Senate Confirms Conservative Filmmaker to Lead US Media Agency

The Senate confirmed Michael Pack, a conservative filmmaker who President Donald Trump has said he hopes will dictate more favorable news coverage of his administration, to lead the United States Agency for Global Media, the independent agency in charge of state-funded media outlets. The vote, 53 to 38, came after President Trump personally intervened to expedite Pack’s nomination, which had initially stalled amid concerns from senators in both parties and hit a snag more recently amid an investigation by the District of Columbia attorney general into whether he illegally funneled funds from his nonprofit group to his for-profit film company. 

Senate Republicans, led by Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch (R-ID), pushed through Pack’s nomination over the objections of Democrats, who argued that the process should be paused given the investigation into Pack’s finances and outstanding questions about his ability to protect the agency’s editorial independence. Chairman Risch blasted the attorney general leading the investigation as “obviously a partisan individual.” “This has been investigated back and forth,” Mr. Risch said. “Keep in mind this is all politics. And if you see the kind of work that he’s done, he makes America proud when he makes a documentary.” Sen Bob Menendez (D-NJ), the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, argued that the Senate should pause its consideration Mr. Pack’s nomination until the inquiry was closed. “Please put aside whatever pressure, whatever threats the president has made and consider the dangerous precedent we are setting here today,” Sen Menendez said. “If Mr. Pack is confirmed, the new bar for advice and consent is now set below that of a nominee who is under open investigation by law enforcement.”