Federal judge temporarily blocks shutdown of US-funded radio network

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., 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. 

Congress later began funding RFE/RL in the 1970s to promote democracy across the globe. 

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Kari Lake is seen in an overflow room in Emancipation Hall watching Donald Trump being sworn in as the 47th President of the United States during his Inauguration ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025.  (Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)

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 eliminate 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 U.S.-funded media organizations. 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.”

The Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) logo, displayed at its headquarters in Prague, is seen on March 21, 2025.  (Tomas Tkacik/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

“It serves as the Voice for Radical America and has pushed divisive propaganda for years now,” the official said. 

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.” 

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RFE/RFL sued in federal court, saying that the administration immediately froze nearly $7.5 million in funding already appropriated by Congress. The Justice Department wrote in court documents on Monday that the disbursement was underway and proof of payment would come by Wednesday. 

Voice of America Director Michael Abramowitz wrote on X that “virtually” the whole 1300-person staff was placed on leave. 

Kari Lake, President Donald Trump’s choice to lead Voice of America (VOA), speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Feb. 21, 2025. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

In a court hearing Monday, Justice Department lawyer Abby Stout argued that RFE/RL has no grounds for a restraining order given the U.S. government would disburse the nearly $7.5 million. The plaintiff’s lawyer, Thomas Brugato, said the disbursement was only a temporary fix and the non-profit could expect widespread layoffs and to close by April if funding doesn’t continue.

“It’s really a Band-Aid,” Brugato said in court, according to The Hill. 

In his order, Lamberth said RFE/RL “was originally conceived of in the 1950s as a vehicle for providing trustworthy, locally relevant news to audiences subject to communist propaganda.” 

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“Since its inception, RFE/RL has continued to expand, responding to threats to democracy and media freedom across the globe,” the judge wrote, later concluding, “The Court concludes, in keeping with Congress’s longstanding determination, that the continued operation of RFE/RL is in the public interest.”

Separately, a lawsuit was brought Friday by Voice of America reporters, Reporters Without Borders and a handful of unions in U.S. District Court in New York against the U.S. Agency for Global Media and Kari Lake over efforts to shut them down. 

Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.