Skip to content
A Trump administration judge ordered on Tuesday to spend the grant funds based on Congress that it has blocked from Radio Europe/Radio Liberty, a federal expense news organization that provides independent reports in limited freedom of the press.
The order of the judge, Royce C. Lambers of the US Provincial Court of Colombia, the Trump administration to pay the news Corporation $ 12 million for April financing. Judge Lambres seems to close a loophole of his previous rule, allowing the Trump administration to maintain the effectiveness of funds for Radio Europe/Radio Freedom while compliance with the state with the court.
“In this case,” the judge wrote in his rule, “It was the Congress that commanded that the money was discussed” must go to Radio Europe/Radio Freedom in the legislation signed by President Trump himself.
“In short: Congress and current President Trump have formed a law that allocates money to the prosecutors.”
The judge, one of those appointed to President Ronald Reagan, has also provided an unusual defense of the federal judiciary and his non -partisan nature, and Mr. Trump has called in recent months to isolate and manage federal judges towards the open challenge of the courts in some cases.
In recent months, Judge Lambres wrote, “People from inside and outside the government have accused different courts – including me – I – on charges of the constitutional crisis, raped the authorities in Article Two of the Presidency, undermined popular will or dictating how executive agencies can manage.”
He continued: “The sub -text, if not the title of these accusations is that federal judges are driven by a personal political agenda.”
Judge Lambar refused to confirm that he was dictating the administration’s policy to abuse the authority or bending with the news organization out of admiration for its journalistic work.
He said: “When President Reagan nominated me to this seat, I swore that I would do my duties” without respecting people honestly and ending under the constitution. “
He added: “I am wise this section every day. I am not a political actor, and I do not have a pressure agenda. I think the same applies to my colleagues to the federal seat.”
In March, the Trump administration ended the grant for Radio Europe/Radio Freedom after Mr. Trump signed an executive order seeking the intestine of its mother organization, the American Agency for World Media. Judge Lambres temporarily prevented the end of the grant after about a week, saying that Mr. Trump could not close an organization funded by Congress.
After the verdict in March, the administration reflected the termination but continued to block money, confirming that it is negotiating new conditions for the grant agreement with the port, also known as the RFE/RL.
In the proposed agreement, Trump officials sought to obtain the powers of money for the federal funded broadcaster and closing parts of its programs, the moves that he argued in Europe had banned the Congress to ensure journalistic integrity.
The agreement will also allow the Trump administration to determine the members of the Port Board of Directors. The Authority Conference was canceled in 2020 after Mr. Trump was appointed to the World Media Agency with the editing decisions of the news group.
The news organization asked the Trump administration to pay the money that was entitled to it for the month of April so that it could maintain its operations continuing while negotiating a new contract, but the government ignored the request several times.
Trump officials also went eight days without responding to the email of the news group until a few hours before a hearing in front of the judge.
“They will be on a party to the tactics of delaying the defendants,” Judge Lambert wrote, in reference to Trump officials, which would allow the agency to evade indefinitely from the judicial review.
European Radio Liberty, which reports nearly 30 languages ​​and reached 47 million people every week, was on the brink of collapse before the court re -funded it.
It has ended most contracts with independent journalists, missed payments from office rental contracts and conducted more than 120 employees. The Al -Akhbar Group, a private non -profit institution with an independent council and an employment authority, receives 99 percent of its budget from Congress financing, according to the court files. The free radio lawyers in Europe said the news outlet would have stopped working by June without more money.
The ruling is followed by another issued by Judge Lambres, who ordered the Trump administration to restore operations in Voice of America, another news perpetrator funded by the government that the administration has moved to close by placing almost all of its employees on a paid vacation. Unlike RFE/RL, Voice of America is a federal agency who are government employees.
Mr. Trump attacked America’s voice asAmerican radical voiceAnd accused the port, which provides news to countries such as Russia, China and Iran, of spreading “anti -America” ​​and party “propaganda”.
Judge Lambar also ordered the administration to stop its efforts to close the two federal news rooms: Radio Free Asia and broadcasting networks in the Middle East. But he stopped granting this relief to free Europe at the time because the government and the news organization are still negotiating.
During a hearing on Monday, Abyel Stout, the lawyer for the Ministry of Justice in the case, argued that the court should not interfere in active negotiations of the contract, because these measures can set a precedent that can link the hands of the government in deals with other parties.
Judge Lambar did not find her argument convincing.
The judge said that the lawyers of the free radio in Europe “do not say they are not satisfied with the circumstances,” Mrs. Stote interrupted. “They say the conditions are illegal.”
When the RFE/RL lawyer, Thomas R. Brugeso, he said he got six points that refuted the arguments of Mrs. Stote, the judge intervened again.
“Only six?” Judge Lambres asked, smile.