Judge says Kari Lake unlawfully ran USAGM, voids Voice of America layoffs
Judge says Kari Lake unlawfully ran USAGM, voids Voice of America layoffs
Brian Stelter, CNNSun, March 8, 2026 at 3:13 AM UTC
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Kari Lake, whom President Trump picked to run Voice of America, immediately placed the network’s entire workforce on administrative leave last year. - Joe Raedle/Getty Images/File
In a victory for Voice of America staffers, a federal judge ruled Saturday that Kari Lake unlawfully ran the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) for several months last year.
The mass layoffs and other actions undertaken during that time “are void,” US District Judge Royce C. Lamberth wrote.
The ruling was a remarkable rebuke of Lake, a failed Arizona gubernatorial and US Senate candidate and fierce loyalist of President Trump.
Lake immediately called the judge an “activist” and said the agency would appeal.
The plaintiffs who sued Lake to save their jobs and defend the agency amid Trump’s attempts to dismantle it said they felt “vindicated and deeply grateful.”
“The judge’s ruling that Kari Lake’s actions shall have no force or effect is a powerful step toward undoing the damage she has inflicted on this American institution that we love,” the plaintiffs, Patsy Widakuswara, Kate Neeper, and Jessica Jerreat, said.
“Even as we work through what this ruling means for colleagues harmed by her actions, it brings renewed hope and momentum to the next phase of our fight: restoring VOA‘s global operations and ensuring we continue to produce journalism, not propaganda,” the plaintiffs added.
Reporters Without Borders, which joined the staffers in filing suit, said the case was “proof that fighting for press freedom matters.”
Voice of America is a government-funded entity that produces journalism and promotes democratic values outside the United States, countering foreign propaganda efforts.
Its parent, USAGM, also funds other broadcasters, such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia.
In March 2025, Trump said he wanted the entire agency eliminated “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”
Lake, whom he picked to run VOA, immediately placed the network’s entire workforce on administrative leave and pulled funding from every other US-backed broadcaster.
Voice of America was essentially silenced, but Trump’s termination orders were challenged in court, and judges repeatedly sided with plaintiffs.
At issue in this case: Whether Lake’s installation atop USAGM was legal.
The USAGM website currently identifies Lake as its deputy CEO. But last summer and fall, she assumed the role of acting CEO, even though there were widespread doubts about whether she qualified for the post.
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Lake made several controversial moves, including botched mass layoffs and a push to fire the VOA director, who had been sidelined months earlier.
Lamberth concluded in Saturday’s ruling that there was “an unlawful effort to transform Lake into the CEO of U.S. Agency for Global Media in all but name.”
He cited violations of the Constitution’s appointments clause and the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
It was the latest in a string of setbacks for Lake, who has tried to follow Trump’s lead in dismantling VOA. “KILL IT!” Trump wrote on Truth Social last June.
But Lamberth, a nominee of President Ronald Reagan, has repeatedly stood in the way, citing the separation of powers and Congress’s role.
Lake responded Saturday, saying “the American people gave President Trump a mandate to cut bloated bureaucracy, eliminate waste, and restore accountability to government. An activist judge is trying to stand in the way of those efforts at USAGM.”
Lake claimed that “Judge Lamberth has a pattern of activist rulings — and this case is no different. We strongly disagree with this decision and will appeal.”
It was not immediately clear what Saturday’s ruling will mean for hundreds of sidelined VOA journalists.
But bit by bit, Trump’s proclaimed dismantling of the organization has been undone.
Last month Trump signed an appropriations bill that included half a billion dollars more for USAGM than Lake requested. Earlier, when Congress approved the funding, Lake said she was “disappointed” by the allocation.
Lake also used her platform on X, Elon Musk’s social network, to tout another attempt to shrink the agency: A “deferred resignation program,” which meant another invitation for employees to resign or retire, paired with a warning that layoffs were on the table.
But Saturday’s ruling appeared to reverse Lake’s earlier attempt at mass layoffs last summer.
In the past week, as the US and Israel have attacked Iran and defended against Iranian retaliation, Lake has touted the agency’s broadcasts into Iran.
Earlier on Saturday, she shared a Fox News headline that said “Voice of America pushes Trump’s message inside Iran.”
VOA veteran Kim Andrew Elliott noted in a post on X, however, that the agency’s “transmitting and newsgathering resources [have been] much reduced since the end of the Biden administration.”
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