Federal judge says Kari Lake can't fire Voice of America director

Source: NPR

August 28, 2025 6:10 PM ET


A federal judge ruled on Thursday that Trump administration official Kari Lake can't unilaterally fire the director of Voice of America, saying she's breaking the law in trying to do so.

Instead, by law, Lake must have the explicit backing of an advisory panel set up by Congress to help insulate the international broadcaster and its sister networks from political pressure. As President Trump dismissed six of the seven members of the panel shortly after taking office and has not named their replacements to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Lake cannot take such an action.

Voice of America Director Michael Abramowitz had initially been offered a reassignment to oversee a handful of employees at a shortwave radio transmission facility in Greenville, N.C. But the reassignment would have been illegal, too, U.S Senior District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth wrote.

"The defendants do not even feign that their efforts to remove Abramowitz comply with that statutory requirement," Lamberth wrote in his decision. "There is no longer a question of whether the termination was lawful."

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/08/28/nx-s1-5521328/judge-kari-lake-voice-of-america-firing-judge-ruling