'Trump in the style of Kim Jong-Il': Voice of America staff sues Kari Lake
'Trump in the style of Kim Jong-Il': Voice of America staff sues Kari Lake
Taylor Seely, Arizona RepublicMon, March 23, 2026 at 11:43 PM UTC
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'Trump in the style of Kim Jong-Il': Voice of America staff sues Kari Lake
Voice of America staffers accused Kari Lake and the U.S. Agency for Global Media of "censorship" and "propaganda" in a new lawsuit filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C.
The employees said Lake and Michael Rigas, the acting CEO of U.S. Agency for Global Media, used VOA to control journalists' reporting, "suppressing" material the Trump administration opposed and passing off "partisan messages" as "news." Global Media agency is an independent agency of the United States government that overseas Voice of America.
That has led to censoring interviews, video footage and stories about the Iran war and "hijacking" VOA's Mandarin Service, which provides radio and broadcast programming in China, "to republish verbatim White House talking points and label them, falsely, as 'news,'" the complaint says. Under Rigas' leadership, journalists rarely leave the newsroom to report and instead publish stories "that often appear to be re-written press releases" from the federal government, according to the complaint.
"They are ... turning VOA into a partisan mouthpiece of the Administration," the lawsuit alleges, " ... disseminating images of President Trump in the style of Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il" of North Korea.
Voice of America is a United States' funded international news broadcast service, providing news in 50 languages to more than 354 million people, its website states. The broadcaster produces digital, television and radio content.
The complaint alleges that "stories that VOA would normally cover in detail, like the deadly bombing of a girls’ school in Iran on Feb. 28, 2026, are barely mentioned, and uncomfortable facts, like death tolls from U.S. strikes in Iran, are omitted from the coverage altogether."
The Trump administration's control over VOA "is antithetical to the tradition of press freedom that has marked America since its founding," according to the lawsuit. It violates the First Amendment of the Constitution, which protects speech from government infringement, as well as federal law that requires VOA to provide independent, accurate and objective news coverage, the complaint says.
Federal law erects a "firewall" between the VOA newsroom and its publishers and federal political appointees, which has been broken, the lawsuit says. The result has silenced journalists and editors and deprived listeners, viewers and readers from around the world who rely on VOA of news.
Alex Nicoll, director of public affairs for USAGM, said in response to the lawsuit: "American taxpayers fund USAGM and Voice of America, and those funds by law must support broadcasting that reflects U.S. policy and the interests of the American people. USAGM is responsible for oversight of its networks, including Voice of America, and for ensuring compliance with the VOA Charter, which requires authoritative, accurate journalism that is reflective of and clearly presents U.S. policies."
That Charter says in-part, "VOA will represent America, not any single segment of American society, and will therefore present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions."
It says also, "VOA will present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively, and will also present responsible discussions and opinion on these policies."
The March 23 lawsuit comes after Lake and the USAGM suffered a separate court loss earlier this month, when U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth found that Lake was unlawfully running the agency. Lamberth ordered more than 1,000 VOA journalists back to work, undoing Lake's prior decisions to abruptly place 1,042 out of 1,147 full-time employees on administrative leave a day after Trump issued an executive order to reduce the federal work force.
The federal agency was initially given a March 23 deadline to reactivate the employees but successfully sought an extension. Lamberth ordered USAGM to file a progress update on April 1.
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Who is behind the VOA lawsuit against Kari Lake?
The latest lawsuit was brought by four VOA staffers who were placed on leave; PEN America, a writers' group focused on free speech; and Reporters Without Borders, Inc., a nonprofit organization focused on preserving the right to freedom of information.
The individuals and groups are seeking a jury trial and a permanent injunction banning Lake, Rigas and USAGM from infringing on the newsroom's editorial independence.
The VOA staffers include:
Barry Newhouse, the acting director of the VOA Central News Division in Washington, D.C., from October 2023 until December 2025;
Ayesha Tanzeem, director of VOA’s South & Central Asia (“SCA”) Division, placed on leave in March 2025.
Dong Hyuk Lee, who joined VOA in April 2006 as chief of the Korean Service.
Ksenia Turkova, who worked for the VOA Russian Service from 2017 to 2025 as a personal services contractor.
Lake, a former Fox 10 newscaster, took a role in the Trump administration after her losing bids for political office in Arizona in 2022 and 2024.
She has carried out Trump’s plan to dismantle the agency in line with the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 report.
Why was Voice of America a target for cuts in the Trump administration?
VOA, Radio Free Europe and related government-funded operations quickly became a target for elimination when Trump returned to the White House.
Lake made Frank Wuco an adviser to her at USAGM. He is a conservative former talk show host who promoted the birther conspiracy involving former President Barack Obama and is credited for help on the Project 2025 report’s chapter critical of USAGM and its organizations, including VOA.
In the section of the 920-page report dealing with USAGM, it said USAGM’s “firewall” preventing editorial oversight of its media organizations has paved way for the media organizations to join “the mainstream media’s anti-U.S. chorus and denigrating the American story — all in the name of so-called journalistic independence.”
In a February 2026 social media post, USAGM said, "Voice of America is carrying President Trump’s message about Operation Epic Fury across all language services."
Lake, in a February interview with the Gateway Pundit, said, “What we’re doing right now is we’re getting the president’s message out.”
Ronald J. Hansen contributed to this report.
Taylor Seely is a First Amendment Reporting Fellow at The Arizona Republic / azcentral.com. Do you have a story about the government infringing on your First Amendment rights? Reach her at tseely@arizonarepublic.com or by phone at 480-476-6116.
Seely's role is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake hit with First Amendment lawsuit from VOA workers
Source: “AOL Breaking”
