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A nonprofit news organization that is funded entirely by the U.S. government began selling off a large amount of its equipment on a public auction site – with many items being sold for pennies on the dollar.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) receives about $60 million a year from American taxpayers to produce news in Asia. The organization said it was suspending operations due to a lapse in funding during the government 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 public auction site, Rasmus Auctions, show RFA-branded broadcast gear is being offered at fire sale prices.
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Some 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.
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“I’ve never seen such belligerence by an organization that gets a hundred percent of its money from the U.S. government,” Issa said. “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.
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They also pointed at the shutdown for forcing the organization to make difficult financial choices.
“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 statement 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 said.
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“Our plan going forward is to build back once Congress and the Administration resolve our funding issues,” the statement concluded.
However, Kari Lake, Deputy Executive at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees RFA, quickly disputed those claims.
“Everything they said was not true,” Lake shot back.
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“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 said.
In a letter to RFA sent Thursday, Lake wrote: “The insanity ends now. Be prepared to open your doors next week for our team 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 said 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.
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