We all know how bad some of former President Trump’s political appointees were — Bill Barr, Mike Pompeo and Alex Azar, among others — but there were many others with lower profiles who took sledgehammers to their respective agencies to inflict as much damage as possible.
One such person — and many of you probably have never heard of him — was Michael Pack, a weasel if there ever was one.
He was Trump’s choice to oversee the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM).
It may not sound like an important agency, but it supervises several government-run media outlets, including Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia.
I am more than passingly interested in USAGM because a very good friend — a former KC Star colleague named Ernie Torriero — is an editor at VOA.
The USAGM website says that its networks “communicate each week with more than 354 million people across the globe.” Its mission is simple and straightforward: “To inform, engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy.”
Michael Pack
That’s not how Pack saw it, though. In just seven months as C.E.O. of the agency — from June 2020 to Inauguration Day — Pack did everything he could to convert the agency into a Trump propaganda machine.
Pack, who is about 67, is a conservative who produced documentaries, including one with Steve Bannon (yikes!) before he got his hands on USAGM.
The agency’s outlets are supposed to operate free of political influence, but Pack turned everything upside down and inside out, in service to his master, Trump.
Take a look at some of the things Pack did…
- He ousted top managers of USAGM and the directors of the agencies under his supervision and replaced them with conservative appointees. (One board appointee was Roger L. Simon, a columnist for the pro-Trump and conspiracy-theory website The Epoch Times, who alleges leftists in disguise were behind the Jan. 6 attack on Congress.)
- He refused to renew the expiring visas of foreign journalists who work for VOA, saying they had not been properly vetted and suggesting the agency was harboring foreign spies.
- He installed Trump loyalists in leadership positions within the organization and disbanded a bipartisan board that oversees the USAGM.
- He planned for editorials to be read and posted on the USAGM website in various languages that would present administration policy as set by the president.
- In late July, Pack announced an investigation of a VOA video that purportedly promoted Biden’s presidential campaign.
- In October, he attempted to rescind rules at USAGM that protected journalists at VOA and other affiliates from political interference. Fortunately, a U.S. District Court judge granted an injunction to VOA employees who filed suit seeking to block the rules changes.
Finally, just yesterday, The Washington Post reported that Pack had hired two law firms to open-ended, no-bid contracts that cost taxpayers about $4 million over a five-month period. Under one contract, the most experienced lawyers would be paid $1,470 per hour for their work.
About $3 million of the $4 million went toward an extensive review of email archives, a review that was aimed at documenting “misconduct” by five executive members of USAGM. He suspended and replaced all five in August.
As you might expect, Pack never granted interviews to the mainstream media, restricting his appearances to conservative outlets like Fox News. (I caught part of one Fox News interview, and it was so boring that the anchor cut him off.)
Had Trump been re-elected, Pack almost certainly would have left the VOA and the other global media agencies in complete shambles; they would have been reduced to Trump sounding boards.
Fortunately, Biden was well aware what Pack was up to and put Pack on notice several weeks ago.
Last Wednesday, a few hours before the inauguration, Pack submitted his resignation.
He didn’t leave gracefully, though. In fact, he went out sputtering and spewing. In his resignation letter, he complained that Biden’s request for his resignation was “a partisan act” and said leadership of the agency was “meant to be non-partisan, untethered to alternations in the political regime.”
What a piece of work. Now he’s free to rejoin fellow wacko Bannon, and they can continue making documentaries together.
The best thing, though, is Pack will no longer have the power to make conscientious public employees miserable, and the VOA and other global media agencies can go on providing “straight news” to people around the world.
Is Ernie still with VOA?
Yes, he is, Mike…Fortunately, he is low enough in the hierarchy that Pack’s rampage didn’t directly affect him.
So glad he’s gone. Now let’s hope the new administration fires the board of the USPS and gets rid of Louis DeJoy!
In immortal words of Donald J. Trump: “I will have only the best people in my administration.”
When I listened to the NPR segment on Pack months ago I was consumed with helplessness & disgust AND, burning curiosity & wonder on how much damage one purposeful political could inflict. Really appreciate the update. Wonder how many institutions would have been left after another 4 years.
Thank God the guy only had seven months to pound away at the agency’s foundation. Trump either nominated him or said he was going to nominate him in June 2018.
The Senate confirmation vote was 53-38. The only Democrat who voted “yes” was Joe Manchin of West Virginia, one of only a couple of Democratic senators who favor keeping the damned filibuster rule, which requires most legislation to get 60 votes to pass. Manchin could be a problem for the Biden administration.
Nice to hear where Ernie Torriero ended up–in Washington, I presume. He and Jim Fisher and I used to have desks close together. Ernie seemed always in good spirits. Jim by then was a columnist and was freelancing folksy stories for the PBS news hour, most of which fulfilled East Coast suppositions about Missouri and Kansas being slow, homespun, and rather retarded places. One day Ernie uncharacteristically shot down Jim as having it easy because he wrote “formula” stories. Jim waited perhaps several weeks before he took his revenge on Ernie with a remark even more vicious. People at The Star needed thick skins.