President-elect Donald Trump said he wants Kari Lake, a fierce ally who has denied the results of the 2020 US presidential election, to lead Voice of America – a federally funded global news outlet.
Donald Trump made the announcement on Wednesday night, writing on his social media platform Truth Social that Lake would be appointed by and work closely with the next head of the US Agency for Global Media, which oversees all non-military, US international broadcasting. He said he would announce a pick for the head “soon”.
Lake left her long-time post as a news anchor in 2021 for failed Republican bids for an Arizona seat in the US Senate and to serve as the state’s governor.
She became a vocal critic of the media in her brief political career and has referred to journalists as “monsters”.
Trump said Lake would “ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY”.
In response on X, Lake wrote she was “honoured” by Trump’s selection.
“Under my leadership, the VOA will excel in its mission: chronicling America’s achievements worldwide. Thank you for putting your trust in me,” she wrote.
The VOA is an organisation with a nearly $267.5m (£211m) budget and more than 2,000 employees, according to the New York Times. Founded in 1942, the organisation’s congressional charter protects the editorial independence and integrity of its programming.
VOA broadcasts in nearly 50 languages and reaches more than 326 million people weekly, “providing comprehensive coverage of the news and telling audiences the truth”, according to its website.
During Trump’s first administration, he was a staunch VOA critic, saying in 2020 that the “things they say are disgusting toward our country”.
That year, Trump appointed Michael Pack to run the agency that oversees VOA – the US Agency for Global Media – which ran into a spat of legal troubles.
Pack was accused of turning VOA into a pro-Trump propaganda machine and a federal judge ruled that Pack had violated journalists’ First Amendment rights.
When Biden took office in 2021, he moved quickly to remove a number of senior officials aligned with Trump from VOA.
Lake worked at a local Fox News affiliate in Phoenix for 22 years before ending her career in 2021 to run for Arizona governor on the Republican ticket.
On the campaign trail, she caught Trump’s attention while vigorously denying his 2020 election loss and repeating his claims of fraud.
Lake also denied the results of her own gubernatorial race, filing several failed lawsuits seeking to overturn her loss, and making election fraud claims that resulted in her being sued for defamation.
Her combative political style paved the way for an even bigger election loss in 2024 during her Senate bid.
Lake has also made controversial remarks about the media, including the suggestion: “Let’s defund the press”.
She also told a gaggle of camera operators and reporters in 2022 that, if elected, “I’m going to be your worst fricking nightmare”.
Her appointment to lead VOA would be “significant”, George Washington University political science professor Quardricos Driskell said, and to some a cause for “alarm”.
“The alarm here is when you have a person who is making threatening comments towards this idea of a free press,” he said, referring to Lake’s past “fake news” remarks.
The current VOA director is Michael Abramowitz, a former Washington Post White House correspondent and member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Trump also announced a spate of other appointments on Wednesday night, including Florida personal injury attorney Dan Newlin to be US ambassador to Colombia and physician and Republican donor Peter Lamelas to be US ambassador to Argentina.
