Judge says Kari Lake’s tenure atop US media agency was improper, voids actions as ‘acting CEO’

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth concluded that her ascension was an illegal end-run around the Senate’s advice and consent role.

Kari Lake was illegally empowered to run the U.S. Agency for Global Media — the federal agency that oversees Voice of America — and her actions in that role were illegitimate, a federal judge ruled Saturday.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth concluded that Lake was ineligible to serve as USAGM’s acting CEO when she was formally elevated to the position on July 31 in an “acting capacity” and without Senate confirmation. She relinquished that position on Nov. 19.

Lamberth said any actions Lake took in that four-month timeframe must be treated as “void,” including an Aug. 29 reduction in USAGM’s workforce. Lamberth also invalidated actions Lake took when the agency’s previous acting CEO, Victor Morales, delegated nearly the entirety of his responsibilities to her, concluding that this was also an illegal end-run around the Senate’s advice and consent role.