Fri Nov 21 23:20:00 UTC 2025: Here’s a summary of the text, followed by a rewritten version as a news article:

Summary:

Radio Free Asia (RFA), a US government-funded news organization, is facing scrutiny after being caught selling off a significant amount of its broadcast equipment at drastically reduced prices, even pennies on the dollar, on a public auction site. RFA claims the sales are due to budget cuts stemming from the Trump administration and a recent government shutdown, forcing them to reduce operational costs. However, government officials like Deputy Executive at the U.S. Agency for Global Media Kari Lake and Congressman Darrell Issa are questioning this explanation, calling it a betrayal to taxpayers and vowing to investigate the matter. Lake has ordered an audit of RFA’s operations. RFA maintains that they hope to rebuild their operations if Congress restores funding.

News Article:

Taxpayer-Funded Radio Free Asia Accused of Fire Sale, Sparking Outrage

Washington, D.C. – Radio Free Asia (RFA), a U.S. government-funded news organization that receives approximately $60 million annually from taxpayers, is under fire after Fox News uncovered a mass liquidation of its assets at what critics are calling “fire sale” prices. The organization, which reports news in Asia, had suspended operations due to a lapse in funding during the recent government shutdown.

According to listings on the public auction site Rasmus Auctions, RFA-branded broadcast equipment, including HD cameras, teleprompters, professional lenses, and even office refrigerators, are being sold for as little as pennies on the dollar. Some high-definition cameras are listed for as little as ten cents, while teleprompters are going for under a dollar.

“I’ve never seen such belligerence by an organization that gets a hundred percent of its money from the U.S. government,” said California Congressman Darrell Issa. “Lenses you’d pay thousands of dollars for are being sold for pennies. It’s clear they’re liquidating assets out of spite.” Issa, who had been working to restore RFA’s funding, called the auction a “betrayal to American taxpayers.”

A spokesperson for Radio Free Asia attributed the asset sales to budget cuts initiated by the Trump administration and exacerbated by the recent government shutdown. “The Administration’s unlawful termination and disruption of RFA’s timely funding, followed by an extended government shutdown, has forced the company to drastically reduce operational costs to set up for long-term success,” the organization said in a statement. RFA claimed that the sales were a necessary step to “responsibly position RFA to continue editorial operations” and hold authoritarian governments accountable.

However, Kari Lake, Deputy Executive at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees RFA, vehemently disputed these claims. “Everything they said was not true,” Lake told Fox News. “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 has ordered an audit of RFA’s operations and sent a letter demanding answers. “The insanity ends now,” Lake wrote.

RFA maintains that it hopes to restart its news operations if Congress restores its funding, and that they will have sufficient equipment to operate if funding is renewed.

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