Judge suspends Trump plan for VOA cuts

A federal judge has halted plans by the Trump administration to eliminate hundreds of jobs at the U.S. Agency for Global Media and Voice of America (VOA).

The ruling, which came on Monday, flies in the face of a plan by Trump ally Kari Lake to eliminate hundreds of employees at the English-language foreign broadcaster, an effort that has been ongoing for months.

Lake and other Trump allies have said changes are necessary at VOA, arguing a “bloated unaccountable bureaucracy” is overdue for reform and decrying the outlet's coverage of foreign affairs, which they say are not in line with the president's "America First" agenda.

During a contentious hearing on Capitol Hill earlier this summer, Lake defended her efforts to scale back the size of the agency's staff by more than 500 employees saying, “sometimes a lean, mean, team makes it easier to get things done."

The cuts came after Trump signed an executive order directing the agency to trim down to its “statutory minimum” for operations.