Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), the U.S.-funded global news outlet, sued the Trump administration over its decision to terminate all federal grants to the entity, making it the latest entity to seek legal remedy against the White House’s push to slash funding for several key government programs and agencies.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFERL) sued the Trump administration on Tuesday.
In a filing made before the District of Columbia federal court on Tuesday, the global broadcast network sued the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the agency’s special advisor Kari Lake and interim CEO Victor Morales.
The suit accused USAGM of acting in violation of the U.S. Constitution as the scrapped funds had been appropriated by Congress “specifically for RFE/RL.”
The filing says the agency refused to disburse the funds “on the basis that it is ending its 'non-statutory' functions,” before arguing that funding the broadcaster’s operations “is a statutory function” of the agency.
In the suit, the broadcaster argued that Congress appropriated funding for its operations “in recognition of the critical role that RFE/RL plays in providing accurate, uncensored news in countries where a free press is threatened.”
The broadcaster said it was seeking “urgent relief” on the matter as the lack of access to the critical funds will mean “RFE/RL will soon be forced to cease to exist in its current form.”
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Shortly after the GOP-controlled Congress passed its funding bill last week, the Trump administration terminated funding meant for several global media agencies overseen by USAGM, including Radio Free Europe, Radio Asia, Middle East Broadcasting Networks and Radio Marti (which broadcasts to Cuba). In addition to this, nearly all 1,300 employees working at the federally funded broadcaster Voice of America were placed on leave. These moves were part of a White House order calling for the continued “reduction of the federal bureaucracy” by reducing the functions of several “unnecessary governmental entities” to the minimum that is required by law. Lake, who was appointed as the director of VOA and as a USAGM special advisor by Trump, said: “Waste, fraud, and abuse run rampant in this agency and American taxpayers shouldn’t have to fund it.” The USAGM’s official statement also noted that it was not “salvageable” and impossible to reform due to the “work that was done by self-interested insiders in coordination with outside activist groups and radical Leftist advocacy organizations to “Trump-Proof” the agency.”
The arguments raised by RFE/RL’s suit partially mirror those made by former employees and contractors of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Former USAID workers sued the Trump administration and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for their efforts to dismantle the foreign aid agency. Earlier on Tuesday, a Maryland federal judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and noted that the shutdown of USAID likely violated the Constitution by depriving “the public’s elected representatives in Congress” of their authority to decide “whether, when and how to close down an agency created by Congress.”
In a statement, RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said: “This is not the time to cede terrain to the propaganda and censorship of America’s adversaries. We believe the law is on our side and that the celebration of our demise by despots around the world is premature.”
Trump signs order to gut staff at Voice of America and other US-funded media organizations (Forbes)