WASHINGTON (TNND) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at ending federal funding for NPR and PBS. The White House accused the public broadcasters of biased news coverage and argued that taxpayer money should not support such institutions.

"The American people are sick of funding institutions who promote values that they find repugnant," Representative Brandon Gill, R-Texas, said on CNN Wednesday. "The United States does not need state-sponsored media. Listen, if Fox News or other conservative news organization came to me and asked for taxpayer money. I would tell them no, and I certainly don't think we should be funding left-wing propaganda outlets like NPR or PBS."

The administration and some Republicans have criticized NPR for its decision not to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story before the 2020 election. NPR had stated at the time, "We don’t want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories." However, NPR CEO Katherine Maher later acknowledged at a March Congressional hearing, "Our current editorial leadership believes that that was a mistake, as do I."

Representative Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, added, "Yeah, the whole country knows that was a mistake. It definitely impacted the election."

Critics have also pointed to PBS's inclusion of drag queens in children's programming as a point of contention. The executive order directs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to cut more than half a billion dollars in federal funding for NPR and PBS, potentially threatening local stations with closure.

In response, NPR stated, " We will vigorously defend our right to provide essential news, information and life-saving services to the American public. We will challenge this Executive Order using all means available."

PBS had a similar tone.

“The President’s blatantly unlawful Executive Order, issued in the middle of the night, threatens our ability to serve the American public with educational programming, as we have for the past 50-plus years. We are currently exploring all options to allow PBS to continue to serve our member stations and all Americans.”

Paula Kerger, President and CEO of PBS, emphasized the importance of public broadcasting for emergency alerts earlier this week, stating, "You need 100 percent coverage to make that happen."

On "The Daily Show" Tuesday, Katherine Maher highlighted the issue of "news deserts," noting that "20% of Americans live in a place where they have no local news coverage, other than public radio."

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has argued that it is not subject to the president's authority as it is not a federal executive agency.

“CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the President’s authority. Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government. In creating CPB, Congress expressly forbade ‘any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over educational television or radio broadcasting, or over [CPB] or any of its grantees or contractors’ 47 U.S.C. 398(c).”

The organization has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration following the firing of three of its board members earlier this week. The executive order is expected to face legal challenges.