By Kimberly Hayek

President Donald Trump on Monday announced a slew of nominations sent to the U.S. Senate, including two of his most recognizable supporters to diplomatic posts and more than a dozen federal judges.

The White House named former Phoenix television news anchor Kari Lake to serve as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Jamaica, and Pennsylvania state Sen. Douglas Mastriano to the same position for the Slovak Republic. Both nominations require Senate confirmation.

“Jamaica is a country I know very well, full of incredible people, and if confirmed by the Senate, I look forward to strengthening the partnership between our nations, advancing America’s interests abroad, and building on the deep friendship shared by the American and Jamaican people. Honored to continue serving in this HISTORIC Administration!” Lake wrote in a post on X.

“I am deeply honored and humbled by President Trump’s nomination to serve as United States Ambassador to the Slovak Republic,” the state senator and retired U.S. Army colonel said in a statement on X. “Upon Senate confirmation, I look forward to representing our nation abroad, strengthening the friendship between our two countries, and advancing the interests of the American people.”

Other nominations include:

Francis Brooke as assistant secretary of the Treasury

Cameron Hamilton as administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Brendan Hanrahan as an assistant secretary of state

Karen Jean Hedlund as a member of the Surface Transportation Board

Brett Matsumoto as commissioner of Labor Statistics

Douglas Ralph as a member of the National Mediation Board

Barbera Thornhill as director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking

Nicole Saphier as medical director in the Regular Corps of the Public Health Service and surgeon general of the Public Health Service

David Cummins as administrator of the Transportation Security Administration

Heidi Semann as inspector general at the Department of Education

John Crews as a member of the National Credit Union Administration Board

The White House also withdrew the prior surgeon general nomination of Casey Means of California.

Separately, in a series of Truth Social posts on Monday, Trump also announced several nominations to the federal judiciary.

Michael Martin to serve as judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

Antonio Pozos to serve as judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Angela Colmenero to serve as judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas

Kasdin Mitchell to serve as judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

Daniel Domenico to serve as judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Colorado

Daniel Traynor to serve as judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in North Dakota

Trump selected Lake in December 2024 to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the parent body overseeing Voice of America (VOA) and other government-funded international broadcasters, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. She was sworn in as a senior adviser.

During her tenure, Lake oversaw the termination of more than 600 employees, as part of Trump’s agenda to “shrink the out-of-control federal bureaucracy,” she said in June 2025.

VOA journalists and federal employees’ unions sued, and a federal judge ruled in March that Lake’s entire tenure as acting CEO at the agency had violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and the Constitution’s appointments clause, rendering her personnel actions legally void.

A judge subsequently ordered the administration to reinstate more than 1,000 laid-off employees.

Trump had endorsed Lake for Arizona governor in 2022. She ultimately lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs. In 2024, she ran for U.S. Senate, but lost to Democrat Ruben Gallego.

Mastriano’s trajectory mirrors that of Lake. He captured Pennsylvania’s Republican gubernatorial primary in May 2022, receiving Trump’s endorsement late in the contest.

“There is no one in Pennsylvania who has done more, or fought harder, for election integrity than state Senator Doug Mastriano,” Trump said in a statement at the time.

Mastriano lost to Democrat Josh Shapiro and declined to run for the U.S. Senate in 2023.