By Staff Reporter |
A federal judge ordered Kari Lake to undo her work to dismantle the federally funded international broadcast network, Voice of America (VOA).
President Donald Trump initially announced Lake’s appointment to serve as director of VOA shortly after his election in 2024. Lake was instead installed as special advisor to U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the parent agency which oversees VOA.
Trump later expanded Lake’s authority and control over USAGM and VOA by appointing her to serve as acting CEO of the USAGM last summer.
At the time of Lake’s takeover, VOA provided news and cultural programming in nearly 50 languages online, over airwaves, and through broadcasting.
Under an executive order from Trump to downsize and cut government waste with VOA and elsewhere, Lake embarked on a mission to size down the bureaucracy within USAGM and VOA.
Lake cut all but about 70 VOA employees. Over 1,000 of the 1,100 VOA employees were placed on administrative leave or fired; over 500 contractor roles at USAGM were eliminated.
District of Columbia District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled last week that Lake needed to bring those employees back by Monday, March 23, and to resume the scope of operations that were occurring prior to Lake’s takeover of the broadcasting network.
In response to the ruling, Lake reposted commentary by Andrew Kloster — general counsel for the Office of Personnel Management from January to December 2025 — which called Lamberth’s decision “wild overstepping” and “bad statutory analysis of federal employment law.”
The last social media activity from VOA occurred last March, when the cuts took place. Remaining VOA employees told media outlets that their work has been greatly limited under Lake’s administration, with some saying they’re left to do no work at all.
Tuesday’s ruling didn’t seem to deter the Trump administration from continuing their arrangements to bring VOA and USAGM to heel.
On Wednesday, USAGM named a new deputy director to the VOA: Newsmax news director Christopher Wallace, per an email obtained by The New York Times.
Lake led USAGM until last November amid a legal challenge of her eligibility to serve as director.
Last summer Lake testified to the House that USAGM had institutional flaws of incompetency, corruption, and bias which allegedly threatened America’s national security and standing in the world. Lake said VOA was also troubled with similar alleged problems.
Earlier this month Lamberth declared in a separate ruling that Lake was ineligible to take over USAGM leadership, and therefore her actions while in that position were illegitimate and voided.
Trump has nominated Sarah Rogers to take Lake’s place, pending Senate approval. Rogers is secretary of state for public diplomacy within the State Department.
A spokesperson for the White House, Anna Kelly, said the Trump administration would fight the ruling.
“President Trump was elected to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse across the administration, including at the Voice of America — and efforts to improve efficiency at USAGM have been a tremendous success. This will not be the final say on the matter,” said Kelly.
On Thursday the Trump administration asked the judge to push back its March 23 deadline to reinstate the fired VOA employees, citing their intention to appeal.
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