President-elect Donald Trump has chosen former Arizona Senate candidate and MAGA ally Kari Lake to lead US state media Voice of America.
The former TV host turned politician was announced by Trump as the incoming Voice of America (VOA) director on Wednesday evening.
“I am pleased to announce that Kari Lake will serve as our next director of the Voice of America,” the Republican wrote on Truth Social.
“She will be appointed by and work closely with our next head of the U.S. Global Media Agency, which I will announce soon, to ensure that America’s values of Liberty and Liberty are fairly and accurately broadcast around the world, in unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media.”
“Kari was a beloved news anchor in Arizona who supported me by record margins for more than two decades. Congratulations Kari!’
The position at the top of the U.S. propaganda department aligns with Lake’s previous experiences working at a Phoenix TV station, KSAZ, from 1999 to 2021, when she decided to run for governor and ultimately lost to Katie Hobbs.
VOA is an international broadcaster operated by the federal government and operating in more than 40 languages. It is present online, on radio and on TV.
The position is significantly less important than another role she was reportedly being considered for, as she had apparently been in the running to become US ambassador to Mexico.
Former Arizona Senate and gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake was selected by Trump to become director of Voice of America
Kari Lake (left) was considered President-elect Donald Trump’s ambassador to Mexico. She lost a Senate race in Arizona in November after losing her 2022 gubernatorial race, falsely claiming the election was stolen
Kari Lake (right) campaigns with now President-elect Donald Trump (left) in Arizona in October. Lake is a harbinger of a border state and shared similar views on immigration as the new president
Citing two sources, Semafor reported this on Monday that Lake is being considered for what could be one of the most taxing ambassadorships of Trump’s term.
Lake is a harbinger of a border state, but was rejected twice by Arizona voters.
She ran for governor in 2022 and lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs and then lost her Senate race in 2024 to Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego.
Lake claimed her 2022 election was rigged after parroting Trump’s false election fraud claims after he lost the 2020 White House race to President Joe Biden.
Her embrace of Trump’s “big lie” made her a MAGA celebrity and frequent guest at Mar-a-Lago.
The Arizona Republican was also a mainstay in Trump’s campaign whenever he visited the battleground state.
At several of his rallies around the state, she reiterated his tough stance on immigration and riled the crowd by promising to build even more border walls.
Now, her appointment as director of VOA will force Lake to move to Washington, D.C. to oversee the agency’s day-to-day operations.
Arizona Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake speaks to the media outside the Mesa Convention Center polling place on November 5, 2024 in Mesa, Arizona
The Voice of America Building in Washington
The VOA has approximately 1,000 employees and its 2023 budget was approximately $267 million.
According to the VOA site, the agency can reach more than 300 million people across all platforms.
The VOA is part of the American Agency for Global Media.