President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he has appointed Kari Lake as director of the government-funded Voice of America, the country's largest international broadcaster.
This step comes after the 55 year old lake lost In November his Arizona Senate bid over Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego.
“She will be appointed by, and will work closely with, our next head of the US Agency for Global Media, which I will announce soon,” Trump said in a post on his Truth social platform.
Lake, a longtime TV news anchor in Phoenix, is a staunch Trump loyalist who also lost her campaign for Arizona governor in 2022. During his campaigns, he frequently repeated Trump's false claims about the 2020 election.
Anita Puchard Serra/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Voice of America, which is part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, broadcasts news internationally in 49 languages ​​on radio, television and online to an audience of an estimated 354 million people per week, according to its website.
It first began broadcasting in 1942. It has approximately 2,000 employees and an annual budget of approximately $260 million. USAGM is considered an independent federal agency.
In a social media post on Wednesday night, Lake wrote She is “honored” to be nominated for the role, adding that “under my leadership, VOA will excel in its mission: documenting America's achievements around the world.”
Lake's appointment must still be confirmed by the Senate.
During Trump's first term in office in 2020, USAGM's editorial independence came into question after Trump named Michael Pack – a conservative filmmaker and close ally of one-time Trump adviser Steve Bannon – as its CEO.
pack Later The decision not to renew the visas of 10 VOA journalists and dozens of others who work at the network under USAGM raised concerns from Congress and members of the international community over the possibility of reduced editorial independence of VOA news outlets.
John Lipman is currently the acting director of VOA, a position he holds through October 2023, while Amanda Bennett is the CEO of USAGM.
Contributed to this report.