VOA Staff Sues Donald Trump's Government After Funding Stopped

Steve Lodge, whose father Robert Lodge is a correspondent at VOA, stood up in a protest in front of the organization's headquarters in Washington DC. (BBC/EPA)

JAKARTA - Voice of America (VOA) staff filed a lawsuit against United States President Donald Trump following the halt to funding by the US.

The staff accused the government of illegally closing the media, the Washington Post reported.

The lawsuit filed by six VOA journalists includes a former department head covering the White House, as quoted from the news.

Reported by the Washington Post, the lawsuit was filed in a New York court on Friday (21/3).

The plaintiffs demanded that the media be stuck again, stating that the Trump administration's decision was allegedly against US federal law.

Previously, Trump had signed an executive order on the reduction of the functions and duties of several departments as much as possible to combat the bureaucracy, including the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) which controls Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (known in Russia as a media for foreign agents as well as unwanted organizations) and also VOA.

Under Trump's decision, a number of government organizations must reduce the function and duties of their employees to a minimum that has been stipulated by US law.