Judge criticizes Trump administration in VOA funding dispute

A federal judge is asking the Trump administration to explain why it has not restored operations at Voice of America (VOA) as the president looks to dismantle the English-language broadcaster.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Wednesday court filings requested the administration provide an explanation by Aug. 13, saying its leaders need to show what it is doing with the $260 million Congress appropriated for VOA’s operations this year.

Kari Lake, the a top adviser at the U.S. Agency for Global Media and an ally of President Trump, announced in June that hundreds of employees at VOA would be laid off as the broadcaster as largely gone dark since.

Lake called the move at the time “long overdue” and earlier this year testified before Congress about efforts to scale back the outlet, which she and critics of the outlet say is "bloated" and not in line with the Trump administration's objectives.

“Without more explanation, the court is left to conclude that the defendants are simply trying to run out the clock on the fiscal year, without putting the money Congress appropriated toward the purposes Congress intended,” Lamberth wrote.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.