President Donald Trump has nominated longtime ally Kari Lake to be the next US ambassador to Jamaica. Lake most recently led the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle federally funded news organisation Voice of America (VOA).
If Lake’s appointment is confirmed by the Senate, it will close out her time as the top official in charge of the US Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA.
During her time leading the agency, Lake – under the direction of a presidential executive order – moved to terminate hundreds of employees at the global broadcaster.
Trump has been a staunch critic of VOA, which he has accused of left-wing bias.
VOA is a US international broadcaster, providing news nearly 50 languages, and was founded in 1942.
Following the White House announcement on Monday, Lake thanked the president for nominating her as ambassador, writing on social media that Jamaica “is a country I know very well, full of incredible people”.
Lake said if she is confirmed by the Senate, she looks forward to “strengthening the partnership between our nations, advancing America’s interests abroad, and building on the deep friendship shared by the American and Jamaican people”.
The former journalist worked at a local Fox News affiliate in Phoenix for 22 years before leaving her career in 2021 to run – unsuccessfully – for Arizona governor as a Republican.
On the campaign trail, she caught Trump’s attention for vigorously denying his 2020 election loss and repeating his unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.
She 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.
Lake also ran a failed bid for an Arizona seat in the US Senate.
In 2024, she was tapped to lead Voice of America by Trump.
Also on Monday, Trump nominated Cameron Hamilton to lead the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).
Hamilton’s nomination comes about a year after the Trump administration removed him from the same post for defending FEMA’s role amid potential threats of its closure.
The embattled agency has over recent months faced a mass employee exodus and is recovering from the aftermath of the 75-day partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security that ended 30 April.
By BBC News
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