White House: Corporation for Public Broadcasting Biased

The White House on Tuesday released a statement accusing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting of "creating media to support a particular political party on the taxpayers' dime" after National Public Radio filed a lawsuit over federal funding restrictions.

NPR and several local radio stations filed a lawsuit Tuesday over Trump's executive order ending federal funding for NPR and PBS, accusing him of violating the First Amendment.

"The Order's objectives could not be clearer: the Order aims to punish NPR for the content of news and other programming the President dislikes and chill the free exercise of First Amendment rights by NPR and individual public radio stations across the country," the complaint reads.

"The Order is textbook retaliation and viewpoint-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment, and it interferes with NPR's and the Local Member Stations' freedom of expressive association and editorial discretion," it adds.

White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement responding to the lawsuit: "The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is creating media to support a particular political party on the taxpayers' dime. Therefore, the President is exercising his lawful authority to limit funding to NPR and PBS. The President was elected with a mandate to ensure efficient use of taxpayer dollars, and he will continue to use his lawful authority to achieve that objective."

Trump's executive order on May 1 was a directive to the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes more than a half-billion dollars each year to public broadcasters, primarily to local stations. Three quarters of that money is devoted to television and a quarter to radio, NPR reported.

• NPR Sues Trump Administration Over Funding Cut
• Broadcast Corp Sues to Stop WH Firing of Board Members