AFP: A US federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s plan to cut over 500 jobs at the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), mostly affecting Voice of America (VOA) news service.
US District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington, DC, ruled to block the USAGM from cutting 532 full-time jobs, the majority of its workforce, preventing the planned layoffs set for Tuesday.
Kari Lake, the acting CEO of the agency, announced in late August that the layoffs would begin Tuesday. Lamberth’s ruling maintains the current workforce until the court decides on a motion to block the cuts.
The judge criticized USAGM under Lake’s leadership for showing “concerning disrespect” for court orders, saying the agency misled the court about layoffs that would undermine its ability to meet legal obligations to broadcast in regions with restricted press freedom.
“The Court no longer harbors any doubt that defendants lack a plan to comply with the preliminary injunction, and instead have been running out the clock on the fiscal year while remaining in violation of even the most meager reading of USAGM and Voice of America’s statutory obligations,” Lamberth added.
He previously ordered the Trump administration to restore Voice of America programming to meet its legal mandate as a reliable news source.
The judge had also blocked Lake from removing VOA Director Michael Abramowitz, and separately ruled the administration had not shown compliance with his orders to restore VOA operations.
In March, US President Donald Trump singled out VOA, accusing the news service of spreading partisan propaganda and calling it “the voice of radical America.”
Trump then signed an executive order calling for the dismantling of VOA, putting nearly all of its reporters on paid leave and ceasing its news operations for the first time since it was founded in 1942, during World War II.
