{"id":2449938,"date":"2025-06-20T16:03:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T20:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-trump-administration-conducts-layoffs-at-voice-of-america\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T16:04:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T20:04:31","slug":"the-trump-administration-conducts-layoffs-at-voice-of-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-trump-administration-conducts-layoffs-at-voice-of-america\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trump administration conducts layoffs at Voice of America"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-trump-administration-conducts-layoffs-at-voice-of-america%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2449938&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Trump administration is set to lay off over 600 employees at Voice of America (VOA), a government-funded news association. This decision has been confirmed by the White House, aligning with previous calls from Kari Lake, an adviser to the agency overseeing VOA, for significant reductions in its workforce. Following the layoffs, VOAS staff will be reduced to fewer than 200 employees, which is under half of what it was at the beginning of 2025. Those affected will remain on paid leave until September 1 before their employment is officially terminated.<\/p>\n<p>Lake has proposed a drastic plan to diminish VOA&#8217;s presence to just 18 employees, ensuring it meets only the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >minimum operational requirements mandated<\/a> by law. This restructuring aligns with President Trump&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republican-led-states-sue-biden-admin-over-expansive-climate-order-targeting-trump-legacy\/\" title=\"Republican...Led States Sue Biden Admin Over Expansive Climate Order Targeting Trump Legacy\">executive order aimed<\/a> at reducing federal bureaucracy and minimizing perceived &#8220;bloat&#8221; within the agency. The White House has been critical of VOA, labeling it the &#8220;Voice of Radical America,&#8221; and has indicated a desire to eliminate what they view as radical propaganda funded by taxpayers.<\/p>\n<p>Critics of the layoffs, including former VOA staff, argue that this move undermines independent journalism and diminishes America&#8217;s voice against anti-american propaganda from countries like Russia, China, and iran. The history of VOA dates back to 1942, when it was established to counter Nazi propaganda, and its dismantling raises concerns about the loss of a crucial platform for democratic ideals globally.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Trump administration conducts layoffs at Voice of America<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/trump-administration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Trump administration<\/a> is laying off more than 600 employees at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/voice-of-america\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Voice of America<\/a>, a government-funded news outlet that provides news to other countries.<\/p>\n<p>The White House confirmed the layoffs to the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-renames-persian-gulf-in-surprise-move-late-tuesday\/\" title=\"Trump Renames Persian Gulf in Surprise Move Late Tuesday\">move doesn&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t come as a surprise, as Kari Lake, a top adviser to VOA&rsquo;s parent agency, the United States Agency for Global Media, previously called for it to be gutted.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3447736\/democrats-arrested-detained-censured-trump-administration-policies\/\">List: Democrats who have been arrested, detained, or censured in anti-Trump protest<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3448821\/trump-special-prosecutor-investigate-2020-election-fraud\/\">Trump calls for special prosecutor to investigate 2020 election &#8216;fraud&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3448635\/trump-sanctions-eight-companies-aiding-iranian-military\/\">Trump sanctions eight companies for aiding Iranian military<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>The layoffs will reduce VOA&rsquo;s staff members to fewer than 200, under half what the organization had at the beginning of 2025. Those laid off have been placed on paid leave until Sept. 1, when their employment will be terminated.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tpd-featured-video featured-post-video in-content bridtv\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2153011\" class=\"brid\" style=\"width:1280;height:720;\"> <\/div>\n<div class=\"tpd-featured-video-placeholder\" style=\"position:relative;overflow:hidden;width:100%;padding-top:56.25%;background-color:#000;\">\n<div style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;bottom:0;right:0;width:100%;height:100%\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Lake sent a letter to Congress earlier this month outlining a plan to leave VOA with 18 employees and strip the organization of anyone except &ldquo;associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In a May email, Lake wrote that she was working to help USAGM comply with President Donald Trump&rsquo;s March 14 executive order to reduce the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/03\/continuing-the-reduction-of-the-federal-bureaucracy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">federal bureaucracy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In accordance with President Trump&rsquo;s executive order dated March 14, we are in the process of rightsizing the agency and reducing the federal bureaucracy to meet administration priorities,&rdquo; she wrote in an email on May 15. &ldquo;We will continue to scale back the bloat at USAGM and make an archaic dinosaur into something worthy of being funded by hardworking Americans. Buckle up. There&rsquo;s more to come.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The White House has been critical of VOA, calling the organization the &ldquo;Voice of Radical America&rdquo; in Trump&rsquo;s March executive order, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/articles\/2025\/03\/the-voice-of-radical-america\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">also said<\/a> that the order &ldquo;will ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>VOA was founded in 1942 as a way for America to combat Nazi propaganda. Its unraveling has drawn criticism from those who believe it continues to serve a uniquely critical function today.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3413679\/voice-of-america-firings-trump-administration-kari-lake\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">TRUMP FIRES ONE-THIRD OF VOICE OF AMERICA STAFF<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Lake&rsquo;s decision &ldquo;spells the death of 83 years of independent journalism that upholds U.S. ideals of democracy and freedom around the world,&rdquo; Patsy Widakuswara, a former Voice of America White House bureau chief who was placed on leave and is leading a lawsuit against Lake and the USAGM, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Moscow, Beijing, Tehran, and extremist groups are flooding the global information space with anti-American propaganda,&rdquo; Widakuswara said. &ldquo;Do not cede this ground by silencing America&rsquo;s voice.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2153011\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2153011\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump administration lays off over 600 at Voice of America<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2449939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/kari-lake.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4106,7970,3634],"class_list":["post-2449938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-administration","tag-layoffs","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/kari-lake.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449938"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2449942,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449938\/revisions\/2449942"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2449939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}