AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin
Kari Lake is in “active negotiations” to join Newsmax after losing her bid for the Senate in Arizona, Mediaite has learned.
Lake, a local news broadcaster turned fierce Trump loyalist, is in talks with the conservative network for an on-camera position, sources said.
Before emerging as a far-right political candidate, Lake spent more than two decades as an anchor for the Phoenix television station Fox 10.
After quitting the station, she became one of the loudest voices promoting Trump’s false claims of a stolen election in 2020, and mounted a bid for governor of Arizona in 2022. Lake lost that race, but refused to concede and cried fraud.
A local election official she had blamed for her loss sued for defamation over her false claims. The suit was recently settled for an undisclosed amount.
Lake ran for Senate in 2024 but lost to Democrat Ruben Gallego, underperforming Trump, who won the state in the presidential contest. She has not conceded the race, but has not challenged the results either.
Despite her fealty to Trump, Lake has little hope for a job in his administration, a Trump insider told Mediaite.
“He doesn’t like to hire people who lose,” the insider said bluntly.
“She lost two elections and was a complete Trump loyalist, and did not get picked for anything,” they added, adding Newsmax seeks out Trump orbit personalities who are “damaged” and will be “cheap” to hire.
When reached for comment about her talks with Newsmax, Lake responded by text: “Get better sources.”
A spokesman for Newsmax denied any talks with Lake, saying in a statement, “we have had ZERO discussions with Kari Lake to join Newsmax.”
When asked about those denials, one source who confirmed the talks called Newsmax “serial liars.”
Bringing on an election denier is a risky play for Newsmax. The network faced two multi-billion dollar defamation lawsuits from election tech companies Dominion and Smartmatic over its coverage of the 2020 election, during which it promoted Trump’s false claims of massive fraud.
The network recently reached a private settlement with Smartmatic; the Dominion case still looms. (In response to a request for comment, Dominion said its trial with Newsmax is set to start April 28, 2025.)
Fox News, which was also sued by Smartmatic and Dominion over its election coverage, settled with the latter last year for a staggering $787.5 million.
Ever since it got slapped with those lawsuits, Newsmax has been careful to avoid allowing election denialism on the air. In September, a Newsmax host frantically ended an interview when his guest started spewing stolen election theories. After Trump pushed those claims at a rally in February, a host read a disclaimer stating “Newsmax as a network believes the results were legal and final.”
