(Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Wednesday he is naming Kari Lake, a former news anchor and Republican hardliner who failed to win an Arizona Senate seat last month, as director of the U.S. government-funded media company Voice of America.

Trump said in a post on his website Truth Social that Lake will “ensure that American values ​​of freedom and freedom are spread FAIRLY and ACCURATELY around the world, unlike the lies spread by the fake news media.” .”

Lake, a strong Trump supporter who has repeated his false claims of fraud in the 2020 election, also lost the 2022 governor’s race in the swing state of Arizona and was previously an anchor at Phoenix-based Fox 10.

Voice of America (VOA) is an international media broadcaster operating in more than 40 languages ​​online, radio and television.

During his first term, Trump clashed with VOA, accusing it of amplifying Chinese propaganda after it showed a segment of a light show marking the reopening of Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus pandemic first broke out.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas; Editing by Eric Beech)