Kari Lake, the former Arizona politician and Trump administration official leading the U.S. Agency for Global Media, appeared reluctant this month to admit she lost her recent elections for U.S. Senate and governor.
Speaking during a deposition for a lawsuit challenging the administration’s dismantling of the agency and its signature offering, the Voice of America overseas media network, Lake was asked a series of basic questions about her background.
When asked about the result of her 2022 run for governor, she responded, “Well, I think the results were questionable, but the result is that I’m sitting here running U.S. Agency for Global Media.”
When asked the same question about her 2024 U.S. Senate run, Lake used a similar response, stating, “Well, as I said, I'm sitting here at U.S. Agency for Global Media.”
Lawyers running the deposition then argued the official was not answering the question. Eventually, with some pressing, Lake said that her opponent, Ruben Gallego, had been “certified” and “confirmed” as the winner.
The Independent has contacted the U.S. Agency for Global Media for comment.
Before the deposition, the Republican and 2020 election denier spent years challenging her gubernatorial loss until the Arizona Supreme Court weighed in, and she initially refused to concede she lost her 2024 race with Gallego.
The comments came as part of a suit from journalists and unions against the Trump administration over its efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for Global Media and VOA.
In March, the president signed an executive order dramatically cutting the agency down to its “minimum presence and function required by law,” and its workers were later among the hundreds of thousands of federal employees the administration has attempted to strip of collective bargaining rights.
Under Lake, the vast majority of VOA staff received reduction-in-force notices in June, only for Lake to rescind some of the layoffs a week later after staff encountered errors in the documents. Many workers remain on paid administrative leave and are collecting paychecks without working months after the layoff effort began.
The challengers have argued that the shutdown of the VOA violates federal law and goes against congressional appropriations for the media agency, which was set up to spread goodwill toward America and broadcast the news in parts of the world with limited press freedom.
The government, meanwhile, argues the shutdown is within the White House’s constitutional executive powers.
Lake was deposed after the federal judge overseeing the case warned the official was “verging on contempt of court” for failing to make information about the shutdown available.
Elsewhere during the deposition, Lake, who was initially appointed as a senior adviser to the agency before stepping in as interim leader, described having little notice before the Trump administration ordered cuts, and blasted government-funded media as “propaganda.”
She also praised One America News, a right-wing broadcaster, which signed a deal with the agency in May.
Last month, the court overseeing the suit ruled that the Trump administration can’t unilaterally fire the director of the VOA, instead needing the blessing of an independent advisory panel set up by Congress to insulate the broadcaster from political pressure.
The administration has appealed parts of the lawsuits in question to a federal appeals court.
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