Trump taps Kari Lake for US ambassadorship after Voice of America turmoil

President Trump has nominated Kari Lake to serve as the US ambassador to Jamaica. If confirmed by the Senate, she will transition from her current role as the top official at the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM). 

Lake recently led efforts to dismantle the Voice of America (VOA), a federally funded broadcaster. Under a presidential order, she moved to terminate hundreds of employees at the organization, which Trump has frequently accused of left-wing bias. 

The White House made the announcement on Monday, as 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.”

In line with Lake's remarks, she states that if confirmed by the Senate, she looks forward to “strengthening the partnership between our nations, advancing America’s abroad, and building on the deep friendship shared by the American and Jamaican people.

After serving 22 years in broadcast journalism, Lake left her career in 2021 to run for Arizona governor as a Republican, though she was unsuccessful. 

She gained national attention for vigorously supporting Donald Trump’s claims regarding the 2020 election and later filed several lawsuits to contest her own gubernatorial loss. 

In late 2024, she was appointed by Trump to lead Voice of America (VOA), which she managed prior to her current nomination as Ambassador to Jamaica.

Trump has nominated Cameron Hamilton to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Hamilton’s nomination comes roughly a year after he was removed from this same position considering closing the agency. 

Hamilton returns to an agency in turmoil; FEMA is currently facing a mass exodus of employees and is struggling to recover from a 75-day partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security that ended on April 30, 2026.