President Donald Trump nominated Sarah B. Rogers, a State Department official, to replace Kari Lake as head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media on Thursday, just days after a federal judge ruled that Lake had been running the agency illegally and nullified months of her efforts.
“Lake satisfies the requirements of neither the statute nor the Constitution,” U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth wrote in a 17-page opinion on Saturday.
Trump last year had placed Lake, a former local news anchor and conservative commentator, at the agency as deputy CEO following an executive order dismantling the agency that oversees Voice of America and funds international broadcast networks.
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Trump’s decision to dismantle several independent government agencies early in his administration triggered an ongoing dispute over whether Trump overruled the laws of Congress by dismantling the agencies it governed.
“Allowing the President to circumvent Congress’s carefully crafted limitations in this way would relegate subsections (a)(2) and (a)(3) — to say nothing of the advice-and-consent requirement — to vestigial surplusage,” Lamberth wrote. “The Court declines Lake’s invitation to do such violence to the statutory and constitutional scheme.”
In her nearly nine months in the role, Lake was given many responsibilities typically reserved for the chief executive, which is a position that requires Senate confirmation. After an apparent decision to give herself the title of acting CEO, she moved to lay off of hundreds of employees — though the downsizing was later paused through litigation. In his opinion, Lamberth declared any actions taken by Lake to be “void” and ordered the White House to identify a “succession plan” for a new chief executive officer.
The Trump administration responded to the memorandum opinion on Wednesday with a brief filing explaining that they “do not have a ‘succession plan for the CEO of USAGM.’”
“Defendants understand the Court’s opinion to hold that USAGM may not rely on a delegation of authority to provide for continued leadership of the agency,” the administration’s counsel wrote.
But by Thursday, a succession plan was concocted. In a court filing, Trump’s lawyers wrote that Trump had nominated Rogers to fill Lake’s role. Rogers previously worked for the State Department as the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy.
While Rogers’ nomination must go through the Senate confirmation process, “the President directed Michael Rigas to perform the functions and duties of the vacant office of CEO temporarily in an acting capacity,” the filing added.
Rigas, who served in Trump’s first administration as the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, is currently the deputy secretary of state for management and resources.
Neither the State Department nor White House responded to a request for comment.
In a post to X on Thursday, Lake called Lamberth “rotund,” and said that while she “looks forward” to working with Rogers and Rigas, she has no intention of leaving the agency.
“We’ve been 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,” Lake said in a lengthy post. “A rotund DC District Court judge wants me OUT of the agency, but despite his absurd orders and rulings, I remain in the exact same position today as I was before: Deputy CEO — where I am even more determined to finish the job.”
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