Trump nominates Kari Lake to be US ambassador to Jamaica

Donald Trump has nominated Kari Lake, a longtime ally and former TV anchor who ran unsuccessfully for Arizona governor, to serve as the next US ambassador to Jamaica.

If confirmed by the Senate, it would end Lake’s tenure as the key official responsible for Voice of America (VOA), the global media organization created in 1942.

In 2024, the US president appointed Lake to lead the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees VOA, following her unsuccessful Senate and gubernatorial campaigns in Arizona, and under the direction of a presidential executive order she moved to fire hundreds of VOA employees, as well as to cut funding for other newsgroups.

But staffers challenged those actions, and in March a federal judge ruled that Lake had been unlawfully serving as head of USAGM because she had not been confirmed by the Senate, and voided her actions at the agency, including the mass layoffs.

After the White House announcement on Monday, Lake thanked Trump in a post on social media, and said: “Jamaica is a country I know very well, full of incredible people, and if confirmed by the Senate, I look 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.”

“Honored to continue serving in this HISTORIC Administration!” she added.

In a second statement, she said she had spoken with Trump and was “incredibly grateful for his support, encouragement, and TRUST.”

She also defended her time overseeing Voice of America, saying that she is “proud of the work we’ve accomplished at USAGM” including “bringing much-needed reform to the agency” and said that she would continue to work there during the Senate confirmation process.

Lake spent more than two decades as a television anchor at a local Fox News affiliate in Phoenix, before entering politics and running for Arizona governor as a Republican in 2021. After losing the gubernatorial race to Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, Lake refused to accept the result, but a state judge rejected her claims.

She later ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate in Arizona in 2024.

In an interview with the New York Times, Kate Neeper, a USAGM director who was placed on paid leave in 2025 and joined litigation challenging the dismantling of VOA, said she viewed Lake’s new nomination as a sign that VOA journalists and its support staff had prevailed against the administration’s efforts.

“This is a concession to that victory,” Neeper said. “Kari Lake was not able to dismantle the agency for lots of reasons, so they’ve decided to have her do something else.”