Trump Administration Rescinds Voice of America Layoffs After Errors in Notices
The Trump administration on Friday rescinded the layoff notices it had sent to employees at Voice of America after employees discovered errors in documents detailing the terms that could later nullify or significantly delay President Trump's attempts to gut the news organization.
The email rescinding last week's layoff notices was sent by Voice of America's human resources office to employees based in Washington, where around 90 percent of its union-protected employees reside, according to the layoff plan the Trump administration sent to Congress earlier this month.
But those reporters and support staff are not being called back to work, and Voice of America's parent agency, U.S. Agency for Global Media, 'will be running another RIF in the near future,' the email said, referring to federal layoffs with the acronym for 'reductions in force.' Hundreds of journalists and support staff at Voice of America had been scheduled to be laid off on Sept. 1.
Kari Lake, a close Trump ally and the senior adviser to the global media agency, is leading the effort to gut Voice of America. She said in an email that her plan to reduce the agency's work force by 85 percent 'has remained unchanged.'
'The email that went out today allows employees to access and update their personnel files ahead of completion of the RIF,' Ms. Lake said.
The Trump administration has accused Voice of America of spreading partisan 'propaganda,' calling it 'the voice of Radical America.'
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