Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty sued Kari Lake and the Trump administration Tuesday over efforts to defund the group.
Final week, President Trump signed an government order aimed toward eliminating the U.S. Company for International Media (USAGM), which funds the radio station and Voice of America (VOA).
Filed in federal courtroom in Washington, D.C., the lawsuit says the radio station’s funding instantly froze and it has not been paid a $7.4 million bill submitted Monday. The station claims the freeze undermines Congress’s energy of the purse.
“Whether to disburse funds as directed by appropriations laws, and whether to make those funds available through grants as directed by the International Broadcasting Act, is not an optional choice for the agency to make. It is the law. Urgent relief is needed to compel the agency to follow the law,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit warns the community will quickly have to put off employees if the funding doesn’t resume flowing. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty publishes content material in 27 languages for 23 nations throughout Europe and Asia, reaching a weekly viewers of greater than 47 million folks.
“This is not the time to cede terrain to the propaganda and censorship of America’s adversaries,” Stephen Capus, the community’s CEO, mentioned in a press release. “We believe the law is on our side and that the celebration of our demise by despots around the world is premature.”
Trump picked Lake, a former tv anchor in Arizona who later ran for governor and senator, to guide the VOA because the administration seems to successfully dismantle USAGM, its father or mother company. Lake has been put in as a senior adviser at USAGM.
The Hill has reached out to USAGM for remark.
