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Kari Lake earned a senator’s salary for talking and writing: documents



Kari Lake, the probable Republican candidate this year for the U.S. Senate in Arizona, made more money last year just from speaking and writing than she would make as a senator, according to Raw Story’s analysis of her most recent financial disclosure.

That’s $175,000 for Lake — and $174,000 for a U.S. senator.

Lake disclosed the specific terms of her book deal royalty agreement in an amended personal financial disclosure report filed Friday. She reported receiving a $100,000 advance, against 25 percent of net profits from sales, from her book “Unafraid,” released last June.

ALSO READ: 17 worthless things Trump will give you for your money

The Guardian described Lake’s book as a “grievance-packed audition in Lake’s tireless quest to be named [Donald] Trump’s running mate in 2024.”

The Daily Mail says Lake uses the book “to lay out her political manifesto and settle scores, all while describing how she made the move from much loved TV news anchor to one of the county's most divisive politicians.

Kari Lake's second amendment to her financial disclosure report for 2023 includes the terms of her book deal.

Lake’s book failed to reach the level of commercial success achieved by other MAGA-adjacent tomes, including those by members of the Trump family and a roster of Republican senators. The book is published by Winning Team Publishing, which was co-founded in 2021 by Donald Trump Jr.

Lake added the terms of her book deal — omitted in her amended February report and her original January report — as she prepares for Arizona’s July 30 primary.

ALSO READ: Trump-nominated FEC leader: let political donors hide their identities

Lake lost her only general election — for Arizona governor in 2022. She never conceded to Democrat Katie Hobbs after losing the race by more than 17,000 votes. Lake continues to deny the legitimacy of the election, despite losing multiple times in court on the issue.

During 2023, she commanded at least $5,000 — and as much as $15,000 — for each of seven speaking engagements she disclosed between March and September. Only one of the speeches was delivered in Arizona.

Kari Lake's paid speaking appearances in 2023. (Source: U.S. Senate Office of Public Records)

The Washington Post reported recently that Trump, the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee, has soured on Lake’s prospects to win the Senate seat this year, despite writing a sunny foreword to her book. Trump has grumbled that Lake could be a drag on his presidential campaign in the key state of Arizona.

Lake’s campaign did not immediately respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.

Lake faces Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego in November. Through March, the latest federal campaign finance report, Gallego had a substantial lead over Lake in fundraising.

People wait in line to have their books signed by U.S. Senate candidate and former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake prior to hearing former U.S. President Donald Trump deliver remarks at The Ted Hendricks Stadium at Henry Milander Park on November 8, 2023 in Hialeah, Fla. (Photo by Alon Skuy/Getty Images)

Gallego’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) announced in March that she would not seek reelection after leaving the Democratic Party. Polling showed her finishing third against Gallego and Lake in a three-way race that now will not happen because of Sinema’s departure.

‘Aren’t You Defying’ Trump? CNN’s Manu Raju Presses Marjorie Taylor Greene on Move to Oust Mike Johnson

“She doesn't have a whole lot of support in her party, but she does have a red hat. All right, Manu Raju up on Capitol Hill for us,” Acosta quipped

The post ‘Aren’t You Defying’ Trump? CNN’s Manu Raju Presses Marjorie Taylor Greene on Move to Oust Mike Johnson first appeared on Mediaite.

‘We Don’t Support That at All’: John Kirby Distances White House from Israel’s Al Jazeera Ban

White House spokesperson John Kirby said the Biden administration does not support Israel's decision to ban Al Jazeera from the country. 

The post ‘We Don’t Support That at All’: John Kirby Distances White House from Israel’s Al Jazeera Ban first appeared on Mediaite.

Trump’s ‘outright psychopathy’ on display in his new email meltdowns: columnist



Concurrent with Donald Trump's hush money trial finishing up its second week of prosecution testimony, the former president's emails to his supporters are becoming increasingly over-the-top and shrill, leading to speculation he is not only having donation problems but also the pressures of his legal problems are getting to him.

As noted by Salon's Chauncey DeVega who has been reporting on the former president's diminishing mental state and possible psychological problems, there is a growing vibe of panic in Trump's emails as evidenced by a recent one that blared: "All hell breaks loose in 24 hours!" and another declaring he is being held "hostage."

According to DeVega's report, the strident tone in the emails begging for donations are demonstrating an increasing spiral in victimhood as he sits day after day in a Manhattan courtroom while facing the possibility of jail time if convicted on just one of the 34 felony counts he is charged with related to paying hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

ALSO READ: A neuroscientist reveals how Trump and Biden's cognitive impairments are different

"With the beginning of Trump’s first criminal trial in New York, his emails have only become more extreme – and will only continue to – as the 2024 election and potentially three other criminal trials are closing in on him," he wrote before pointing to the recent Trump email that stated: "Friend, in 24 hours, the hearing on my GAG ORDER will begin. I COULD BE THROWN IN JAIL AT THAT VERY MOMENT! This is what the Hate-America Deep State has always dreamed of. STAND WITH TRUMP I won’t be able to campaign. I will be muzzled and silent. And Democrats will have free rein to destroy our country."

That led DeVega to argued that, "Of course, Donald Trump is lying. There is no substantive evidence to support his fabulist conspiratorial delusions-fantasies of persecution and other harm. The corrupt ex-president is in no way a victim, except perhaps of his own apparent sociopathy if not outright psychopathy, and other parts of his obviously diseased mind."

Add to that, he wrote that there is a sense that the former president is struggling to raise money to fund both his multitude of legal teams fending off criminal indictments as well as his presidential campaign.

RELATED: Trump howls about 'unconstitutional gag order' in all-caps early morning rant

To make that point, he cited a recent Washington Post report that relayed, "In the years after Donald Trump lost the presidency to Joe Biden, Trump sent so many emails and text messages asking for money that Republican consultants warned his mailing lists could become useless. The former president’s friends told him that they were being asked for too much, too often, and Trump himself ordered aides at one point to slow the solicitations. Some of his fans, pockets emptied, mailed handwritten letters apologizing for not being able to give more. Now, as Trump and Biden prepare for a rematch, Trump’s vaunted small-dollar fundraising operation is not bringing in as much money as it once did."

"They will need to find a way to trigger more fear, pain, discomfort, terror, and other negative emotions among the MAGA people and other prospective Trump donors and voters. Those negative emotions will be the motivation for giving a literal form of protection money to Donald Trump and the MAGA leadership," the Salon columnist suggested.

You can read more here.

Trump’s demand to stop hush money trial denied by appeals court



The appeals court has denied Donald Trump's request to have Justice Juan Merchan recused from the Manhattan hush money trial, Law360's Stewart Bishop reported Tuesday morning.

Trump has also demanded that the trial be paused because he is awaiting a ruling from the Supreme Court on his "presidential immunity" claims. That too was denied.

Trump faces 34 felony counts in Manhattan surrounding a so-called hush money agreement with adult film star Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors say he paid her to keep quiet about a sexual relationship they had before the 2016 election.

ALSO READ: Mike Pence: latest presidential campaign deadbeat?

Trump claimed Merchan was biased against him because the judge's daughter works for Democratic campaigns.

Merchan asked a judicial ethics board to examine the issue last year, and it was ruled that everything was above board. Still, Trump appealed his refusal of recuse.