U.S. Judge says Kari Lake broke law in overseeing Voice of America : NPR

A federal judge overseeing a raft of legal challenges to the Trump administration’s drive to dismantle the Voice of America ruled Saturday evening that Kari Lake had acted unlawfully in running the network’s parent agency.

“Lake satisfies the requirements of neither the statute nor the Constitution,” U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth wrote in his ruling. He declared all of Lake’s actions over the past year to be null and void. That includes the layoffs of more than 1,000 journalists and staffers at the U.S. Agency for Global Media and the Voice of America.

NPR first reported in depth last August on questions about the legality of her taking on the title and powers of the agency’s self-declared acting chief executive.

The judge’s ruling represents an absolute rebuke to the Trump White House and especially to Lake and her inner circle. It follows a series of courtroom exchanges in which Lamberth has found the government’s arguments that Congress had no role to play in the future of the agency and the network unconvincing and called Lake’s credibility into question from the bench. Last summer he threatened Lake with contempt of court.

Lake told NPR Saturday night that she would appeal the ruling from Lamberth, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan. “The American people gave President Trump a mandate to cut bloated bureaucracy, eliminate waste, and restore accountability to government,” she wrote. “An activist judge is trying to stand in the way of those efforts at USAGM. Judge Lamberth has a pattern of activist rulings — and this case is no different.”

If left standing, Lamberth’s decision would open the door to reversing a series of sweeping acts taken by Lake in trying to kill Voice of America and other international networks that receive federal funding. They include Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcast Networks, each of which has been involved in separate litigation against Lake and the agency.

Among the decisions taken under Lake’s watch: dismissing all contractors; laying off almost all permanent network and agency full-time staffers; firing the director of the Voice of America; striking a deal to carry content from the right-wing TV network One America News Network; withholding money from the sister networks such as Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia; and killing a lease for a new headquarters that previous agency leaders said would save the federal government tens of millions of dollars.

More recently, Lake has been accused of turning Voice of America’s few remaining broadcasts into a platform for pro-Trump propaganda, especially with regard to the conflict in Iran.

The Voice of America building in Washington D.C.

Gene J. Puskar/AP

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Gene J. Puskar/AP

Since its start in World War II, Voice of America has been intended to serve as a demonstration of soft power that models how U.S.-style journalism can incorporate dissent and unfavorable facts squarely into reporting.

Three of the named plaintiffs issued a joint statement in which they said they felt “vindicated and deeply grateful” for the judge’s ruling, calling it a “powerful step toward undoing the damage she has inflicted on this American institution that we love.”

‘Journalism Not Propaganda’

“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,” wrote the three plaintiffs. They are Voice of America journalists Patsy Widakuswara and Jessica Jerreat and US Agency for Global Media chief strategy officer Kate Neeper.

“Today is a win in the fight against autocracy,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of the legal advocacy group Democracy Forward, which served as co-counsel for the plaintiffs. “The decision is a powerful affirmation of the rule of law.”

While an appellate court decision had earlier questioned whether the judge had the jurisdiction to order people back to work, Lamberth’s previous ruling stood that required Lake and the agency to ensure that Voice of America continued to offer programming levels as set by Congress.

The federally funded international broadcaster had — until last year — broadcast news in 49 languages, reaching countries where a free press is either under duress from authorities or not financially viable. It was down to six languages in January, according to the agency.

The judge’s decision Saturday sidestepped the constitutional question of balancing Congressional power with presidential prerogatives in favor of a close legal look at whether Lake had the authority to make the decisions she did at all.

Before taking office a second time, Trump announced that he hoped to name Lake to take over as director of Voice of America. Once in office, Trump nominated a conservative activist to become head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. But that nomination never went ahead; the critic, Brent Bozell III, became ambassador to South Africa instead.

As Trump had dismissed six of seven members of the oversight body that has power from Congress to appoint the Voice of America director in the absence of an agency CEO, Lake was in limbo. Trump assigned her as a senior advisor to the agency in late February 2025. (Lamberth ruled that Voice of America director Michael Abramowitz could not be fired in the absence of the board or a lawful CEO.)

At that time, the acting CEO was veteran agency and Voice of America executive Victor Morales. In early March 2025, Morales issued a delegation order designating Lake to perform almost all functions and responsibilities assigned to the CEO job. In July, she was named acting deputy CEO by the White House. He assigned her the vast majority of the CEO’s power once more.

Lake would later testify that she exercised about “95 percent” of the CEO’s duties and powers and that the acting CEO was responsible for little save “[w]riting reports.”

‘Ineligible to serve’

“It is clear that Lake had de facto control of the agency pursuant to these delegations,” Lamberth wrote, meaning she was running the U.S. Agency for Global Media. And then on July 31, to Morales’ apparent surprise, Lake started to call herself the acting CEO of the agency.

In the ensuing months, NPR has repeatedly asked Lake, the agency, the White House and the Office for any documentation of her appointment to the acting position. None was forthcoming.

NPR could find no public evidence that Trump has ever named Lake to the job. And under U.S. law, it does not appear that she is eligible to hold it, according to former federal officials interviewed by NPR.

Lake stopped calling herself by that title in mid-November – two days after the plaintiffs filed a motion challenging her right to do so.

The issue flared up again last month, as court filings showed Lake signed official documents in late January and early February as acting CEO. U.S. Justice Department trial attorneys told the judge in court filings that it was an accident in formatting the agency documents.

“Lake is plainly ineligible to serve” as acting CEO under various sections of the relevant law, Lamberth wrote.

Because of all the layoffs that occurred under Lake, the agency was unable to fulfill even basic requests for financial information, according to an outside auditor hired by the U.S. State Department’s inspector general to perform a standard review. The agency said the outside auditing team didn’t have time to conduct a full audit and that it would be able to in the coming year.

Lamberth’s ruling comes just one week shy of a year after Lake sought to lay off all full-time staffers at the Voice of America and the Office for Cuba Broadcasting. She also moved to kill all federal funds for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.

That also happened over a weekend. A former U.S. Agency for Global Media acting CEO under President Trump, Grant Turner, called it “Bloody Saturday.”