‘Massive gift to America's enemies': Activists decry cuts to government-funded networks
Radio Free Europe streamed unflinching coverage of Russia's war in Ukraine to Russians when the Kremlin banned its citizens from calling it a war.
Radio Free Asia bravely exposed China's mass detention of the Uyghurs, a predominately Muslim ethnic minority in the far west of the country.
The Open Technology Fund helped fund the creation of Signal, the hugely popular encrypted messaging app.
All three American government-funded outlets are in jeopardy now that the Trump administration has terminated all of the grant programs at the US Agency for Global Media, or USAGM.
The administration said Saturday that the agency is 'not salvageable.' Thousands of employees and contractors are now trying to figure out what's next for them.
Advocates for the networks, including lawmakers in both the United States and Europe, say the cutbacks will undermine press freedoms and hurt America's standing in the world.
America's international broadcasters have, for more than eight decades, 'served as critical sources of independent news for audiences living under censorship, state-controlled media, and information blackouts,' the UK-based Association for International Broadcasting said in a statement. 'Their reporting provides an essential counterbalance to disinformation and propaganda in some of the most restrictive media environments in the world.'
The president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Steve Capus, was more blunt over the weekend: He said the termination of the network 'would be a massive gift to America's enemies. The Iranian Ayatollahs, Chinese communist leaders, and autocrats in Moscow and Minsk would celebrate the demise of RFE/RL after 75 years. Handing our adversaries a win would make them stronger and America weaker.'
The biggest network targeted by Trump's dismantling is Voice of America, a global news outlet with stations and websites in local languages around the world. Voice of America abruptly stopped publishing new stories Saturday when virtually the entire staff was placed on administrative leave and told to stop working.
Until Saturday, USAGM also bankrolled networks in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, as well as the Open Technology Fund, which fights online censorship and promotes an open internet, countering repression and surveillance by authoritarian regimes. The agency also oversees the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which has a long history of broadcasting news in Spanish to the island of Cuba.
The Trump administration has indicated that the funds for those efforts are being cut off, though the networks were still operating as of Sunday.
Since the agency was established and funded by Congress, and its broadcasting initiatives have historically won bipartisan support, some employees are wondering if and when Trump's actions will be challenged.
Radio Free Asia CEO Bay Fang said 'we plan to challenge this short-sighted order and pursue whatever means necessary to continue our work and protect our courageous journalists.'
Fang called the grant cutoff 'a reward to dictators and despots, including the Chinese Communist Party, who would like nothing better than to have their influence go unchecked in the information space.'
That's the primary point made by outside advocates, as well. USAGM 'promotes press freedom and counters disinformation worldwide,' Democratic congresswoman Lois Frankel said Saturday. 'Dismantling it silences independent journalism, emboldens authoritarian regimes, and weakens democracy at home and abroad.'
Republican congressman Don Bacon also praised the broadcasters for 'getting America's story to the rest of the world.'
The Trump White House is telling a completely different story. In a press release, the administration claimed the 'Voice of Radical America' produced 'radical propaganda.' Trump loyalist Kari Lake, who was tapped to oversee Voice of America, said 'waste, fraud, and abuse run rampant in this agency and American taxpayers shouldn't have to fund it.'
In a late-night executive order on Friday, Trump said the agency should be reduced to its bare minimum function as required by statute.
Affected employees are now left wondering if Lake and her deputies will try to transform the gutted networks into an overtly partisan, pro-Trump media apparatus.
For now, they've been told to remain on leave 'until further notice.'
Liam Scott, who covers the press freedom beat for VOA, said that 10 journalists from US-funded broadcasters are currently 'imprisoned around the world for doing their jobs.'
He wrote on X, 'I hope they will not be forgotten.'
