Trump ally Kari Lake nominated as U.S. ambassador to Jamaica

Kari Lake, who spent much of the past year trying to dismantle U.S.-funded journalism operations, has been nominated to serve as U.S. ambassador to Jamaica, placing a prominent Trump ally in a post that would require managing a key bilateral relationship rather than attacking public broadcasters.

The White House announced the nomination on May 11, 2026. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Lake would replace Nick Perry, whose term ended in January 2025. Lake said on social media that Jamaica is a country she knows very well and that she looked forward to strengthening the partnership between the two nations.

The nomination lands after a bruising campaign inside the U.S. Agency for Global Media. In March 2025, about 1,300 Voice of America employees were placed on indefinite paid leave after President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at shrinking USAGM. The agency also severed contracts with Radio Free Asia and other U.S.-funded networks, while later reporting said Lake was overseeing efforts to dismantle five government-funded international broadcasters.

Those moves ran into the courts. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., blocked the administration’s effort to eliminate 532 full-time government jobs, and judges later issued temporary restraining orders limiting Lake’s actions against Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. On March 18, 2025, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty sued USAGM, Lake and acting chief executive Victor Morales, arguing that Congress had specifically appropriated funds for the broadcaster and that withholding them violated federal law and the Constitution’s spending authority.

The nomination highlights how sharply Trump’s personnel choices have reordered the line between loyalty politics and foreign-service norms. Lake, a former Arizona television anchor and Trump loyalist, became one of the most visible faces of the administration’s effort to choke off funding and staffing at the government’s international media outlets. Sending her next to Kingston puts that record in direct tension with the expectations of an ambassadorial post, where the work is usually less about ideological combat than steady diplomacy, institutional continuity and preserving trust with a foreign government.

For Jamaica, the appointment would mark a change after a prolonged vacancy at the top of the U.S. mission. For Washington, it suggests that under Trump, the distinction between shaping the message at home and representing the country abroad is becoming increasingly blurred.