A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Tuesday to disburse congressionally approved grant money it has withheld from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a federally funded news organization that provides independent reporting in countries with limited press freedom.

The judge, Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ordered the Trump administration to pay the news organization $12 million for its April funding. Judge Lamberth appeared to close a loophole from his previous ruling, which allowed the Trump administration to effectively hold all funds for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty while facially complying with the court mandate.

“In this case,” the judge wrote in his ruling, “it was Congress who ordained that the monies at issue” should go to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in legislation signed by President Trump himself.

He added: “In short: The current Congress and President Trump enacted a law allocating funds to the plaintiffs.”

The Trump administration terminated the grant for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in March after Mr. Trump signed an executive order seeking to gut its parent organization, the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Judge Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, temporarily blocked the grant termination about a week later, saying Mr. Trump cannot unilaterally shut down an organization funded by Congress.

After the ruling in March, the administration reversed the termination but kept withholding the money, asserting that it was negotiating new terms of the grant agreement with the outlet, also known as RFE/RL.

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