The Trump administration has failed to fund Congressional approval for free European/Radio Liberty, radio, despite an order that continues to run by judges, according to court filings and media officials.
The newsgroup known as RFE/RL has not received nearly $12 million as it oversees April funding from the Federal Government Agency, a US global media agency. An extraordinary delay in spending forced news organizations to rely largely on Congressional funding, reducing some of their staff and some of their programming.
“We hope that USAGM will send out the funds for April soon,” newsgroup adviser Benjamin Herman said in a statement. “European and Asian journalists assume enormous risks to work for RFE/RL and rely on timely payments of funds allocated to these Congresses.”
The US global media agency cancelled its RFE/RL satellite contract on Thursday, which could hinder the provision of Russian language programs from news outlets, according to two RFE/RL officials who spoke about the terms of anonymity to discuss issues related to the ongoing litigation. Approximately 40 European partner stations rely on satellites as they broadcast live radio-free Europe programs in Russian.
In March, a federal judge in Washington temporarily suspended President Trump's efforts to shut down news organizations, deciding that his administration could not unilaterally close news groups established by law. Judge Lois C. Lambers of Washington's Federal District Numbers wrote, “The ongoing operation of RFE/RL is in the public interest.”
However, Marnie L. Cheek, the lawyer representing the newsgroup, said in a court filing Monday that Trump officials “refused to pay the funds allocated to RFE/RL's Congress in April 2025.”
The inaction appears to be in conflict with a letter sent by the Global Media Agency to the news organization two days after the court order, revoking the previous directive that ended funding for the grant.
Lake Kari, a special adviser appointed by Trump of the US global media agency, said in a statement Thursday that the administration has not spent any funds to increase surveillance and ensure accountability.
“RFE/RL is one of many grantees funded by US global media agencies through Congressional appropriations,” said Lake, a local news anchor and former candidate for Arizona Senator and governor, frequently attacked journalists in her campaign.
“Like other agencies, the USAGM has revealed significant waste, fraud and abuse among its grantees,” she said without providing evidence. “The agency is diligently stepping up surveillance while facing unlimited taxpayer money legally without accountability.”
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was founded in the 1950s as an American intelligence campaign secretly funded through the C.IA. The broadcasting stations sought to promote anti-communist opposition in Eastern Europe and Russia.
It has been funded by Congress since the early 1970s and has been editorial independence. Today, RFE/RL is reported in nearly 30 languages, reaching 47 million people each week in 23 countries, including Afghanistan, Russia and Hungary. News organizations are independent, nonprofits that receive almost all funds from the federal government.
“For over 70 years, RFE/RL has been a national security asset in the United States and has fought censorship to bring news to millions of people in the world's most oppressive society,” news organization president Stephen Capus said in a statement Tuesday. He vowed that news outlets will “stay in court” until the Trump administration controls all the funds Congress has approved through the spending bill.
RFE/RL still offers some compensation as it may rely on savings from previous rounds of funding as an entity separate from the federal government.
That's not like Voice of America, a federal agency in which journalists are government officials. Journalists at Voice of America, including directors, have taken indefinite leave by Trump's executive order and are challenging the move in court. Last week, a federal judge temporarily suspended the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle the US voice, but it has not reopened, with most of its employees and contractors on leave.
