Trump Picks Kari Lake as US Ambassador to Jamaica
US President Donald Trump has tapped Republican ally Kari Lake to be the next US ambassador to Jamaica, the White House said. The Senate-confirmable post puts a high-profile Trump supporter in a Caribbean capital where the United States has security and counter-narcotics cooperation programmes.
President Donald Trump has named Kari Lake, a former television news anchor and a long-standing political ally, as his choice to be United States ambassador to Jamaica, the BBC reported. The nomination, announced in a White House statement, will require Senate confirmation before she can take up the post in Kingston. Lake unsuccessfully ran for governor and senator in Arizona before joining Trump's second-term political operation.
The appointment fits a pattern in which Trump has rewarded political loyalists with ambassadorial roles, including in the Caribbean and Latin America. Jamaica is a long-standing United States partner on maritime security, hurricane disaster response and counter-narcotics interdiction in the Caribbean basin. The post had been vacant since the previous administration's ambassador departed earlier this year.
Lake said in a statement she was honoured by the nomination and would work to strengthen economic and security ties between the two countries. Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness did not immediately comment publicly. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to schedule a confirmation hearing in the coming weeks, after which the full chamber would vote.
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