Trump Officials Move to Fire Most Voice of America Journalists

The Trump administration on Friday moved to lay off nearly all of the remaining staff at Voice of America, setting up a potential battle with a federal judge who had blocked attempts to restructure the federally funded news network.

Kari Lake, a fierce Trump ally and the acting chief executive of Voice of America’s oversight agency, announced on social media that the agency sent layoff notices to 532 employees. About 100 journalists and other staff members remained employed. Ms. Lake had to rescind a previous effort in June to layoff workers.

Trump officials first started shuttering government funded newsrooms in March, following the president’s orders. Ms. Lake said on Friday that the latest layoffs would allow these organizations to focus on getting news to people living under Communist governments and dictators.

Ms. Lake has faced significant hurdles in her efforts to shrink Voice of America. Judge Royce C. Lamberth, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled in April that the administration had to restore the network, citing the law that requires the continued broadcasting of Voice of America. Ms. Lake had begun moving to fire employees and cut the number of languages that Voice of America broadcast in.

Despite the order, Voice of America currently broadcasts only in four languages — Persian, Mandarin and the two main languages in Afghanistan, Dari and Pashto. Before, it aired news programs in 49 languages to 360 million people every week, including in Russia, China and Iran. Nearly all 1,300 Voice of America journalists had already been fired or had remained on paid leave before Friday, according to court filings.

Friday’s layoffs came a day after a federal judged blocked Mr. Trump and Ms. Lake from removing the director of Voice of America, Michael Abramowitz, and as Ms. Lake faces the possibility of being held in contempt for defying the judge’s order.