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.
‘Trump was not a rubber stamp’: Experts claim Trump Org witness just destroyed key defense
A witness in Donald Trump's criminal trial Monday revealed that all personal checks from the ex-president's account were personally signed by him, reporters said.
This includes the "reimbursement" that he sent his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, after he allegedly paid adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about a sexual relationship with Trump.
This is according to the testimony from Deborah Tarasoff, the Trump Organization employee who processed the invoices submitted by Cohen for reimbursement. She then cut the checks and stapled them to the top of the invoices.
READ ALSO: Michael Cohen claims Trump took Stormy Daniels hush-money payment as a tax deduction
Tarasoff explained that any check that Trump didn't want to pay would have VOID written over the top in Sharpie. He did it often, and it wasn't unusual. However, the checks for Cohen were signed, she said.
Checks were sent to Trump in Washington via FedEx, Tarasoff continued. An email on Feb. 14, 2017, told her to pay and post the expenses that Cohen had submitted.
This testimony weakens Trump's lawyers' possible argument that he would sign anything that came across his desk.
Speaking to MSNBC, legal analysts Charles Coleman, Tristan Snell and Joyce Vance all agreed that the information the witness provided was harmful to Trump's defense.
"That's critical because what you can't do now if you're Donald Trump's defense attorneys is say that, look, his signature had to go on everything, so he became a rubber stamp for anything and everything in front of him," Coleman explained. "It's important to understand that now we're getting closer and closer to the actual legal legality."
Thus far, he said, the case has been about salacious things — the affair and Trump's comments on the "Access Hollywood" tape, for example.
Now, the trial is turning toward the documents that prove the case.
"Donald Trump can no longer say I was paying Michael Cohen for legal services," Coleman said. "You're paying out of your own personal account. That was a big part of it. It's going to come out as more documents are presented, as well as the why, to conceal another crime. That's also what the prosecution has been doing during the testimony of other witnesses and what it's been putting out."
Vance agreed.
"That's right, she can do that, and she does even more because the real issue in this case is proving what Donald Trump knew, and she has testified that the checks are stapled to invoices, and that's how it goes to Donald Trump for approval," Vance said. "And, you know, as Tristan and Charles were saying, Trump was not a rubber stamp; he was carefully scrutinizing these things."
See the comments from the legal analysts below:
'Not a rubber stamp': Prosecutors proved Trump knowingly signed Cohen's check personally www.youtube.com
