Trump Admin Ordered to Reinstate Over 1,000 Employees of Agency That Runs Voice of America

The order followed a previous ruling that said Kari Lake was improperly appointed as the agency’s acting CEO last year.

Kari Lake speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel And Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Md., on Feb. 21, 2025. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

A federal judge has given the Trump administration just one week to reinstate over a thousand U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) employees who were laid off last year by the organization’s CEO, Kari Lake.

However, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth declined to require the government to reinstate contractors working for the agency. He ruled that those individuals have to go to the Court of Federal Claims for relief.