A federal judge temporarily blocked the shutdown of a U.S.-funded radio network.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who was appointed by former President
Ronald Reagan, granted a temporary restraining order on the shutdown of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), a non-profit news organization originally founded in the 1950s by the
Central Intelligence Agency to broadcast behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War.
The judge found
Kari Lake, the longtime Arizona broadcaster and unsuccessful gubernatorial and Senate candidate tapped to oversee the U.S. Agency for Global Media, likely violated federal law in moving to slash RFE/RFL’s funding in line with President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut government waste.
The U.S. Agency for Global Media houses Radio Free Europe and Asia, as well as
Voice of America and Radio Marti in Cuba.
“RFE/RL has, for decades, operated as one of the organizations that Congress has statutorily designated to carry out this policy,” Lamberth wrote. “The leadership of USAGM cannot, with one sentence of reasoning offering virtually no explanation, force RFE/RL to shut down—even if the President has told them to do so.”
Trump signed an executive order earlier this month aimed at dismantling multiple U.S.-funded media organizations.
The executive order, which targets seven offices, including the U.S. Agency for Global Media, said “non-statutory components and functions of the following governmental entities shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.”
A senior White House official told Fox News Digital at the time that Voice of America “has been out of step with America for years.”
In the lawsuit, RFE/RFL claimed that the administration immediately froze nearly $7.5 million in funding already appropriated by Congress.
The Department of Justice wrote in court documents on Monday that the disbursement was underway and proof of payment would come by Wednesday.
