A federal judge on Tuesday reinstated more than 1,000 employees of the U.S. Agency for Global Media — the Voice of America’s parent agency — after the Trump administration instituted wide-ranging layoffs as part of its mission to drastically shrink the international broadcaster.
In a statement on Tuesday, three employees who brought a lawsuit against Trump’s handpicked hatchet woman, Kari Lake, wrote that they “are eager to begin repairing the damage Kari Lake has inflicted on our agency and our colleagues, to return to our congressional mandate, and to rebuild the trust of the global audience we have been unable to serve for the past year.”
“We know the road to restoring VOA’s operations and reputation will be long and difficult,” the employees continued. “We hope the American people will continue to support our mission to produce journalism, not propaganda.”
Tuesday’s decision came less than one week after Judge Royce C. Lamberth declared that Lake’s appointment to the U.S. Agency for Global Media was illegal and nullified months of her efforts. In addition to dramatically reducing VOA’s staff, Lake also dismantled the agency’s funding for international broadcast networks.
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In a pair of rulings, Lamberth wrote that Lake and other defendants “are unlawfully withholding mandatory agency action.”
Despite the judge’s ruling declaring her ineligible to assume the agency’s top role, Lake, a former conservative commentator and local news anchor, has insisted she will stay on at USAGM in a deputy leadership role. She also personally insulted Lamberth, poking fun at his weight while insisting that she will continue her mission to dismantle the agency.
“A rotund DC District Court judge wants me OUT of the agency, but despite his absurd orders and rulings, I remain in the exact same position today as I was before: Deputy CEO — where I am even more determined to finish the job,” Lake posted to X last week.
Lamberth ordered on Tuesday that full-time employees return to work by March 23 and told the agency to resume some of its international broadcasting. The ruling voids a previous memo signed by the agency that announced all but 68 jobs had been eliminated.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment from NOTUS.
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