A federal judge on Thursday ruled the Trump administration’s effort to remove Michael Abramowitz as director of Voice of America was “plainly contrary to the law.”

United States District Judge Royce Lamberth handed down a decision stating Abramowitz cannot be removed from his position without the approval of the majority of the International Broadcasting Advisory Board, which President Donald Trump dismissed in January. 

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After starting his second term, Trump dispatched Kari Lake to target the U.S. Agency for Global Media, a government-funded media outlet encompassing VOA. The Trump administration believes USAGM and VOA are corrupted institutions that have strayed from their founding mission and become partisan arbiters of biased information. 

Abramowitz, along with hundreds of other VOA employees, was placed on administrative leave earlier this year after Trump issued an executive order seeking to trim USAGM to its “minimum presence and function required by law.” Lake has sought to fire hundreds of USAGM employees since Trump took office, as she has become the president’s top henchman in seeking to root corruption out of the media department by essentially shutting it down. 

Lamberth’s ruling on Thursday comes after Abramowitz sued Lake, arguing that her move to fire him was illegal. 

The judge ordered Abramowitz’s reinstatement, saying the director must remain in his role until he can be lawfully removed by the broadcaster’s board, which suggests Trump could be forced to reinstate all the members of the International Broadcasting Advisory Board he fired in January.

“To the extent the Board’s current lack of quorum institutes a practical barrier to removing Abramowitz, the Broadcast Act gives the President a straightforward remedy: replacing the removed members,” Lamberth wrote. 

JUDGE BLOCKS KARI LAKE AND TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FROM PULLING RADIO FREE EUROPE FUNDING

In a separate ruling on Monday, Lambirth ordered Lake to submit to questioning under oath regarding accusations she is violating mandates not to dismantle VOA. 

In turn, Lake has blasted the Washington, D.C., judge, saying she’s “got a judge who’s threatening me with contempt of court, throwing me in prison, if I don’t produce more of the propaganda that he wants me to produce.”