Trump administration plans to fire over 500 workers from Voice of America amid court battle

Lake, while announcing the decision of 500 jobs cuts, said the decision would “help reduce the federal bureaucracy, improve agency service, and save the American people more of their hard-earned money,” BBC reported. VOA, which was set up by the United States during World War Two to counter Nazi propaganda, has now become a major global broadcaster.

ANNOUNCEMENT—
U.S. Agency for Global Media Eliminates 532 Government Positions
Washington, D.C. – Tonight, the U.S. Agency for Global Media initiated what is known as a reduction in force, or RIF, of a large number of its full-time federal employees. We are conducting this RIF at… pic.twitter.com/LWeO9w0RNQ

— Kari Lake (@KariLake) August 30, 2025

VOA is looked after by Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which in a court filing, detailed that 532 employees are being terminated with most of them from Voice of America which would be left with 108 staff.

Lake had announced in June that about 639 employees would be terminated, however, the notice was later revoked citing paperwork error. It was then that some employees had filed cases against their termination.

Earlier, a US district judge Royce Lamberth ruled in a separate case that the Trump administration had failed to show how it was complying with his orders to restore the operations of VOA and blocked the attempts to remove VOA’s director, Michael Abramowitz. Judge Lamberth ordered CEO Lake to sit for a deposition where she would be questioned by lawyers.

Lake, in a social media post wrote, “I look forward to taking additional steps in the coming months to improve the functioning of a very broken agency and make sure America’s voice is heard abroad where it matters most.”