US judge orders preliminary VOA funding restoration in blow to Trump

A judge on Tuesday ordered President Donald Trump's administration to restore funding to Voice of America and other US-funded media, saying its abrupt shutdown of the outlets broke the law.

The federal judge in Washington agreed to a request led by the outlets' employees for a preliminary injunction, a temporary order as a court examines the legal challenge in greater depth.

Trump, who has long jostled with the press and questioned the editorial rules that prohibit interference in government-funded media, issued an executive order on March 14 to eliminate the outlets.

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The following day, Kari Lake, his firebrand supporter turned advisor, began issuing notices to terminate all funding, which was appropriated by Congress.

Lake and other Trump officials are "likely in direct violation of numerous federal laws," wrote Royce Lamberth, a judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

The US Agency for Global Media, which supervises taxpayer-funded media, is allowed by law to redirect funds among its various outlets by five percent or less, he wrote.

"Certainly, no law gives the agency the power to cut funding to the drastic degree that is alleged," he wrote.

Lamberth wrote that Voice of America's congressionally established charter states that the outlet will "'serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news (that is) accurate, objective, and comprehensive' but the defendants have silenced VOA."

The judge called on the Trump administration to return all employees and contractors to their jobs and to provide monthly status reports on compliance.

The order affects employees of Voice of America as well as Radio Free Asia -- created to report on China, North Korea and other countries without free media -- and Arabic-language network Alhurra.

Radio Free Asia, which has been operating at limited capacity for the past month, welcomed the ruling.

"While we want to resume our operations as they were before, for that to happen we need to receive timely disbursement of our funding on a consistent basis," RFA President and CEO Bay Fang said in a statement.

Clayton Weimers, executive director of Reporters Without Borders USA, said the media rights group was "very pleased" with the decision on VOA and other outlets.

"Every day they're off the air is a gift to authoritarian regimes that forbid the free press, like China and Iran," he said.

It remains to be seen if the order is enough to put the outlets back on air.

The Trump administration, in a break with precedent, has shown defiance toward court orders, notably a Supreme Court demand that it facilitate the return of a Maryland resident mistakenly deported to a crowded high-security prison in his native El Salvador.

The judge rejected a request for similar action on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as the Trump administration already rescinded its decision to withdraw funding following a separate court decision, although the network says it has still not received money for April.