Was she drunk tweeting back in the day, or is she just a liar?
Now I’ll admit I don’t remember everything I tweet, but then again most of what I post over on X (formerly known as Twitter) is just nonsense that randomly pops into my head anyway.
But apparently NPR CEO Katherine Maher was firing off a lot of tweets just a couple of years ago that she has now completely blocked from her memory.
The head of the publicly funded “news” organization was on Capitol Hill today for a hearing in front of the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (or DOGE for short). The hearing was an opportunity for Congress to question NPR, as well as PBS, about the need for continued public funding for their organizations, especially given the left-leaning bias of both organizations.
And the GOP came ready with receipts.
During the hearing, Maher’s past tweets were a frequent topic of conversation, including one where she called President Donald Trump a “deranged racist sociopath.”
Tim Burchett takes NPR CEO Katherine Maher to task: “Why did you call President Trump a 'fascist' and a 'deranged racist sociopath' in 2020?" pic.twitter.com/s1xcHVUTNM
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 26, 2025
Maher expressed her regrets for the tweets, saying that she was “reflecting on something that the president had said rather than who he is.” But when confronted with some of her other tweets that were problematic (for an unbiased news organization), apparently Maher had developed amnesia on what she had posted – as well as several books she had read.
During an exchange with Texas Congressman Brandon Gill, Maher was asked about a tweet from May of 2020 when she claimed that America was “addicted to white supremacy.” And while she remembered tweeting that one, she couldn’t recall the context – and said her views have “evolved” since then.
(The nice thing is I’m a woman so VC Twitter will ignore me entirely. So! America is addicted to white supremacy and that’s the real issue.)
— Katherine Maher (@krmaher) May 29, 2020
But Gill then asked the CEO whether she believes that “America believes in black plunder and white democracy,” which Maher had tweeted in reference to a book she was reading called The Case for Reparations.
Maher not only denied believing what she had tweeted, but she also denied having read the book – until Gill pulled out her own tweet from Inauguration Day in 2020 in which she claimed that she appreciated the day off so she could read the book:
“America begins in black plunder and white democracy.” I appreciate the day off today to finally fully read The Case for Reparations. https://t.co/BtlWm6CjDP
— Katherine Maher (@krmaher) January 20, 2020
I guess it wasn’t a very memorable book.
And while they were on the subject of reparations, Maher was asked whether she supported reparations for descendants of slavery, which she denied. Why would Gill ever think she supported reparations in the first place? Well (you probably know where this is going) she tweeted er support for them on that same day:
Yes, the North, yes all of us, yes America. Yes, our original collective sin and unpaid debt. Yes, reparations. Yes, on this day.
— Katherine Maher (@krmaher) January 20, 2020
And apparently that wasn’t the only less-than-memorable piece of literature that Maher has read. When asked about an NPR piece on a book called In Defense of Looting, Maher said she was unfamiliar with both the piece from NPR and the book itself. The only problem? You guessed it:
“You tweeted that you read that book.”
And not only that, she also had a string of tweets in which she justified looting during the 2020 riots:
I mean, sure, looting is counterproductive. But it’s hard to be mad about protests not prioritizing the private property of a system of oppression founded on treating people’s ancestors as private property.
— Katherine Maher (@krmaher) May 31, 2020
Just incredible. What a terrible time to come down with memory loss, when you’re testifying in front of Congress.
Terrible, or terribly convenient…
The post NPR CEO Confronted With Her Own Tweets After Denying That She Supported Looting & Reparations During Congressional Hearing first appeared on Whiskey Riff.NPR CEO Katherine Maher was completely caught off guard today after Rep. Brandon Gill started reading her past tweets to her one by one.
Absolutely brutal.
Gill: Do you believe that America is addicted to white supremacy?
Maher: I believe that I tweeted that. I believe much… pic.twitter.com/TfBt0h1qDF
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 26, 2025