In an intriguing twist of political events, Kari Lake, the ex-Phoenix newscaster and self-declared “lawful governor of Arizona,” continues to resist acknowledging her defeats in both the 2022 gubernatorial and 2024 Senate races. This stance was recently reiterated under oath.
During a deposition on September 9, related to mass terminations at Voice of America, Lake acknowledged the certification of the Senate race in favor of Democrat Ruben Gallego. Gallego secured the Senate seat with a lead of over 80,000 votes, translating to a 2.4 percentage point margin.
In the preceding 2022 gubernatorial race, Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs narrowly defeated Lake by 17,117 votes, a margin of 0.6 percentage points. Lake has persistently challenged this outcome, attributing her loss to electoral fraud.
Expressing her claim to the governorship, Lake wrote in her memoir, “Unafraid: Just Getting Started,” published in June 2023, “I am the lawful governor of Arizona. The current occupant of the governor’s office is just a squatter.” Her legal attempts to reverse the 2022 election results have been unsuccessful at every level.
Although Lake has conceded her 2024 Senate race by stating the end of her campaign, she has not explicitly admitted defeat. Following Election Day, she settled a defamation case with Stephen Richer, the former Maricopa County recorder, who had sued Lake over allegations of fraud in the 2022 election. Richer later lost the GOP primary in 2024.
Kari Lake’s communications team has not responded to inquiries regarding her deposition statements. Lake has been a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump’s discredited claims of election fraud in 2020.
Appointed by Trump as a senior adviser to head the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) in March, Lake initiated significant layoffs, dismissing approximately 1,400 employees, which constituted 85% of the agency’s workforce. The lawsuit from Voice of America journalists accuses her of illegally closing the agency, contending that only Congress has the authority to dissolve USAGM’s mandate and withdraw its funding.
Voice of America, a major USAGM network, has delivered news in about 50 languages for over eight decades, mainly targeting regions with restricted press freedom.
The deposition, lasting over eight hours, saw Lake repeatedly evade direct answers about her election results, despite being under the scrutiny of U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, appointed by Ronald Reagan. The transcript reveals her consistent deflection, stating, “The result of the election is that I’m sitting here in Washington, D.C., working for the Trump administration.”
Even when pressed about her Senate race, Lake’s response was, “As I said, I’m sitting here at the U.S. Agency for Global Media.” It was only when directly asked about the Senate race outcome that she acknowledged the certification of Gallego’s victory.
For more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org.
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