Kari Lake Sends Layoff Notices to 639 Voice of America Staff, Cutting Roughly 85% of the Workforce

On June 20, 2025, Kari Lake, the senior adviser running the U.S. Agency for Global Media, issued 639 reduction-in-force notices to Voice of America employees, effective September 1. Combined with earlier actions, the agency said about 1,400 positions — roughly 85% of the workforce — were being eliminated across USAGM and its networks, which include Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks. Those terminated included VOA's White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara, senior White House correspondent Anita Powell, and press freedom editor Jessica Jerreat. Lake said American taxpayers had been 'forced to bankroll an agency that's been riddled with dysfunction, bias, and waste,' and cited a March 2025 executive order directing the agency's reduction to its statutory minimum.

Voice of America was established by statute with a congressionally mandated charter requiring accurate and comprehensive news; dismantling it by workforce action raises the question of whether an agency Congress created and funds can be functionally closed through personnel decisions.

Unions, press-freedom organizations and affected journalists had sued over the shutdown, and that litigation continued after the June notices.