By Simon Lewis
WASHINGTON, March 12 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump nominated a senior State Department official to take on the additional role of leading the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the department said on Thursday, after a federal judge invalidated the previous Trump-appointed CEO’s staff cuts at the agency.
Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers, who has led the administration’s campaign against European Internet regulations that Washington says constitute censorship, was named as Trump’s pick to take over the agency that oversees U.S.-funded media outlets like Voice of America that are aimed at populations in oppressive countries and reach hundreds of millions of people.
“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,” a State Department spokesperson said.
“If confirmed as the CEO of USAGM, Under Secretary Rogers would be uniquely well positioned to significantly strengthen coordination between U.S. international broadcasting and American public diplomacy in the national interest.”
Rogers must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate before she can assume the role.
The Department of Justice said in a court filing on Thursday that Deputy Secretary of State Michael Rigas would perform the duties of the agency’s CEO in the interim.
Kari Lake, who was appointed by Trump as a senior adviser to the agency, ushered in sweeping cuts to USAGM’s staff and operations at outlets that also include Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that broadcast in 64 languages.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth on Saturday granted a summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs, including VOA journalists and a union representing federal employees. They had argued that Lake’s appointment as acting CEO and actions she took in that role ran afoul of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and the Constitution’s Appointments Clause, dealing another blow to the Trump administration’s attempts to diminish various government agencies.
Lake, in a post on X, said what she called her efforts at “right-sizing” the agency were “so effective over the last year that the Deep State has done everything they can to stop us, including launching malicious lawsuits at me and the agency.”
(Reporting by Simon Lewis; additional reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
