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Voice of America fights the Nazis a second time to stay alive [1]

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Date: 2025-03-23

The Voice of America was created to fight the Nazis. Now they're doing it again.

In 1942, the Voice of America used shortwave radio to reach into Nazi Germany and inform the resistance of the truth about their own country and how the war was being fought.

Up until today, they have been the public facing entity of the U.S. government in foreign countries, allies and foes alike, but also a trusted source for news.

A week ago, I wrote how a Trump executive order was shutting down 7 agencies at once, concentrating on U.S. Agency for Global Media, the parent of VOA. Then, the next day an article was put up on Whitehouse.gov called, "The Voice of Radical America," explaining how VOA had become a hotbed of radical ideas. I covered that in another post called Trump shuts down the Voice of America for being Radical.

The Voice of America has filed a lawsuit claiming that the agency had been unlawfully shut down.

The suit was brought by Voice of America reporters, Reporters Without Borders (RSF Reporters Sans Frontieres), and a number of unions against the Agency for Global Media and Kari Lake, the acting CEO of VOA who Trump had put in place. She failed running for governor, she failed running for senator, but she didn't have time to fail at Voice of America. It was a bad mismatch in any case. Also named was Victor Morales, the acting CEO of the US Agency for Global Media.

In an interview with Newsmax this week, Lake said that the Voice of America was "like having a rotten fish and trying to find a portion that you can eat."

That wasn't enough, she also posted on X that the Agency for Global media is "a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer --- a national security risk for the nation --- and retrievably broken. While there might be bright spots within the agency with personnel who are talented and dedicated public servants, this is the exception, not the rule."

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) executive director, Clayton Weimers stated, "Authoritarian censorship regimes like the Kremlin and the Chinese Communist Party, are loudly cheering for the death of Voice of America. It's clear that Donald Trump's action will encourage harsher crackdowns against journalists and press freedom, putting VOA and RSF staff, correspondents, volunteers, and supporters in greater danger. RSF is compelled to act to protect VOA and the broader press Freedom community."

The lawsuit (PDF) was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The parties are being represented pro bono by State Democracy Defenders Fund.

In a statement by Norman Eisen, who just had his security clearance canceled by Donald Trump Friday, and is a co-founder of the State Democracy Defenders Fund, also a former ambassador to the Czech Republic, and co-counsel to the House Judiciary Committee for Donald Trump's first impeachment, he said, "The attempt to dismantle The Voice of America and the US Agency for Global media is an unconscionable and outright attack on press freedoms. A free and independent press is the bedrock of democracy both at home and abroad. We are proud to stand with Reporters Without Borders and coalition members in our critical fight to defend free and independent journalism."

When you give aid and comfort to the enemy, it's called treason. That's what Donald Trump has done here.

One little factoid. The United States now ranks at 55th out of 180 countries in the 2024 RSF World Press Freedom Index, having dropped 10 points since 2023. Expect it to drop even more for 2025

The lawsuit states that the moves to shut down the broadcaster were unlawful and unconstitutional. The seven VOA journalists to the suit say the government's acts violate the First Amendment on free speech grounds and usurp Congress's control of the federal purse.

More than 900 full-time network employees were put on indefinite leave last weekend. 550 contractors were terminated from their jobs. Most of the employees at Agency for Global media were also placed on indefinite leave.

Trump's first term was also riddled with lawsuits against Trump's pick for USAGM CEO Michael Pack.

Strangely enough, Voice of America is prohibited from broadcasting to American audiences. It's reporters are not well known as a result, but one of them was at a press conference and asked about Trump's plans to expel Palestinians from Gaza. Trump, annoyed, asked what news organization they were from. When Trump heard it was Voice of America, Trump said, "No wonder." And then moved on to another reporter.

David Seide, the lead attorney and a senior counsel at the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit that seeks to protect the rights of whistleblowers, said, "Tragically, Kari Lake lives in the MAGA fantasy world, but she makes decisions that have real world consequences for hundreds a journalists. We've assembled a coalition of journalists, unions, and advocacy groups to stop and reverse the DOGE machine."

