIONS IN SCATHING RULING AGAINST LAKE Our plan going forward is to build back once Congress and the Administration resolve our funding issues the announcement concluded However Kari Lake Deputy Executive at the U S Agency for Global Media which oversees RFA expeditiously disputed those alleges Everything they explained was not true Lake shot back CPB IRKED WITH NPR AFTER OUTLET TRIES TO BLOCK MILLION IN DISPERSEMENTS TO NEW NONPROFIT We are funding them We ve given them every single penny appropriated to them Eighty cents for an HD camera That s a slap in the face to taxpayers Lake declared In a letter to RFA sent Thursday Lake wrote The insanity ends now Be prepared to open your doors next week for our unit of auditors to find out what on earth is going on at RFA as permitted under the grant agreement and applicable regulations In further comments to Fox News RFA explained it hopes to restart its news operations if Congress restores its funding and they have enough equipment to continue to operate if Congress decides to fund them moving forward
