Despite a federal judge’s ruling Saturday that Kari Lake, President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, did not have the legal authority to largely dismantle the Voice of America, it is not clear what the decision means for the Voice of America’s operations or those who were laid off.
“We’re very grateful and we feel vindicated,” said Patsy Widakuswara, VOA’s White House bureau chief and lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, in an interview with WTOP. “What we want is return VOA to its congressional mandate. We have a mandate to produce journalism, not propaganda.”
On Saturday, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that Lake was ineligible to serve as acting CEO, because she was not employed by USAGM when the former CEO resigned in January 2025, and had not been confirmed by the Senate for the position.
Lake called the ruling “bogus,” in a social media post, and said it would be appealed.
Widakuswara and fellow plaintiffs Kate Neeper and Jessica Jerreat were among the employees laid off by Lake.
“The judge wants her to come up with a plan, including a succession plan, to show the steps they are taking to follow the court’s ruling. So, we’ll see what happens in the next few days and weeks, whether they follow through with that,” said Widakuswara.
VOA, which has transmitted news coverage worldwide since its formation during World War II, had broadcast in 49 languages to 420 million people across more than 100 countries. Under the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the agency, it has been limited to four languages.
In total, about 1,400 people at Voice of America and the U.S. Agency for Global Media, or roughly 85% of its workforce, lost their jobs since March 2025.
“There’s about 120 working right now, and that’s all based in D.C.,” said Widakuswara. “We don’t have anyone in our foreign bureaus, we don’t have anybody, basically, to cover the news.”
“We have people in Washington, D.C., at our headquarters, with no access to newswires, because they canceled that for almost a whole year. They just returned Reuters a couple of days ago,” she added.
Lake contends government-run news outlets are wasteful and their outputs should promote the administration’s views.
“The American people gave President Trump a mandate to cut bloated bureaucracy, eliminate waste, and restore accountability to government,” she said, on X. “An activist judge is trying to stand in the way of those efforts at USAGM. Judge Lamberth has a pattern of activist rulings, and this case is no different.”
Widakuswara disagrees, saying “it would be a waste of taxpayers’ money” if instead of broadcasting journalism, VOA were to produce propaganda, because no one listens to what they believe is propaganda.
She said VOA has earned its reputation as a solid news source.
“If you look at all sorts of surveys, the trust level is more than 80%,” Widakuswara said. “There’s a reason why they trust us and they don’t trust state funded media such as Russia Today or Xinhua. It is because they know what’s coming out of VOA is not propaganda.”
Reflecting on VOA’s current output under the Trump administration, “We are not fulfilling our mandate to produce journalism, and we don’t want to continue down that path,” said Widakuswara.
VOA has traditionally aimed to cover news without regard for the party in the White House, said Widakuswara. “And don’t forget that U.S. foreign policy and priorities change with the administrations.”
“We certainly do not want to be any administration’s mouthpiece because that is not our mandate from Congress,” she said.
WTOP’s Ana Golden and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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