The Trump administration was dealt a blow after a federal judge ruled against its efforts to dismantle taxpayer-funded international media.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the Trump administration on Tuesday to restore funding and staff at the United States Agency for Global Media, blocking efforts to gut the organization. In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that directed the USAGM to be “eliminated to the maximum extent possible consistent with federal law. “
Lamberth placed a preliminary injunction against the administration, stating that it must rehire previously fired USAGM staffers and restore any grants cut after Trump’s executive order.
“They took immediate and drastic action to slash USAGM, without considering its statutorily or constitutionally required functions as required by the plain language of the EO, and 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.”
The United States Agency for Global Media operates networks like Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and Middle East Broadcasting Networks.
Lamberth said that the Trump administration “likely” violated the Administrative Procedures Act and the International Broadcasting Act with its actions to reduce the scope of the agency. The judge also asserted that scaling back the agency would cause irreparable harm to “the health and safety of its journalists and employees, and the interests of the millions of reporters and listeners who depend on USAGM’s programming.”
The Trump administration has argued that agency-run outlets like Voice of America have become increasingly partisan and pushed radical leftist ideologies. In a fact sheet, the White House pointed to segments the outlet has run on transgender-identifying migrants wanting asylum in the United States and another one on “white privilege.”
A day after Trump’s executive order, the agency issued a press release saying it was “not salvageable.”
“From top-to-bottom this agency is a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer—a national security risk for this nation—and irretrievably broken,” the press release said. “While there are bright spots within the agency with personnel who are talented and dedicated public servants, this is the exception rather than the rule.”
After Trump’s executive order, hundreds of contractors with the USAGM and Voice of America stopped producing reports.
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[[{“value”:”
The Trump administration was dealt a blow after a federal judge ruled against its efforts to dismantle taxpayer-funded international media.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the Trump administration on Tuesday to restore funding and staff at the United States Agency for Global Media, blocking efforts to gut the organization. In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that directed the USAGM to be “eliminated to the maximum extent possible consistent with federal law. “
Lamberth placed a preliminary injunction against the administration, stating that it must rehire previously fired USAGM staffers and restore any grants cut after Trump’s executive order.
“They took immediate and drastic action to slash USAGM, without considering its statutorily or constitutionally required functions as required by the plain language of the EO, and 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.”
The United States Agency for Global Media operates networks like Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and Middle East Broadcasting Networks.
Lamberth said that the Trump administration “likely” violated the Administrative Procedures Act and the International Broadcasting Act with its actions to reduce the scope of the agency. The judge also asserted that scaling back the agency would cause irreparable harm to “the health and safety of its journalists and employees, and the interests of the millions of reporters and listeners who depend on USAGM’s programming.”
The Trump administration has argued that agency-run outlets like Voice of America have become increasingly partisan and pushed radical leftist ideologies. In a fact sheet, the White House pointed to segments the outlet has run on transgender-identifying migrants wanting asylum in the United States and another one on “white privilege.”
A day after Trump’s executive order, the agency issued a press release saying it was “not salvageable.”
“From top-to-bottom this agency is a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer—a national security risk for this nation—and irretrievably broken,” the press release said. “While there are bright spots within the agency with personnel who are talented and dedicated public servants, this is the exception rather than the rule.”
After Trump’s executive order, hundreds of contractors with the USAGM and Voice of America stopped producing reports.
“}]]
