Kari Lake’s Role In Trump Admin Reportedly Moving To U.S. State Department

Kari Lake’s Role In Trump Admin Reportedly Moving To U.S. State Department

By Matthew Holloway |

Kari Lake will reportedly be detailed to the U.S. Department of State under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to unconfirmed reports from anonymous sources who spoke to The Washington Post. The story has since been amplified by other establishment media outlets absent any official release from the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the State Dept., or the White House. Lake has been serving as Senior Advisor for the USAGM, parent agency of Voice of America.

Lake, who recently joined the USAGM, had been tasked with helping “USAGM implement the policies and strategies needed to streamline the agency, its networks, and its grantees,” according to an email from acting USAGM Chief Executive Roman Napoli. If the anonymously sourced reports put forward are true, they suggest that, following a recommendation from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and White House Special Government Employee Elon Musk, the Trump administration could be preparing to shutter the USAGM and Voice of America (VOA) entirely and are detailing Lake to the State Department to continue her work there.

As The Washington Post reported, “Lake’s move is intended to help her coordinate closely with USAGM and the State Department to scale back the agency and its affiliated outlets to their statutory minimum, a third person familiar with her movements said:

‘She will be detailed over to State to accomplish this mission.'”

Lake told The Washington Post in a statement, “I remain committed to effectuating President Trump’s mission to modernize and reform the way we tell America’s story around the world while protecting the interest of the American taxpayer,” neither explicitly confirming nor denying her potential reassignment.

She added, “In order to do that effectively, we look forward to working with interagency counterparts including the Department of State under the strong leadership of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.”

Lake speaking in plural form as “we” could suggest that rather than merely herself, the remaining staff of USAGM and VOA may be folded into the Department of State entirely, a similar fate to what befell another formerly independent agency targeted by DOGE: the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

According to the Post, Lake presented the upcoming changes as a continuation of her current role in the Trump administration saying, “I am thrilled to be working on behalf of President Trump and this administration. He put me in this role because I’m a fighter. And I’m disgusted how Washington DC and this agency, in particular, has been screwing over hardworking Americans.”

As recently as March 15th, the USAGM announced that Lake was active in her role and in compliance with an Executive Order from President Trump (Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy), which had initiated a series of measures to “eliminate the non-statutory components and functions to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”

Among other actions, this included the abrupt cancellation of “obscene over-spending including a nearly quarter-of-a-billion-dollar lease for a Pennsylvania Avenue high-rise that has no broadcasting facilities to meet the needs of the agency and included a $9 million commission to a private real estate agent with connections.”

Lake famously made the determination at that time that “This agency is not salvageable.” She added, “From top-to-bottom this agency is a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer—a national security risk for this nation—and irretrievably broken. While there are bright spots within the agency with personnel who are talented and dedicated public servants, this is the exception rather than the rule.”

Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio Compares Arizona Elections to Third-World Country

Florida Senator Marco Rubio Compares Arizona Elections to Third-World Country

By Corinne Murdock |

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) said Arizona’s elections reminded him of a third-world country, calling the state “an embarrassment.” 

Rubio told Fox News on Wednesday that the chaos of the state’s election processes confused him.

“I don’t have anything against the state of Arizona, great people, but it seems like you guys are reporting on some third-world country that’s having one of these elections where every day they’re finding new boxes here, new votes there,” stated Rubio. 

Rubio won re-election on Tuesday, leading with greater margins in historically blue, Hispanic counties. His state’s election law enables processing of early votes ahead of Election Day, enabling them to count the last of 7.5 million votes in a matter of hours.

Rubio’s not alone. Voters may feel frustrated by the Secretary of State’s trackers for general election results and ballot progress estimates. For some counties, the percentage of ballots counted have fluctuated, increasing then dropping as more ballots are reported. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, most of the counties didn’t report estimates for the total ballots counted, let alone the types of ballots left to process. As of press time, seven counties haven’t reported the total percentage of ballots counted. Only one county, Greenlee, has 100 percent of ballots processed: accounting for about 2,500 votes. 

The other counties who issued percentages of ballots counted range in completion from 70 to 90 percent.

Perhaps the slowest to process their ballots may turn out to be Pima County. Their recorder informed reporters on Wednesday that it may take another week before they finish counting. 

As of press time, the following Republican candidates are behind: Blake Masters for U.S. Senate, Kari Lake for Governor, Mark Finchem for Secretary of State, Abraham Hamadeh for Attorney General, David Schweikert for U.S. House District 1, Kelly Cooper for U.S. House District 4, and Robert Scantlebury for State Senate District 9. Most of these races remain close and difficult to call due to outstanding ballots.

Other Republicans currently leading their races include: Eli Crane for U.S. House District 2, David Farnsworth for State Senate District 10, Anthony Kern for State Senate District 27, Janae Shamp for State Senate District 29, and Wendy Rogers for State Senate District 7.

Both parties have expressed confidence that the outstanding ballots will end up in their favor.

Ahead of Thursday’s update to the election results, Secretary of State and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs issued another update in a series of pleas with voters to have patience for the ballot processing.

Lake took the opposite stance. She insisted that counties were “dragging their feet” on ballot processing. Lake insisted that Election Day ballots would give her the lead on Hobbs.

Like Lake, Masters expressed confidence that the in-person ballots and those mail-in ballots dropped off on Election Day would weigh in his favor.

Kelly expressed confidence that he would ultimately prevail, though he didn’t offer thoughts on the breakdown of the remaining ballots.

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.