A US court has temporarily halted the Trump administration’s attempt to shut down Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
On Tuesday, March 25, Judge Royce Lamberth issued an order blocking the liquidation of the media organization, saying it likely violated federal law, ABC News reports.
JOIN US ON TELEGRAM
Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.
The judge found that the Trump administration’s effort to strip RFE/RL of its funding was “unsupported by any facts or reasoning.”
“The leadership of [United States Agency for Global Media] 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,” wrote Judge Lamberth, who was appointed under Republican President Ronald Reagan.
Last week, RFE/RL contested the termination of US federal grants by suing the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) and officials.
RFE/RL said USAGM’s decision to terminate federal grants directed to it by Congress are unlawful.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order listing the USAGM as among “elements of the federal bureaucracy that the president has determined are unnecessary,” putting journalists at Voice of America (VOA) and other US-funded broadcasters, including RFE/RL, on leave.
VOA and RFE/RL are some of the leading independent media outlets that provide independent news to people in countries with restricted media.
SBU, HUR, and SSO Joint Drone Strike Cripples Tamanneftegas Terminal
Kari Lake, a firebrand Trump supporter and former Arizona news anchor – who was put in charge of RFE/RL after she lost a US Senate bid – wrote in an email to the media outlets she supervises that federal grant money “no longer effectuates agency priorities.”
More than 1,300 journalists, producers, and staff at VOA were placed on administrative leave after Trump signed his executive order.
Russian propagandists have hailed Trump’s decision to terminate funding to VOA and RFE/RL, calling the independent journalists “vile, disgusting traitors to the Motherland” during a broadcast on Russian television.
Trump has long railed against media and, in his first stint in office, had suggested that US government-funded outlets should promote his policies.
You can also highlight the text and press Ctrl + Enter
