Trump Moves To Gut Voice Of America, Us-backed Media Organization He Has Long Reviled

President Donald Trump is gutting U.S.-backed global media, including Voice of America, that broadcasts news to millions worldwide — and that he has long held a grudge against.

The move comes after Trump signed an executive order to hollow out a string of small government agencies and offices late Friday. The order calls for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA and a collection of other media outlets globally, to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”

The weekend moves around USAGM suggest the administration will shutter entirely — or at a minimum dramatically reduce — the media platforms it oversees.

Trump has repeatedly attacked VOA since his first term. Before he entered office earlier this year, Trump said he wanted Kari Lake, a MAGA loyalist and former news anchor who twice ran unsuccessfully for statewide office in Arizona, to run the outlet. She has since been appointed as a special adviser to USAGM.

"The decision to dismantle one of America's greatest national assets will inflict profound harm on the U.S. image, its global interests, and the promotion of democratic values — damage that no adversary could ever achieve," Elez Biberaj, who briefly served as Voice of America's acting director and retired in 2023, said in a social media post.

An email from human resources at USAGM was sent Saturday placing VOA journalists on administrative leave. The journalists were also told not to access the USAGM premises or any of the agency’s systems, according to a copy of the email viewed by POLITICO.

It is not immediately clear the scope, but at least two VOA journalists — granted anonymity by POLITICO out of fear of retribution — confirmed they were placed on leave on Saturday morning. One of the journalists suggested it went to all full-time employees. A VOA contractor, also granted anonymity, received a similar notice.

Lake put out a post on X highlighting the executive order and urging employees from VOA and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which is also housed within USAGM, to urgently check their email.

According to a VOA journalist, some VOA employees received the email as they were en route to their studios to record shows Saturday morning. With no clear guidance or direction from VOA leadership, journalists were left scrambling to figure out how to fill air time, considering rerunning old shows or simply playing music.

The journalist compared Saturday morning’s chaos to the mayhem caused by the Department of Government Efficiency’s slash-and-burn approach to downsizing federal agencies that prompted a frenzied wave of mass firings.

Spokespeople for both VOA and USAGM did not respond to requests for comment.

USAGM also notified Radio Free Asia on Saturday that the agency is terminating grants that support the media platform’s operations effective immediately. Radio Free Asia has been one of the government’s key vehicles for combatting Chinese propaganda.

RFA is expected to start furloughing some of its staff next week, POLITICO reported Friday.

A notification letter to RFA obtained by POLITICO and signed by Lake said the funding cut is a response to Trump’s executive order “mandating that the USAGM eliminate all non-statutorily required activities and functions.”

An RFA spokesperson confirmed receipt of the letter but declined comment on its contents.

High-profile journalists and news associations have blasted the move, questioning what the shuttering of VOA will mean for press freedom under the second Trump administration.

“VOA journalists in our [White House] press corps are smart, dedicated and shine lights on vital issues,” Kelly O’Donnell, an NBC News correspondent and former president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, wrote on X. “I am proud of their dedication. If you believe in a free press, stand with VOA.”

The National Press Club put out a statement on Saturday, pressing Congress to call for transparency and accountability and to make sure that VOA continues to be operational.

“For decades, Voice of America has delivered fact-based, independent journalism to audiences worldwide, often in places where press freedom does not exist,” Press Club president Mike Balsamo wrote. “Removing large numbers of its journalists at the same time as dismantling USAGM threatens the very foundation that has allowed VOA to operate without political interference.”

Voice of America was created in 1942 and broadcasts globally. Its 1976 charter — signed into law by President Gerald Ford — says the “long-range interests of the United States are served by communicating directly with the peoples of the world,” calling for “accurate, objective and comprehensive” journalism. Laws in the 1990s and 2010s have protected the VOA from interference by U.S. government officials.

The Trump administration has been celebrating the shutdown.

Several top advisers to the president, including Katie Miller — a DOGE spokesperson and Stephen Miller’s wife — have said “goodbye” to the news organization, while the administration’s rapid response account has reposted headlines where VOA has questioned “white privilege.”

“U.S. taxpayers shouldn’t be funding this,” the Rapid Response account said.

Sophia Cai and Eric Bazail-Eimil contributed to this report.