Overview

• U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth said Lake was “verging on contempt” after she failed to comply with orders to disclose her plans for the broadcaster.
• Lake and two aides, including Frank Wuco, must give sworn depositions and turn over information previously withheld about Voice of America and its parent agency.
• The court also pressed for a detailed accounting of how the administration is using the roughly $260 million that Congress approved for Voice of America.
• Lamberth has previously found the dismantling effort likely unconstitutional and inconsistent with the International Broadcasting Act’s requirement to maintain operations.
• Under Lake’s tenure, hundreds of contractors were fired and many employees put on paid leave, with programming reportedly reduced to about an hour daily in four languages.