Donald Trump Appoints Kari Lake To Lead Voice Of America

Donald Trump has appointed Kari Lake as the director of the Voice Of America, tapping an unabashed loyalist for the U.S. government’s international broadcast network.

Lake, a former news anchor, lost her U.S. Senate race in Arizona last month to Democrat Ruben Gallego. She was defeated in her bid for governor in 2022.

Trump wrote on Truth Social, “She will be appointed by, and work closely with, our next head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, who I will announce soon, to ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media.”

During his first term, Trump selected Michael Pack to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees the Voice Of America and other government-owned media outlets. Pack fired the leaders of some of the broadcast entities and installed Trump loyalists, and a judge later ruled that he could not interfere in the editorial operations of VOA. Pack had attempted to roll back a firewall designed to maintain the news organization’s independence and prevent it from becoming a propaganda arm of the administration. The firewall is part of a 1994 international broadcasting law and “prohibits interference by any U.S. government official in the objective, independent reporting of news,” per the VOA.

The choice of Lake is an indication that the administration will again attempt to overhaul the news outlet. She embraced Trump’s false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, and contested the results of her own gubernatorial race.