President Donald Trump said National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service are a “waste of money” and that he would “be honored” to defund the taxpayer-funded networks.
Trump made the comments in response to a reporter’s question Tuesday, one day before the CEOs of the two networks are set to take questions from a House panel investigating government waste.
“It’s been very biased,” Trump said of NPR and PBS.
“They spend more money than any other network of its type ever conceived,” the president continued. “So the kind of money that’s being wasted, and it’s a very biased view. You know that better than anybody. I’d be honored to see it end.”
Trump pointed to all the media outlets in the room, and said: “We are well covered. Look at all the people that we have here today. We are well covered. We don’t need it. It’s a waste of money.”
NPR CEO Katherine Maher and PBS CEO Paula Kerger will answer questions from the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, or the DOGE subcommittee. The hearing is titled “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the heads of NPR and PBS Accountable.”
Supporters of networks have contended public broadcasting is a minimal cost to taxpayers, and provides quality and educational programing that commercial for-profit networks would not support.
The House DOGE subcommittee was established to assist the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, led by entrepreneur Elon Musk.
Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow for national security and foreign policy at The Heritage Foundation, will also testify to the subcommittee. Ed Ulman, CEO of Alaska Public Media, is the Democrat witness.
“I want to hear why NPR and PBS think they should ever again receive a single cent from the American taxpayer,” Subcommittee Chair Marjorie Taylor Greene said in a public statement.
“These partisan, so-called ‘media’ stations dropped the ball on Hunter Biden’s laptop, down-played COVID-19 origins, and failed to properly report the Russian collusion hoax,” Greene continued.
“Now, it is time for their CEOs to publicly explain this biased coverage. Federal taxpayers should not be forced to pay for one-sided reporting, which attacks over half the country to protect and promote its own political interests. I look forward to working with the Trump Administration to stop allowing the blatant misuse of taxpayer funds for partisan ends.”
