WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge who blocked the Trump administration from dismantling Voice of America is seeking more information from the government about whether it is complying with his order preserving the 83-year-old international news service.
During a hearing on Monday, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth asked a Justice Department attorney why the government hadn't informed him of layoff notices that were sent Friday to over 600 employees of Voice of America and the federal agency that oversees it.
The government lawyer, Brenda Gonzalez Horowitz, told Lamberth that the agency has been complying with his April 22 order “in good faith.” She said the administration is serious about its responsibility to keep him informed.
“I don't think so,” the judge replied.
Plaintiffs' attorney William Schultz argued that the administration isn't following Lamberth's order and failed to restore VOA programming in line with its mandate from Congress, which appropriated $262 million for VOA in the 2025 fiscal year. Schultz, who represents VOA journalists, said virtually its entire staff has been on paid administrative leave for more than three months.
“Having people sit at home is not complying with these statutes or congressional appropriations,” he said.
The judge gave the administration until Friday to file a written update on what it is doing at VOA.
Plaintiffs' attorneys asked Lamberth to order the administration to develop a plan that would operate VOA in a manner that complies with the preliminary injunction in the case. The judge didn't immediately rule on that request.
Approximately 1,400 people at Voice of America and the U.S. Agency for Global Media, or 85% of its workforce, have lost their jobs since March, said Kari Lake, Trump’s senior advisor to the agency. She said it was part of a “long-overdue effort to dismantle a bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy.”
“For decades, American taxpayers have been forced to bankroll an agency that’s been riddled with dysfunction, bias and waste,” Lake said in a news release. “That ends now.”
Recipients of the layoff notices included employees at VOA’s Persian-language service who were brought back from administrative leave last week to broadcast reports to Iran following Israel’s attack.
Most VOA employees have been on administrative leave since March 15, their broadcasts and social media posts mostly silenced.
“What would be the purpose of Voice of America if there was no voice?” Lamberth asked.
Plaintiffs' attorney Georgina Yeomans said the administration's plans for VOA have been “remarkably hard to pin down.”
VOA began by broadcasting stories about American democracy to residents of Nazi Germany and grew to deliver news around the world in dozens of languages, often in countries without a tradition of free press.
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Associated Press writer David Bauder contributed to this report.
Michael Kunzelman, The Associated Press
