Officials aimed to address excessive spending in media.
A federal judge has mandated that the Trump administration reinstate funding to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), a US government-funded media outlet. The judge stated that the decision to halt funding was “unprecedented” and unjustified.
RFE/RL, which historically served as a key tool for disseminating Western viewpoints in the Soviet bloc during the Cold War with CIA funding, currently relies almost entirely on congressional funding.
The Trump administration has been trying to reduce funding for RFE/RL and other state-affiliated media. It has criticized the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees these outlets, deeming it “not salvageable” due to “obscene overspending” and alleging it is rife with “spies and terrorist sympathizers.”
As a result, USAGM essentially froze RFE/RL’s funding and declined to renew its contract after it expired in March, leading to staff furloughs and program cuts. The EU intervened to compensate for the budget shortfall.
On Friday, Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Trump administration lacked the legal authority to withhold over $70 million in funding approved by Congress, citing the absence of a clear justification.
He wrote, ”It is unprecedented for an agency to demand that entirely new terms govern its decades-old working relationship with a grantee entity,” He also criticized USAGM for its lack of responsiveness to RFE/RL’s attempts to negotiate a new agreement, calling it “stonewalling” and noting periods of silence lasting days or weeks.
The ruling stated that “USAGM’s flagrant disregard for its funding responsibilities” resulted in “mass furloughs, cancelation of programming, and inevitable damage to the global influence that RFE/RL has built over decades.”
RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus welcomed the court’s decision, stating, “This victory provides our journalists with the momentum necessary to continue reaching the nearly 47 million people each week… With this ruling, RFE/RL can continue to advance US national security interests.”