Donald Trump picks Kimberly Guilfoyle as US ambassador to Greece
President-elect Donald Trump has selected Kimberly Guilfoyle to serve as the next US ambassador to Greece.
Kari Lake will serve as the next director of the Voice of America to help counter the news media’s portrayal of America and its values, President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday night.
The announcement ends weeks of speculation over Lake’s future, which didn’t seem to be bright in Arizona politics after successive statewide losses.
In a social media post, Trump said she would serve under the head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, whom Trump still hasn’t selected.
Lake’s work, Trump said is “to ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media.”
He characterized her as “a beloved News Anchor in Arizona, which supported me by record margins, for over 20 years” in a statement that understates her 30-plus year career and overstates his election wins in the state.
Republicans often won Arizona by double digits beginning with President Dwight Eisenhower through the 2012 election with Mitt Romney. Trump’s two wins in the state came in single-digit fashion. Arizona did move further toward Trump in 2024 than any swing state in the presidential mix.
What is the Voice of America?
In a social media post on Wednesday night, Lake said she was honored that Trump had asked her to lead the VOA.
VOA “is a vital international media outlet dedicated to advancing the interests of the United States by engaging directly with people across the globe and promoting democracy and truth,” she said.
“With an audience of 326 million people, Voice of America delivers information in 48 languages. Under my leadership, the VOA will excel in its mission: chronicling America’s achievements worldwide.”
Lake, a prominent surrogate for Trump throughout the past two years, will head an organization founded during World War II and was intended to provide a counterbalance to propaganda.
In her two runs for political office, Lake displayed hostility to media, which she derided as “fake news” and urged Americans to ignore. She has been a regular presence on conservative cable news, including in the weeks after losing the Senate race.
She will join an organization that in Trump’s first term faced mismanagement and pressure to cast Trump and his administration in a better light, according to an investigation by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.
Michael Pack, whom the New York Times called an “ally” to Trump political adviser Steve Bannon, headed the agency with oversight of VOA under Trump.
Last year, that agency reported that “during his less‐than‐eight‐month tenure CEO Pack was responsible for numerous improper activities, some of which the report determined rose to the level of an abuse of authority, gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, or a violation of law, rule, or regulation.”
Under Pack’s leadership, the agency retaliated against whistleblowers, violated record-retention rules and wasted money on private lawyers.
Perhaps more consequentially for VOA, Pack “sent the message that he was not committed to the agency’s mission or journalistic independence,” the OSC reported.
Lake had been considered for ambassador role
Earlier this week, Lake, a longtime news anchor with Fox 10 in Phoenix, had been under consideration to be Trump’s ambassador to Mexico, a significant change in duties for someone who has no diplomatic background.
She lost the U.S. Senate race last month to U.S. Sen.-elect Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and the governor’s race to Gov. Katie Hobbs in 2022.
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Publish date : 2024-12-15 07:54:00
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