Judge blocks Trump from firing Voice of America staff --The president slashed federal funding of the U.S. media arm, described by an adviser as "a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer" [Exactly.] | 30 March 2025 | A U.S. district judge has issued a restraining order against President Donald Trump's effort to downsize the federal agency that bankrolls Voice of America, a WWII-era broadcaster later retooled by the CIA into a Cold War propaganda weapon. In mid-March, Trump ordered sweeping cuts at VOA's parent organization, the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), as part of a broader push to reduce federal waste and realign foreign aid and other soft power initiatives with the administration's 'America First' policies. The executive order also targeted Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), another USAGM entity founded in the early 1950s as two separate CIA front organizations.