Freshman Rep. Brandon Gill Exposes NPR CEO’s Hypocrisy in Explosive Hearing
“Do you think that white people should pay reparations?” “I have never said that, sir.” “Yes, you did.”
For decades, it has been clear that PBS and NPR present a skewed perspective on political issues. These outlets have become virtually indistinguishable from the legacy media, offering audiences only one side of every story. As a result, every Republican presidential administration has attempted to cut their funding.
During his first term, President Donald Trump sought—unsuccessfully—to exclude public media funding from his administration’s annual budgets.
So far, Republican efforts to defund public media have fallen short. But that may soon change.
The House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) held a hearing on Wednesday titled “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the heads of NPR and PBS Accountable.” Republican members sought to hold Katherine Maher, CEO and President of NPR, and Paula Kerger, CEO and President of PBS, publicly accountable for the clear left-leaning bias in their news coverage. They argued that these media outlets should no longer be funded by taxpayer dollars.
One of the most striking moments of the hearing came when freshman Texas Republican Rep. Brandon Gill questioned Maher. Her far-left political views became impossible to hide as Gill skillfully and relentlessly exposed her hypocrisy—simply by confronting her with her own past Twitter posts.
Below is a partial transcript of the exchange via C-SPAN:
Brandon Gill: Ms. Maher … Would you say you generally agree or disagree with the following statement: The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.
Katherine Maher: I would not say I agree with that.
BG: That’s good to hear. It’s interesting because a lot of your thinking, as expressed by your public statements, is deeply infused with your economic and cultural Marxism.
Do you believe that America is addicted to white supremacy?
KM: I believe that I tweeted that. As I’ve said earlier, I believe much of my thinking has evolved over the last half decade.
BG: It has evolved. Why did you tweet that?
KM: I don’t recall the exact context, sir, so I wouldn’t be able to say.
BG: Okay. Do you believe that America believes in black plunder and white democracy?
KM: I don’t believe that, sir.
BG: You tweeted that in reference to a book you were reading at the time—apparently The Case for Reparations.
KM: I don’t think I’ve ever read that book, sir.
BG: You tweeted about it. You said you took a day off to fully read The Case for Reparations. You put that on Twitter in January of 2020.
KM: Apologies, I don’t recall that I did. I have no doubt that your tweet there is correct, but I don’t recall that.
BG: Do you believe that white people inherently feel superior to other races?
KM: I do not.
BG: You don’t? You tweeted something to that effect. You said, “I grew up feeling superior. How white of me.” Why did you tweet that?
KM: I think I was probably reflecting on what it was to grow up in an environment where I had lots of advantages.
BG: It sounds like you’re saying that white people feel superior.
KM: I don’t believe that anybody feels that way, sir. I was just reflecting on my own experiences.
BG: Do you think that white people should pay reparations?
KM: I have never said that, sir.
BG: Yes, you did. You said it in January of 2020. You tweeted, “Yes, the North. Yes, all of us. Yes, America. Yes, our original collective sin and unpaid debt. Yes, reparations. Yes, on this day.”
KM: I don’t believe that was a reference to fiscal reparations, sir.
BG: What kind of reparations was it a reference to?
KM: I think it was just a reference to the idea that we all owe much to the people who came before us.
BG: That’s a bizarre way to frame what you tweeted. Okay, how much reparations have you personally paid?
KM: Sir, I don’t believe that I’ve ever paid reparations.
BG: Okay. Just for everybody else.
KM: I’m not asking anyone to pay reparations.
BG: It seems to be what you’re suggesting. Do you believe that looting is morally wrong?
KM: I believe that looting is illegal, and I refer to it as counterproductive. I think it should be prosecuted.
BG: Do you believe it’s morally wrong, though?
KM: Of course.
BG: Of course. Then why did you refer to it as counterproductive? It’s a very different way to describe it.
KM: It is both morally wrong and counterproductive, as well as being illegal.
BG: You tweeted, “It’s hard to be mad about protests,” in reference to the BLM protests, “not prioritizing the private property of a system of oppression.” You didn’t condemn the looting. You said that it was counterproductive. NPR also promoted a book called In Defense of Looting. Do you think that that’s an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars?
KM: I’m unfamiliar with that book, sir, and I don’t believe that was at my time.
BG: You tweeted that you read that book.
KM: I don’t believe that I did read it.
Maher may have been telling the truth—that she didn’t read the book. Conservative commentator Mary Katherine Ham noted the irony of Maher’s admission. If she had read the book and agreed with it, she risked appearing extreme—something she was clearly trying to avoid. But by claiming on Twitter she had read it when she hadn’t, she simply came across as virtue-signaling—the lesser of the two evils.
Professor Jacobson pointed out that very few liberals actually read the works of Kendi, DiAngelo, Coates, and others. Instead, they bought the books to signal their virtue, perhaps displaying them in the background of Zoom meetings during COVID, feeling a sense of pride.
There’s a great deal of truth in that observation.
Few of them read the garbage put out by Kendi, DiAngelo, Coates, and the others, they bought the books to virtue signal, probably had them in the background for Zoom meetings during Covid and were so proud https://t.co/74bgsLOpJp
— William A. Jacobson (@wajacobson) March 26, 2025
The exchange, shown below, continued as Gill pressed Maher on specific NPR articles with a clear left-leaning bias. Maher dodged and deflected, claiming she “didn’t recall” those pieces. After all, she couldn’t possibly be expected to read everything published on her own platform.