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Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Protests intensify in Los Angeles after Trump deploys National Guard troops
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It was the third and most intense day of demonstrations against Mr Trump's immigration crackdown in the region, as the arrival of around 300 Guard troops spurred anger and fear among many residents. The Guard was deployed specifically to protect federal buildings, including the detention centre where protesters concentrated. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said officers were 'overwhelmed' by the remaining protesters. He said they included regular agitators who appear at demonstrations to cause trouble. Several dozen people were arrested throughout the weekend of protest. One was detained on Sunday for throwing a Molotov cocktail at police, and another for ramming a motorcycle into a line of officers. Let's get this straight: 1) Local law enforcement didn't need help. 2) Trump sent troops anyway — to manufacture chaos and violence. 3) Trump succeeded. 4) Now things are destabilized and we need to send in more law enforcement just to clean up Trump's mess. — Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 9, 2025 Mr Trump responded to Mr McDonnell on Truth Social, telling him to arrest protesters in face masks. 'Looking really bad in L.A. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!' he wrote. Starting in the morning, the troops stood shoulder to shoulder, carrying long guns and riot shields as protesters shouted 'shame' and 'go home'. After some closely approached the guard members, another set of uniformed officers advanced on the group, shooting smoke-filled canisters into the street. Minutes later, the Los Angeles Police Department fired rounds of crowd-control munitions to disperse the protesters, who they said were assembled unlawfully. Much of the group then moved to block traffic on the 101 freeway until state patrol officers cleared them from the roadway by late afternoon. Nearby, at least four self-driving Waymo cars were set on fire, sending large plumes of black smoke into the sky and exploding intermittently as the electric vehicles burned. By evening, police had issued an unlawful assembly order shutting down several blocks of downtown Los Angeles. Flash bangs echoed out every few seconds into the evening. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom requested that Mr Trump remove the guard members in a letter on Sunday afternoon, calling their deployment a 'serious breach of state sovereignty'. He was in Los Angeles meeting local law enforcement and officials. The deployment appeared to be the first time in decades that a state's national guard was activated without a request from its governor, a significant escalation against those who have sought to hinder the administration's mass deportation efforts. Mr Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass blamed the increasingly aggressive protests on Mr Trump's decision to deploy the Guard, calling it a move designed to inflame tensions. They have both urged protesters to remain peaceful. 'What we're seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration,' she said in an afternoon press conference. 'This is about another agenda, this isn't about public safety.' But Mr McDonnell, the LAPD chief, said the protests were following a similar pattern for episodes of civil unrest, with things ramping up in the second and third days. He pushed back against claims by the Trump administration that the LAPD had failed to help federal authorities when protests broke out on Friday after a series of immigration raids. His department responded as quickly as it could, and had not been notified in advance of the raids and therefore was not pre-positioned for protests, he said. Mr Newsom, meanwhile, has repeatedly said that California authorities had the situation under control. He mocked Mr Trump for posting a congratulatory message to the Guard on social media before troops had even arrived in Los Angeles, and said on MSNBC that Mr Trump never floated deploying the Guard during a Friday phone call. He called Mr Trump a 'stone cold liar'. The admonishments did not deter the administration. 'It's a bald-faced lie for Newsom to claim there was no problem in Los Angeles before President Trump got involved,' White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. The arrival of the National Guard followed two days of protests that began Friday in Los Angeles before spreading on Saturday to Paramount, a heavily Latino city south of the city, and neighbouring Compton. Federal agents arrested immigrants in LA's fashion district, in a Home Depot parking lot and at several other locations on Friday. The next day, they were staging at a Department of Homeland Security office near another Home Depot in Paramount, which drew out protesters who suspected another raid. Federal authorities later said there was no enforcement activity at that Home Depot. The weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the LA area climbed above 100, federal authorities said. Many more were arrested while protesting, including a prominent union leader who was accused of impeding law enforcement. The protests did not reach the size of past demonstrations that brought the National Guard to Los Angeles, including the Watts and Rodney King riots, and the 2020 protests against police violence, in which Mr Newsom requested the assistance of federal troops. The last time the National Guard was activated without a governor's permission was in 1965, when President Lyndon B Johnson sent troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama, according to the Brennan Centre for Justice. 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Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Newsom says California will sue Trump over National Guard, dares Homan to arrest him
