Business is booming in Washington, D.C. courts with the latest in a flotilla of lawsuits against the Trump administration being filed by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty which is turning to lawfare to protect the funding of its propaganda.
On Tuesday, the organization filed the suit in a D.C. federal court, seeking to force payment of a $7.5 million invoice that was submitted on Monday, claiming that a freeze on funding circumvents Congress and that if the money didn’t keep flowing, it would have to start laying off employees.
“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 filing states.
Today, @RFERL sued the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) to block their attempted termination of RFE/RL’s federal grant.
Read our full release and statement from President & CEO @SteveCapus: https://t.co/PbNeCdcaci pic.twitter.com/LfjgHDPnX7
— RFE/RL Pressroom (@RFERLPress) March 18, 2025
Last week, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order to cut off funding to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which funds Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as well as the Voice of America, once a vital component of U.S. soft power during the Cold War that has been repurposed as a left-wing propaganda organ.
The suit names Kari Lake, the former GOP Arizona Senate and gubernatorial candidate who was tapped by Trump to head up the Voice of America (VOA) and is the senior advisor for USAGM, along with acting USAGM CEO Victor Morales.
“This is not the time to cede terrain to the propaganda and censorship of America’s adversaries,” RFE/RL CEO Stephen Capus said in a statement. “We believe the law is on our side and that the celebration of our demise by despots around the world is premature.”
It’s unlikely that Capus was referring to the European “despots” who have been nullifying democratic elections, jailing opposition party leaders, and engaging in widespread government censorship of dissenting viewpoints.
Like other lawsuits shopped to Democrat-appointed judges who have eagerly sabotaged President Trump’s reforms, there would seem to be a concocted nature of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty suit with the turnaround time on the multimillion-dollar Monday invoice being a mere day before the suit was filed.
“From top-to-bottom this agency is a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer—a national security risk for this nation—and irretrievably broken. While there are bright spots within the agency with personnel who are talented and dedicated public servants, this is the… https://t.co/pJ4dw9ZtJO
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) March 17, 2025
“From top-to-bottom, this agency is a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer—a national security risk for this nation—and irretrievably broken. While there are bright spots within the agency with personnel who are talented and dedicated public servants, this is the exception rather than the rule,” Lake, a former newswoman, said of the agency, adding it is “not salvageable.”
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