Trump Names Diplomat To Replace Kari Lake at Helm of America’s Overseas Broadcasters

President Trump has nominated a career diplomat to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the federal agency that oversees Voice of America, following a federal court ruling that found former acting CEO Kari Lake had been unlawfully running the agency. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan administration appointee, ruled that Ms. Lake’s leadership violated federal law, declaring all actions she took as acting CEO between July 31 and November 19 void. Among the actions nullified was an August 29 reduction-in-force that eliminated more than 500 jobs at VOA and other USAGM outlets. Hundreds of other employees have been on administrative leave for more than a year.VOA, whose mandate is to deliver “independent, accurate, and objective news” to audiences outside the United States, is currently functioning with a skeleton staff of about 200 people, down from more than 1,300 at the start of the Trump administration. It is not clear when or if the staffing will be restored to its former level.If confirmed by the Senate, Sarah B. Rogers, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, would replace current acting CEO Michael Rigas. Ms. Lake, who insulted the judge’s appearance while criticizing his ruling on social media platform X, said she would remain at the agency as deputy CEO.“Together, Mike [Rigas] and I, while we wait for Under Secretary Rogers to be confirmed as USAGM CEO, will root-out corruption at the agency and make it more accountable to American taxpayers,” Ms. Lake said.Ms. Rogers is a former First Amendment lawyer whose clients included the National Rifle Association. She successfully represented the NRA in its 2024 Supreme Court case against the New York Department of Financial Services, in which the court unanimously ruled that the state’s efforts to pressure financial institutions into cutting ties with the NRA violated the First Amendment.In her current role at the State Department, Ms. Rogers oversees educational and cultural programs, including the Fulbright Scholarship, as well as the department’s broader public diplomacy efforts.“The public diplomacy undersecretary has historically been the home of all of the information environment engagement,” she told Semafor in January. “So when we were doing the ‘disinformation censorship,’ all of that internet ecosystem stuff falls under me.”A State Department spokesman said Ms. Rogers would, if confirmed, serve concurrently as undersecretary for public diplomacy, noting that the dual role would strengthen coordination between U.S. international broadcasting and American foreign policy.“USAGM’s mission has long been closely aligned with the Department of State, and the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy has always held consultative authorities with the agency,” the spokesman told NBC News. “Rogers would be uniquely well positioned to significantly strengthen coordination between U.S. international broadcasting and American public diplomacy in the national interest.”Since joining the Trump administration in October 2025, Ms. Rogers has become one of the administration’s most prominent voices against European efforts to regulate online hate speech and misinformation. She has supported U.S. sanctions on European officials working to counter digital disinformation.Ms. Rogers also endorsed the administration’s December visa ban on five European figures working to combat online misinformation, including the Center for Countering Digital Hate CEO, Imran Ahmed, and HateAid leaders Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon. She echoed Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s claim that the Europeans’ work posed a threat to American free speech.“If you spend your career fomenting censorship of American speech, you’re unwelcome on American soil,” she warned on X.On the First Amendment, Rogers has been equally outspoken, drawing a sharp contrast between American and European legal traditions.“We had the Red Scare, we had wokeness, both very bad episodes,” she told Semafor. “But the reason you should have a bulwark like the First Amendment is to hold those instincts at bay. That’s the whole point, right? Vague regulatory cudgels in the hands of regulators who want to suppress particular viewpoints — that’s why I’m wary of them in Europe too.”

Trump Names Diplomat To Replace Kari Lake at Helm of America’s Overseas Broadcasters

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