Kari Lake speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, on Feb. 24. (Tom Brenner for The Washington Post)
President-elect Donald Trump announced late Wednesday that Kari Lake, a fierce loyalist and election denier, is his choice for the next director of Voice of America, a federally funded broadcaster with a global audience.
Announcing his decision on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump cited Lake’s experience as a news anchor as one of the reasons for picking her.
“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,” Trump wrote.
The chief executive of the U.S. Agency for Global Media must receive Senate confirmation, according to the Congressional Research Service. Under rules passed in 2020, the VOA director is appointed by a majority vote of a seven-member advisory board.
Six members of the board are named by the president and require Senate consent, and the seventh member is the secretary of state.
Lake most recently ran for U.S. Senate in Arizona but lost to Democrat Ruben Gallego. She is the latest of several Trump administration picks who lost elections in recent years, including Mehmet Oz, whom he chose to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Kelly Loeffler, his choice to run the Small Business Administration.
In 2022, Lake unsuccessfully ran for Arizona governor and contested that election’s results, after running a campaign centered on election denialism. This year, Lake settled a defamation case brought against her by an Arizona Republican who alleged that Lake, her 2022 Arizona gubernatorial campaign and an affiliated nonprofit group repeatedly and falsely accused him of causing Lake to lose that election, unleashing a barrage of threats against him and his family.
Lake has also repeatedly echoed Trump’s false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. Speaking to a crowd of supporters last year, she said: “I love President Trump. I will do everything in my power to get that man elected.”
In a post on X, Lake said she was “honored” that Trump has asked her to lead VOA, which she called “a vital international media outlet dedicated to advancing the interests of the United States by engaging directly with people across the globe and promoting democracy and truth.”
“Under my leadership, the VOA will excel in its mission: chronicling America’s achievements worldwide,” Lake added. “Thank you for putting your trust in me, President Trump. I look forward to leading the Voice of America, and I can’t wait to get started.”
