Trump signs order to cut staff at Voice of America and other U.S.-funded media organizations
President Donald Trump’s administration on Saturday began ripping deep cuts to U.S. voices and other democratic shows hosted by governments as the president continues his campaign to reorganize the administration without Congress’ approval.
CBS News confirmed multiple sources that all full-time staff at U.S. Voice were told Saturday that they had been on administrative leave.
Shortly after Congress passed the latest funding bill Friday night, Trump directed his administration to reduce the functions of several agencies to the minimum required by law. These include Global media organizations in the United Stateswhich contains American voice, radio European and Asian stations and Radio Marti, which spreads Spanish-language news to Cuba.
On Saturday morning, Lake Kari, Trump’s appointment of the agency’s senior adviser to the Arizona governor and U.S. Senate candidate, who posted on X, employees should check their emails. This coincides with the notification of paid administrative leave to voice employees in the United States.
The agency also sent a notice to terminate the free radio Asia and other programs run by the agency. Voice of America spreads domestic news in the United States to other countries, usually translated into local languages. In these regions such as China, North Korea and Russia, Radio Asia, Europe and Marty News enters countries with authoritarian regimes.
These networks merged into an estimated 427 million people. They date back to the Cold War and are part of a network of government-funded organizations USAIDanother agency targeted by Trump.
The latest reduction is particularly provocative as global media agencies are independent bodies of Congressional Charters, which passed a law in 2020 Limit the power of agencies President-appointed executives. Trump has taken several measures to take multiple measures to the scheme prescribed by the Gut Congress, and has conducted a potential Supreme Court showdown within the scope of presidential power.
The order Trump needs to reduce also includes several other less-known government agencies, such as Woodrow Wilson International Scholar Center, nonpartisan think tanks, the American Inter-Homeless Institutional Committee and the Community Development Financial Institutions Foundation.
The Trump administration has taken some controversial moves against the U.S. voice, including a moratorium on a respected journalist who pointed to criticism of Trump and canceled contracts with external news organizations, including the Associated Press.
