Trump Getting Sick of Kari Lake’s Regular Visits to Mar-a-Lago, Privately Dismisses Her 2022 Election Fraud Claims as Bogus: Report
Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake has worn out her welcome at Mar-a-Lago — according to a new Washington Post report.
In a feature published Monday — co-written by the Post’s Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, Josh Dawsey, and Liz Goodwin — former President Donald Trump is concerned that Lake has spent too much time hobnobbing with the MAGA elite and not enough time focused on winning what Trump sees as a crucial election for his prospects in an all-important battleground state.
“At one point last year, after grumbling for months that she was at his Mar-a-Lago Club too often, Trump gently suggested to Lake that she should leave the club and hit the campaign trail in Arizona, according to a person with direct knowledge of his comments,” the Post reporters wrote. “Trump has also asked others if she can really win in Arizona and if she might drag down his own poll numbers as he seeks the presidency again in 2024, advisers said.”
Trump also privately thinks Lake’s 2022 election fraud claims are bogus, according to the report.
“She didn’t win,” Trump bluntly told a political ally at a Mar-a-Lago dinner earlier this year, according to the Post.
One other notable Lake moment got the attention of Trump and his inner circle: the incident in which a Lake ally released a tape of former Arizona GOP chair Jeff DeWit appearing to show Lake being offered a bribe to not run for Senate in 2024. The Post reporters described Trump’s reaction to the incident as “more surprised than angry” when he learned about it on the night of the New Hampshire primary in January.
“She tapes everything?” Trump reportedly asked. “That’s good to know.”
In a statement sent to the Post, Trump didn’t address any of the specific claims in the report, but said, “Kari Lake is a Smart and Fearless Leader who will WIN in Arizona, and help us flip the Senate to Republican control. Kari’s Opponent, Ruben Gallego, is an Open Borders RADICAL, who is BAD on Inflation and SOFT on Terrorists and Crime.”
