After the president cut funding to the U.S. media outlet, which his advisor called “a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer,” a judge intervened.
A U.S. district judge has temporarily blocked President Trump’s efforts to downsize the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the parent organization of Voice of America (VOA). VOA, originally a WWII broadcaster, was later used as a propaganda tool during the Cold War.
In March, Trump targeted USAGM as part of a broader effort to reduce government spending and align foreign aid with his “America First” policy. The executive order also affected Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), another USAGM entity with CIA origins from the early 1950s.
VOA journalists, unions, and press freedom groups responded with a lawsuit, arguing that the broadcaster, which has “promoted America’s democratic ideals abroad since World War II,” would suffer “irreparable harm.” They also claimed foreign employees could face “deportation to their home countries.”
On Friday, Judge James Paul Oetken issued a temporary restraining order, preventing the Trump administration from terminating the contracts of approximately 1,200 VOA employees who had been placed on leave earlier in the month.
The judge’s order prohibits USAGM from enacting Trump’s directive and from “proceeding with any further attempt to terminate, reduce-in-force, place on leave, or furlough any USAGM employee or contractor.” It also prevents the agency from ending federal grants or contracts or closing existing offices.
Trump-appointed USAGM advisor Kari Lake defended the proposed cuts earlier in the month, stating the agency was “not salvageable.”
She described the agency as “a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer – a national security risk for this nation – and irretrievably broken.”
Elon Musk, at one point considered for a role in government efficiency, also advocated for closing VOA and RFE/RL in February. He argued that while the CIA-linked broadcasters were valuable during the Cold War, “nobody listens to them anymore.” He characterized the outlets as “radical left crazy people talking to themselves while torching $1B a year of US taxpayer money.”