A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to suspend hundreds of layoffs at the agency overseeing Voice of America (VOA), which is led by Kari Lake.
Concretely, U.S. District Judge Royce Lambert ruled that the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) can't fire the 532 people it intended to for the time being, a figure that represents most of its staff.
The ruling comes as several VOA journalists are engulfed in a wider legal battle as they challenge the gutting of the agency.
Lake was questioned in late June about the layoffs at a congressional hearing. There, ep. Gregory Meeks (D-NJ) hammered Lake, asking her if she conducted or reviewed "a written analysis before placing most of the USAGM's and VOA's employees on administrative leave on March 15 before cutting off payments to USAGM grantees in March, or before announcing a reduction in force at the VOA."
Lake insisted that "these are complex questions," but said that "we have reviewed the number of employees, the number of languages."
But as Meeks tried to interrupt Lake to ask her if she had the report, Lake proceeded to hold up a picture of Trump.
"Most of all, what we've reviewed was an executive order March 14 by the man who's in charge of the executive branch. His name is Donald Trump," she said.
Before Meeks' questioning, Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) had noted that Lake had submitted "binders and binders of information" prior to the hearing. This led Meeks to repeatedly ask Lake if she had a record to show what they reviewed.
"I talked to a lot of people at the agency," Lake insisted.
"Do you have a record of that?" Meeks asked.
"You can go back and look at emails. You want me to pull emails?" she responded.
"I want you to show the record of what you did, Ms. Lake. Don't just give me something that's not verified. Tell me, show me the record, because that's what I hear often in the business, you have to have a record. Show me the record that you did," Meeks pushed on.
Representatives for the USAGM didn't respond to Axios' request for comment on the matter.
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