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New York Post
26 minutes ago
- New York Post
Newsom plans to sue Trump admin over National Guard deployment to LA even as LAPD chief admits cops are ‘overwhelmed' by violent anti-ICE riots
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REUTERS 'At present, law enforcement authorities from the City and County of Los Angeles are safeguarding public safety, and, as demonstrated by the robust law enforcement response yesterday evening to protect federal facilities, local law enforcement resources are sufficient to maintain order,' Newsom wrote in the letter. He claimed the Trump administration — which said it would deploy 2,000 National Guard troops — did not coordinate its sending in of the troops with his office, as required by the directive. At the same time, the Department of Defense warned it has 500 Marines ready to deploy to the California city 'if violence continues.' Los Angeles delved further into chaos Sunday night, on the third day of protests against ICE officers' raids in the city. 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LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell called the barbarity 'disgusting' during a news conference, where he said the protests have gotten 'increasingly worse and more violent.' 'We are overwhelmed,' McDonnell said, according to NBC Los Angeles. 'Tonight, we had individuals out there shooting commercial-grade fireworks at our officers. That can kill you.' 8 Police cleared demonstrators after they blocked a street with a barricade during a protest against federal immigration sweeps. REUTERS Newsom blamed the chaos and violence on Trump's involvement. 'We didn't have a problem until Trump got involved. This is a serious breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they're actually needed,' Newsom wrote on X. 'Rescind the order. Return control to California.' 8 A demonstrator waved a Mexico flag in front of burning dumpsters in Los Angeles on Sunday night. REUTERS Newsom debuted his soon-to-be-filed lawsuit against the Trump administration later Sunday evening and accused the president of being 'a stone-cold liar.' In his announcement, he claimed that Trump 'never once' mentioned the National Guard when the two talked on Friday. 'It was a very civil conversation. I've always wanted to approach engagement with the President of the United States in a respectful and responsible way. But there's no working with the president, there's only working for him. And I will never work for Donald Trump,' Newsom said. President Trump on Saturday ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to be dispatched to the protests. As of Sunday, roughly 300 had arrived, with 1,700 waiting in the wings. 8 Demonstrators partially shut down the 101 Freeway near downtown Los Angeles. ALLISON DINNER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Still, some Trump officials decided even that wasn't enough to cap the 2,000-man protests. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Pentagon has an additional 500 Marines on standby nearby Camp Pendleton in LA. Earlier today, a protest including many veterans gathered outside the camp's grounds in opposition to military use in civil demonstrations, CBS 8 reported. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also offering rewards up to $50,000 for information on protesters who allegedly assaulted a police officer at the protests on Sunday. One of the men was even added to the FBI's 'Most Wanted' list. 8 It is unclear how many people were arrested. Newsom is on the ground in LA meeting with the LA police and sheriffs to figure out next steps for quelling the protests sparked 'by chaos from Washington,' he wrote on X. 'We're here to keep the peace — not play into Trump's political games,' he wrote. LA Mayor Karen Bass echoed Newsom's sentiments, arguing the presence of the National Guard would only make things worse. 8 As of Sunday, roughly 300 members of the National Guard were in Los Angeles. Getty Images 'Deploying federalized troops on the heels of these raids is a chaotic escalation,' she said in a statement. 'If you want there to be chaos, then have troops on the ground when there is absolutely no need for that to happen,' she later added. Trump slammed both Newsom and Bass in a Truth Social post late Sunday night and claimed 'paid insurrectionists' were responsible for the riots. 'Governor Gavin Newscum and 'Mayor' Bass should apologize to the people of Los Angeles for the absolutely horrible job that they have done, and this now includes the ongoing L.A. riots,' he wrote. 'These are not protesters, they are troublemakers and insurrectionists.' 'Looking really bad L.A. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!' Trump later posted.
