Employees of the Voice of America (VOA) brought a lawsuit against the government of President Donald Trump and Kari Lake on Thursday after Trump had dismantled the agency earlier this month.
“In many parts of the world, a crucial source of objective news has disappeared and only censored by the state is left sponsored news media to fill the void,” argued the VOA employees in the court case.
Trump signed one Executive order in March that ordered the dismantling of seven government offices, including the United States Agency for Global Media, which is the parent company of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Trump called Lake as a special adviser to the United States Agency for Global Media after he won the elections.
“The second Trump government has brought a chainsaw as a whole to the desk in an attempt to close it completely,” read the court case, According to the Associated Press.
Employees of the Voice of America (VOA) brought a lawsuit against the government of President Donald Trump and Kari Lake on Thursday after Trump had dismantled the agency earlier this month. (Photo by Jonathan Raa/Nurphoto via Getty Images)
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“The non-statutory components and functions of the following government agencies are eliminated to a maximum extent in accordance with the applicable legislation, and such entities will reduce the performance of their legal functions and associated personnel for the minimum presence and function required by law,” Trump’s executive order.
Lake told employees to “check your e -mail” for more information about the future of their employment in a message on social media.
The American Bureau for Global Media and Lake published a press release on 15 March and said that the agency is ‘not edited’.
“From top-to-bottom, this agency is a huge rot and burden for the American taxpayer and a national security risk for this nation and irreparably broken. Although there are light spots within the desk with staff who are talented and dedicated officials, this is the exception,” the US Agency for Global Media’s said the press release.
President Donald Trump is on stage next to Kari Lake during a campaign field in Findlay Toyota Center on October 13, 2024 in Prescott Valley, Arizona. (Rebecca Noble/Getty images)
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“What happens to the VOA journalists is not only the horrifying of the speech of the first amendment; it is a government closure of journalism, an earlier restriction that kills content before it can be created,” ” read the lawsuit.
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.
“Tragically enough, Kari Lake lives in the Maga-fanta world, but she makes decisions that have real consequences for hundreds of journalists,” David Seide, the lawyer of the VOA employees, NPR told
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Patsy Widakuswara, the chief of the white house office at VOA, and Jessica Jerreat, the freedom editor at VOA, are the head of claimants in the court case.
