Voice of America’s parent agency on Wednesday named Christopher Wallace, a news director at the pro-Trump Newsmax network and a former Fox News producer, as the next deputy director of the international broadcaster, according to an internal email obtained by The New York Times.
The appointment came a day after a federal judge nullified nearly all actions that the Trump administration had taken to shutter Voice of America, a government-funded news group, and ordered more than 1,000 journalists and support staff members to return to work. President Trump had pushed to dismantle Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to combat Nazi propaganda, calling it “Voice of radical America.”
The news group, whose editorial independence has been mandated by Congress, had broadcast in 49 languages to more than 360 million people around the globe before the Trump administration halted most of its news operations last year. The judge’s order on Tuesday, which could be appealed, would revert those efforts and bring back employees on March 23.
Mr. Wallace’s appointment raised concerns among Voice of America journalists that the Trump administration would try to influence the organization’s coverage by picking a deputy who had been at conservative news channels for about 20 years.
Trump administration officials have already sought to influence the editorial decisions of federally-funded news outlets by trying to air Newsmax content on Voice of America’s networks, and by attempting to insert into funding contracts language that would give Mr. Trump’s appointees the power to veto their new hires for editors in chief and chief executives.
The job posting for the deputy role listed familiarity with threats posed to democratic institutions, like “election fraud,” as one of the key qualifications. Mr. Trump and Kari Lake, who led Voice of America’s parent agency until the judge found her appointment invalid earlier this month, have continued to falsely claim widespread voter fraud in the 2020 elections.
The parent organization, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, is required by law to “respect the professional independence and integrity” of federally funded news groups. The organization appeared to address concerns about editorial independence in the internal email announcing Mr. Wallace’s appointment, vowing to continue to uphold the Voice of America charter.
Mr. Wallace “will help Voice of America continue as we strengthen reporting that reflects the principles of the V.O.A. charter, and remains a comprehensive and authoritative source of credible and reliable information,” the agency said in the unsigned email.
Chase Untermeyer, a Voice of America director under President George H.W. Bush, questioned whether Mr. Wallace’s appointment would withstand the scrutiny of the federal courts, after the judge had voided all actions taken by Ms. Lake, whose appointment he ruled illegal and invalid.
“I can’t figure out how the White House can name somebody to be a deputy director,” he said in an interview.
It is unclear how much influence Mr. Wallace could wield. If the judge’s order stands, Mike Abramowitz, who was the director Voice of America until being placed on paid leave by the Trump administration, will return as Mr. Wallace’s supervisor. Mr. Trump cannot fire a director of Voice of America without consent from an independent board, the International Broadcasting Advisory Board. A few days after his inauguration in 2025, Mr. Trump fired all members of the board, whose members must be bipartisan and confirmed by the Senate.
Minho Kim reports on breaking news for The Times from Washington.
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