VOA's final reckoning

Politico

3 hours ago

Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government, your guide to Donald Trump's unprecedented overhaul of the federal government — the key decisions, the critical characters and the power dynamics that are upending Washington and beyond.
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The Trump administration today sent out termination notices to hundreds of employees at Voice of America.
Included in that group are employees working for the network's Persian-language service who were called back from administrative leave just last week in the wake of Israel's attack on Iran, according to two people familiar with the decision.
Today's move — which makes official what has long been expected since hundreds of contract employees got termination notices in early May — is the latest step in the Trump administration's sweeping agenda to downsize the federal government, tamp down on the press and remake America's role in the global order.
Critics of the administration's focus on VOA have said that the network has played a vital role in combatting disinformation abroad. But the administration says these cuts are in service of 'cutting waste' and putting 'American taxpayers first.'
'Today, we took decisive action to effectuate President Trump's agenda to shrink the out-of-control federal bureaucracy,' senior presidential adviser KARI LAKE said in a statement.
The action eliminates 1,400 jobs, roughly an 85 percent cut to the workforce.
The last day on payroll for the employees will be Labor Day.
Those affected by today's cuts who are not eligible for mandatory retirement, are being terminated without severance pay — contradicting VOA's parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media's policy on severance, according to one of the people.
'As our legal team fight[s] for our rights under the law, we call on Congress to continue its long tradition of bipartisan support for VOA,' the named plaintiffs in VOA's lawsuit against the Trump administration said in a statement. 'Moscow, Beijing, Tehran and extremist groups are flooding the global information space with anti-American propaganda. Do not cede this ground by silencing America's voice.'
All of the lead plaintiffs — former White House bureau chief PATSY WIDAKUSWARA, former press freedom editor JESSICA JERREAT and former director of strategy and performance assessment KATE NEEPER — received their RIF notices today.
Lake said in her statement that 250 employees will remain across VOA, the the Office of Cuba Broadcasting and their parent company, USAGM. She noted that none of the OCB's 33 employees were terminated.
The government-funded network, which was founded 80 years ago to combat Nazi disinformation during World War II, has — largely unsuccessfully — fought the administration's decision in court. The administration has sent RIF notices to employees in small batches for weeks.
But today's notice could deliver the coup de grâce for VOA.
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POTUS PUZZLER
Who was the first president to have a phone installed in the White House?
(Answer at bottom.)
Agenda Setting
GET OUTTA HERE: The Trump administration has put new restrictions on members of Congress' access to immigration enforcement field offices after several Democratic lawmakers were refused access or even arrested, Reuters' JONATHAN ALLEN reports. New DHS guidelines also say ICE has sole power over whether to deny or cancel a tour of a detention center by a member of Congress.
Federal law prohibits DHS from preventing members of Congress from entering any facility 'used to detain or otherwise house aliens,' and lawmakers do not have to give DHS prior notice of a planned visit. But the new guidelines say that the law does not apply to ICE field offices, although immigrants are often detained at ICE field offices before being transferred to an ICE jail.
TIME TO MERGE: The Trump administration is considering whether to transfer some programs from USDA's Rural Development agency to the Small Business Administration, according to documents obtained by our MARCIA BROWN. SBA staff have drafted an executive order for President DONALD TRUMP, which would give SBA control over three programs in the Rural Business Cooperative Service, which offers grants, loan guarantees and other capital products.
However, USDA officials have pushed back on the proposal in a briefing memo meant for Agriculture Secretary BROOKE ROLLINS, arguing that SBA is not equipped to handle those programs and that it would detract from the administration's priorities.
(WILD)FIRE AT WILL: The Trump administration's changes to federal wildfire response have left public health, meteorology, forest management and disaster experts concerned that the nation's wildfire defenses will be decimated, our ZACK COLMAN reports. In an executive order, Trump moved to consolidate federal firefighting personnel and ramp up the use of AI and other technologies to identify and respond to wildfires.
He's also looking for state and local officials to take more responsibility for wildfire response. The administration is 'doubling down on a failed approach,' said DAVE CALKIN, who served 25 years in the U.S. Forest Service before leaving in April through the deferred resignation program. 'This approach is incredibly hard on the firefighters,' he said. 'The firefighters are not well.'
WHO'S IN, WHO'S OUT
THE PLANS FOR EPA: The EPA has laid out more details on Trump's fiscal blueprint to slash the agency's funding, gut environmental justice efforts and downsize its workforce, our KEVIN BOGARDUS reports. The agency's 736-page justification to Congress for the fiscal 2026 plan was posted online recently.
EPA's environmental justice work, designed to aid underserved communities struggling with pollution, would be axed. Zero dollars nor personnel are allocated to community grants, technical assistance and coordination with the Superfund program for that work.
Musk Radar
BACK TO THE BASICS: ELON MUSK, who has been relatively quiet on his social media platform X in recent weeks, did not mince words about top Trump adviser SERGIO GOR both Thursday and today. Musk on Thursday called Gor — who played a role in his split with the president — a 'snake,' our GISELLE RUHIYYIH EWING reports. And this afternoon, Musk said that Gor is 'breaking the law,' referring to a New York Post story from this week that found Gor did not turn in his Standard Form 86, a questionnaire of more than 100 pages required for officials who need security clearances.
In the Courts
MORE ON USAGM: A federal judge today ordered USAGM to pay the money it owes to Open Technology Fund, a tech nonprofit promoting global internet freedom, for the rest of the fiscal year, our ANTHONY ADRAGNA reports. Judge ROYCE LAMBERTH of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ordered the agency, and Lake, to immediately dispense more than $2 million in funds appropriated by Congress to OTF and to pay out another $2 million through the rest of fiscal 2025.
What We're Reading
Seeking Jobs and Purpose, Fired Federal Workers Form New Networks (NYT's Eileen Sullivan)
White House floats a new funding trick — and GOP lawmakers grimace (POLITICO's Jennifer Scholtes)
A former DOGE employee gives his account of working for the operation (NPR's Bobby Allyn)
POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER
In 1877, former President RUTHERFORD B. HAYES had the first telephone installed in the telegraph room in what was then known as the Executive Mansion, our ANDY GLASS reported in 2017. While Hayes embraced the new technology, few people called him. The phone, whose number was '1,' initially could only be reached by the Treasury Department. Fifty years later, HERBERT HOOVER had the first phone line installed at his desk in the Oval Office.
Former President BARACK OBAMA recounted Hayes' thoughts on the invention in 2012: 'It's a great invention but who would ever want to use one?'