Overall, it was a standout moment for Rep. Gill—not so much for Maher.
PS: A little something extra. It turns out that Maher sits on Signal’s board of directors.
GIVE ME A F****** BREAK The NPR CEO in front of Congress yesterday, is on the board of directors at Signal??? pic.twitter.com/HAFrOvXuyk
— Townhall Media JG (@JonGarthwaite) March 27, 2025
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
Oopsie, so you didn’t read the books? I’ll be “sassyfied” when a black leader denounces her.
In addition to defunding, what would be more entertaining to revoke all radio and TV spectrum.
Neither NPR or PBS hold that much in the way of licenses. It’s their affiliates. If they lose their NPR and PBS Fields.
If they lose their PBS, or their NPR feeds, they will either need to find another source of broadcast material, or develop their own.
I suppose the Pacifica Foundation could find some more affiliates…
Many of those affiliates are owned by state government or state universities.
I agree with Professor Jacobson. I doubt she read any of that stuff, it was nothing but empty virtue signaling like putting a black box on your facebook page so they could pat each other on the backs at dinner parties. She is a Marxist, however and should never be in charge of any government agency especially news as she is in no way, shape or form unbiased. The fact that NPR has 87 people in their newsroom, I think that number is right, and it is 87-0 Democrat v Republican is not happenstance.
Hypocrisy is a child’s complaint.
Ask her to explain why whites do or do not owe reparations. Whichever she can explain. Forget the gotcha. That’s the child part.
Careful what you “preach”
But it is still a valid complaint.
Who put this Communist in charge of NPR? Also, she either lied by denying what she said, or tried to weasel out by reintepreting what she said a la Tim Walz. Leftists will be Leftists. I am not surprised.
She ain’t lying to congress while under oath. She either misspoke (miswrote) or more likely doesn’t recall as not recalling tends to be as a substitute for outright lying.
It seems they all stop by Walmart on the way to the hearing and buy a case of “I cannot recall”.
Biden of course. She was hired into that spot in March of last year despite being on record saying “The 1st Amendment is the number 1 challenge in fighting misinformation” as in she loves that government censorship and finds the Constitution a barrier to do the right thing. Check out her bio sometime. Total left, marxist and progressive to her toenails. She should never have been hired at NPR.
What an idiot. I mean seriously. Don’t put anything in writing you’re not willing to back up – even in comment sections.
One avenue of questioning I didn’t see is to ask her about DEI, and after she says she supports it (and she does whether she will say that or lie about it) ask her why she hasn’t resigned in favor of one of those angry black women (preferably queer or lesbian),
I imagine with extreme pleasure the full-throated wailing from Maher outside of the committee room! Delicious!
What’s crazy about this is not that she said all this nonsense.
It’s that she was so arrogant that she didn’t think she would ever have to defend saying it.
She left everything up publicly.
And she would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn’t for that meddling Orange Man!
Her own propaganda said he wouldn’t win, so how was she to know?
One of the best 5 minutes used by a legislator in a long while. His why questions were excellent.
Congressman Gill was magnificent
He was calm, humble and sprinkled with humor so understated
I hope he does not “grow in office”.
Maybe the GOP should walk the walk for once and defund NPR and PBS. Draw up a simple 1 page bill and put it to a vote.
I know. I know. That’s just crazy talk.
Bingo. 100X upvotes. The GOP specializes in strong letters.
As the country and western song goes: “A lot less talk and a lot more action.”
I live in California. Voting here is futile–the Democrat wins statewide by 20 points. I “vote” by sending a few bucks to out of state primary challengers that MIGHT make a difference. Most of them lose, the few that win rarely pan out. Congressman Gill, based on this, goes on a very sparse list–incumbents that will get my paltry contribution.
“Never fall in love with a politician–they will break your heart every time.”.
…Lee Rodgers.
The down UC is my uptick. It’s called. They have a big thumb and a small phone.
My phone gets smaller every day, and on top of that they move the “keys” around under my thumb so I can’t see what they’re doing.
They immediately took another vacation, after working 12 days this month and they plan 10 days next month
Really, how is there still an NPR? We have had a couple of R administrations since it became obvious that it was tax payer subsidized leftism.
Nothing will happen. Congress will go on vacation and work 10 days next month and do nothing to push Trumps agenda before their next vacation.
Perhaps NPR and PBS should pay reparations to all the taxpayers that have been forced to support them all these decades. It is Economic Slavery.
So is she lying now or lying then?
“ut by claiming on Twitter she had read it when she hadn’t, she simply came across as virtue-signaling—the lesser of the two evils.”
The hearing was quite something. I listened to it on the way to work and Mr. Gill was spectacular. Although she tried to dodge she ended up sounding like a liar who never read anything and doesn’t remember what she wrote or never believed any of it but was just virtue signaling for street cred. She is a mile wide and an inch deep.
She sounded like a ‘liar who never read anything’?
What?
Are you all simpletons?
She read those books, and commented about them when she did so. She’s not ‘virtue signaling’.
She’s a communist– probably some flavor of Maoist– who got caught in a net she thought would never be used against her.
She had no idea how to respond because she expected you to think she was just some AWFL brainlet.
She’s not stupid.
She’s evil.
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