Also part of USAGM is Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Liberty. They filed suit on March 18th, against the same defendants as Voice of America, but in the District of Columbia. Their suit also claimed that USAGM and VOA had violated the law which gives Congress ultimate authority over federal spending.

Their President and CEO, Stephen Capus stated, "Now is not the time to cede terrain to the propaganda and censorship of America's adversaries. We believe the law is on our side and the celebration of our demise by despots around the world is premature."

European Union politicians said they are talking about supporting Radio Free Europe and Fadio Free Liberty, which are based in Prague.

Czech Minister of Affairs Martin Dvorak said that the bloc must act quickly because, "It would be a big mistake to let this institution die."

The Open Technology Fund also filed suit on Thursday in the District of Columbia for breach of contract by USAGM by withholding $18 million in funding. The group uses federal grants to promote internet freedom technologies worldwide.

Here are all the Plantiffs in the VOA lawsuit:

Patsy Widakuswara - VOA White House Bureau Chief Jessica Jerreat - VOA Press Freedom Editor Kathryn Neeper - Director of Strategy and Performance Assessment at USAGM John Doe 1 - Journalist at VOA New York Bureau John Doe 2 - Journalist at VOA John Doe 3 - Independent Freelance Journalist under contract to VOA John Doe 4 - Foreign contract VOA Journalist whose visa expires March 31, 2025 if USAGM remains shuttered. LGBTQ person from a country that persecutes them Reporters Without Borders - US affiliate of RSF American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees AFL-CIO AFSCME Local 1418 - Produce and engineer live radio broadcasts American Federation of Government Employees AFL-CIO representing 900 employees at USAGM American Foreign Service Association represents 16 employees in DC and abroad The NewsGuild-CWA AFL-CIO representing journalists and media workers in North America RFA - nonprofit news service funded by Congress

Quite a mouthful to rattle off.

How important is this case? Right up there with USAID. Of course, all of the 133 cases against the Trump administration are important. But these two literally make a world of difference.

Shutting down the two agencies is so much letting our enemies takeover without firing a shot. This fetish with cutting employees and services to save a buck without any consideration for the consequences is mindboggling in its stupidity.

Examples:

Firing FAA employees as we have air disasters and close calls not seen since 2009. Firing employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration who take care of the nuclear stockpile, realize their mistake, but have no way to contact most. Firing workers at the Department of Agriculture who were working to contain the bird flu. Firing EPA workers who keep the air and water clean. Firing workers at the VA who ran the crisis hotline. Bonneville Power Administration probationary employees let go who kept the electric grid working. National Park Service permanent employees fired and seasonal employees that wouldn't be hired in the first place, turning our parks into garbage dumps and unusable. People fired who ran 9/11 health programs. Firing the CDC's disease detectives. Fired scientists at the FDA that make sure medical devices work. National Science Foundation probationary employees fired at the agency that keeps the US at the cutting edge of science and technology. 5,000 employees fired at USDA who keep food safe.

There will be more examples every day with this Kristallnacht (apologies to those who think that term should be reserved for the actual event) of federal employees.

It's Kari Lake and Victor Morales who should be eliminated, not the Voice of America and its sister affiliates.

Kari Lake is the rotten fish that smells to high heaven. Victor Morales is the one trying to sell it to you. Both are to be avoided.

The VOA case is being fought on the grounds as many others are. Congress's power of the purse being ignored by the Trump administration. Added to it is First Amendment violations. Congressmen had better hope these cases are won by the plaintiffs. If not, they might as well be a rubber stamp for anything Trump wants to do. Might as well resign and go home. But they won't be met with open arms. Former constituents will want to know why they didn't stand up to Trump, just like Republicans are finding out when they dare to try and hold a town hall.

The VOA case just started. Others have a head start, but not by much. The court decisions will go in favor of the plaintiffs and against the government. They have to, or we will no longer have a representative democracy but an empire with a mad king.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/23/2311908/-Voice-of-America-is-not-going-quietly-into-the-night?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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