Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the U.S.-funded news outlet created to reach people living under communism during the Cold War, is suing Kari Lake and the Trump administration over efforts to defund the organization.
The lawsuit, filed in a Washington D.C. federal court, said the station has not been paid a $7.5 million invoice submitted Monday. It claims the funding freeze undermines Congress’s purse strings. Both entities are funded by government grants, with around 1% coming from private donations and other sources, the lawsuit states.
“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,” the lawsuit said. “It is the law. Urgent relief is needed to compel the agency to follow the law.”
MD GOV DEFENDS $190K TRUMP-CENTRIC IRISH CONSULTANT CONTRACT AS POTUS MOVES IN NEXT DOOR
President Donald Trump stands next to Kari Lake on stage during a campaign rally at Findlay Toyota Center on October 13, 2024, in Prescott Valley, Arizona. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
If funding doesn’t resume, the station will be forced to lay off employees that work to bring news coverage to 23 countries in Europe and Asia in 27 languages.
“This is not the time to cede terrain to the propaganda and censorship of America’s adversaries,” RFE/RL President and 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.”
The lawsuit names U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), Victor Morales, the acting USAGM CEO, and Kari Lake, a former television anchor in Arizona who later ran for governor and senator who serves as a senior advisor to Morales, as defendants.
The lawsuit came days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order intended to eliminate USAGM.
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