Trump picks Kari Lake to be next director of Voice of America

John Harney and Zoe Ma, Bloomberg News on Dec 11, 2024

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WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Kari Lake, a former television anchor who ran unsuccessful Senate and gubernatorial races in Arizona, to be the next director of Voice of America.

“She will be appointed by, and work closely with, our next head of the US Agency for Global Media, who I will announce soon,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday night.

Lake, an ardent Trump champion who not only supported his false claims about losing the 2020 election but made similar assertions after her defeat in the Arizona governor’s race that year, lost her bid for a Senate seat to Representative Ruben Gallego, a Democrat, in November.

Voice of America, which began broadcasting during World War II, provides news in more than 40 languages to audiences and readers around the world. Its current director, Michael Abramowitz, has only been in the post since June.

In 2020, Trump named Michael Pack, a media executive who was close to former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, to lead VOA’s parent, the US Agency for Global Media. Pack’s decision to fire the heads of four news organizations, including Radio Free Europe, was blocked by a federal appeals court.

He resigned hours after President Joe Biden was inaugurated.

Also on Wednesday night, Trump said he’d chosen Peter Lamelas, a physician and founder of an urgent care company, as ambassador to Argentina; and Leandro Rizzuto, who was consul general to Bermuda in Trump’s first term, to be ambassador to the Organization of American States.

Trump also picked Daniel Newlin, a lawyer and former sheriff’s detective in Florida, to be ambassador to Colombia.

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