NEW YORK (Reuters) -Voice of America employees, journalists and unions sued the Trump administration in New York on Friday, saying that the shutdown of U.S.-funded news agencies violated the workers' First Amendment right to journalistic freedom.

The lawsuit alleges that the U.S. Agency for Global Media, its acting director Victor Morales, and Special Adviser Kari Lake violated several laws when they placed over 1,300 employees on leave and cut funding for several news services last Saturday.

The cuts are part of a sweeping push by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk to shrink the federal government, which they say wastes U.S. taxpayer money on causes that do not line up with U.S. interests.

The lawsuit seeks a court order reversing the decision to shutter the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which funds VOA and other media outlets like Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia.

Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said Friday that the shutdown of Voice of America was an assault on press freedom, its union members' jobs, and democracy across the world.

"Voice of America was founded to spread the truth and fight propaganda from lawless authoritarian regimes-so it's no surprise that the Trump administration is trying to dismantle it," Kelley said in a statement.

The U.S. Agency for Global Media did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Friday.

Since its inception to combat Nazi propaganda at the height of World War Two, Voice of America (VOA) grew to become an international media broadcaster, operating in more than 40 languages online, on radio and television, spreading U.S. news narratives into countries lacking a free press.