MBN sits under the United States Agency for Global Media, which lost congressionally appropriated funding due to a Trump executive order.
Leaders of the Middle Eastern Broadcasting Networks sued the Trump administration Tuesday night, alleging that it illegally and unconstitutionally impounded the nonprofit media organization’s congressionally appropriated funding.
The United States Agency for Global Media, or USAGM, has refused to disburse appropriated funds for the Middle Eastern Broadcasting Networks, or MBN, on the basis that its grant “no longer effectuates agency priorities,” according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. But MBN’s lawyers argue that “Congress did not give USAGM discretion to unilaterally withhold MBN’s congressionally appropriated funds.”
The lawsuit notes that in March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing USAGM to eliminate “all non-statutorily required activities and funding.” MBN’s lawyers say that is no justification for withholding the organizations funding.
“Funding MBN is a statutorily required activity and function,” they argue in the lawsuit.
MBN is a private, nonprofit Arabic-language broadcaster under the USAGM umbrella. It is tasked with providing reliable news coverage and countering the anti-American bias that plagues Arab media in the Middle East and northern Africa. MBN operates the Alhurra TV networks, as well as Middle Eastern radio streams and websites.
The nonprofit was founded in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks at the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission.
In late March, after its funding was withheld, MBN furloughed 95 percent of its staff, reduced its broadcasts, and “effectively shuttered its headquarters,” the lawsuit states. “Meanwhile, MBN’s reputation … may never recover,” according to the lawsuit.
In his executive order last month, Trump called for “the non-statutory components and functions” of seven government entities, including USAGM, to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” He specifically took aim at Voice of America, a USAGM broadcaster tasked with reaching audiences in authoritarian countries like Iran and China. In a press release Trump said his order “will ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda.”
But supporters of Voice of America, MBN, and other American-backed media outlets say this isn’t the time for the U.S. to unilaterally surrender the nation’s “soft power.”
“We cannot afford to yield the Middle Eastern media space to those who want to destroy us, recruit converts to their cause, and attack the American values that offer a beacon of hope for a more stable and secure region,” Ryan Crocker, the former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Kuwait, and Pakistan wrote in the National Interest. In addition to being a U.S. diplomat, Crocker is also on MBN’s board.
Jeffrey Gedmin, MBN’s president chief executive, wrote in National Review last month that Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis are “licking their chops” at the thought of his network’s demise. “Closing MBN is not making America great again in a region critical to President Trump’s foreign policy agenda,” Gedmin wrote.
In January, National Review wrote about concerns raised by a media watchdog that Alhurra had on several occasions provided a platform for pro-Palestinian terrorism supporters and repeatedly used anti-Israel language after Hamas’s October 7 attack. Gedmin called the complaints “legitimate” and “disturbing” and vowed to make changes.
When Gedmin took over last year, MBN had about a $100 million budget. Since then, the nonprofit has closed bureaus; let go about 200 employees; and imposed freezes on travel, new hires, pay raises, and the acquisition of new equipment, among other cuts.
The lawsuit is calling for a court order declaring the impoundment of MBN’s funds unlawful and for a restraining order and a preliminary injunction barring USAGM from continuing to withhold its money. In addition to USAGM, its chief executive Victor Morales and senior advisor Kari Lake, the lawsuit also names the Office of Management and Budget, its director Russell Vought, and the U.S. Department of Treasury and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as defendants.