President Donald Trump chose MAGA ally and former Arizona senatorial and gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake as the director of Voice of America. The former TV personality said she has turned down six-figure media job offers in order to accept the VOA position.
Three months after Trump chose Lake for the job, however, and she’s still not in the position of VOA Director.
As seen in her Newsmax interview with Rob Schmitt below, Lake said: “So, if you’re seeing something from them that you find particularly egregious, know that this is an agency that Trump-proofed itself before Trump got into office again.”
I'm not currently in the Director position at Voice of America.
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) March 14, 2025
So, if you're seeing something from them that you find particularly egregious, know that this is an agency that Trump-proofed itself before Trump got into office again.
They have made it nearly impossible for him… pic.twitter.com/nEpYnrSvGQ
Lake added: “They have made it nearly impossible for him to get his people in. In order for me to get in as director of VOA, seven people have to be confirmed by the Senate for me to get in.”
(Schmitt reacted to the number seven by saying, “Wow,” and added, “Isn’t that so typical, too?” He is right there; the confirmation protocol is typical in that it is unchanged — see below. )
Lake added: “But Trump has entrusted me as Senior Advisor of USAGM, I’m doing what I can from that role to clean things up.”
Note: The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) — which oversees VOA — “is led by a CEO who must be confirmed by the Senate, while the VOA director is appointed by a majority vote of a seven-member advisory board consisting of six presidential appointees, who also require Senate confirmation, and the Secretary of State.”
USAGM is currently led by VOA Director Michael Abramowitz (formerly of The Washington Post), and former NBC News President Stephen Capus, who is currently President & CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, among others.
(In his first term, Trump’s choice to lead the agency, Michael Pack, didn’t take office until three years into the presidency and once in charge investigated journalists for perceived Trump bias.)
Note: In February, DOGE leader Elon Musk called for VOA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to be shut down, tweeting: “It’s just radical left crazy people talking to themselves while torching $1B/year of US taxpayer money.”
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