US judge orders Trump administration to restore Voice of America

A U.S. federal judge on April 22 ordered the Trump administration to restore all employees and contractors at Voice of America (VoA), saying the administration’s efforts to dismantle the outlet likely violated U.S. law.

As part of his administration’s wide-reaching funding cuts, U.S. President Donald Trump has tried to gut the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees VoA, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), and Radio Free Asia.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth granted the plaintiffs a preliminary injunction and ordered the administration to restore all employees and contractors to their news programs. The decision comes less than a month after a court on March 28 issued a restraining order to prevent the mass firing of some 1,300 VoA employees.

"(The administration) took immediate and drastic action to slash USAGM … without regard to the harm inflicted on employees, contractors, journalists, and media consumers around the world," Lamberth said.

“It is hard to fathom a more straightforward display of arbitrary and capricious actions than the Defendants' actions here."

Lamberth ordered the reinstatement of all employees and the restoration of VoA programming so that it can “serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news."

VoA is a government-funded media founded in 1942, broadcasting in almost 50 languages around the world.

Trump has denounced the outlet as “radical propaganda” and issued an executive order on March 14 slashing funding for USAGM. A week earlier, Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) carried out an inspection of VoA that resulted in the dismissal of Ukrainian journalist Ostap Yarysh.

DOGE is headed by billionaire CEO Elon Musk, who has called to “shut down” public media.

“It’s just radical left crazy people talking to themselves while torching $1B/year of U.S. taxpayer money,” Musk said on Feb. 9.

DOGE’s efforts to reshape the government through dramatic funding cuts have faced ongoing legal challenges in U.S. courts.

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The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk