Kari Lake Breaks Silence on Trump VP Rumors

Arizona Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake speaks with supporters at a rally in Phoenix on Nov. 3, 2022. Allan Stein/The Epoch Times

U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake responded to rumors and speculation that she might be picked as former President Donald Trump’s running mate in 2024.

Ms. Lake, a former Arizona gubernatorial candidate who is now running for the state’s Senate seat in 2024, told GBNews that she is focused on winning her race.

The seat for which she is vying is held by independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who hasn’t formally announced that she is running for reelection.

“We have to have a Republican-led United States Senate because when President Trump gets back in office, and I do believe he will, he’s going to need to do his cabinet appointments through [it],” Ms. Lake, a former television news journalist, told the outlet.

Without GOP control of the Senate, it will be tough to get President Trump’s programs “passed” through Congress, Ms. Lake said. “His agenda is going to be to put America first, and I’m going to help in any way that I can,” the Republican added.

When asked about whether she is considering becoming his vice presidential nominee, Ms. Lake demurred by saying that she wants “to help him in the Senate. I really think that he’s going to need help in the Senate.”

“We have a chance to bring back that Senate majority. So I’m going to do whatever I can to help my country,” she continued.

“I have two children and I worry deeply about their future. They can’t even fathom living the American dream. And so we have to get that back.”

Since the conclusion of the 2022 midterms, a number of anonymously sourced articles have claimed that President Trump has considered her for the job, although the former president has not publicly commented on those rumors and speculation.

Last year, a Trump campaign spokesman told news outlets that, regarding speculation, “anyone who thinks they know what President Trump is going to do is seriously misinformed and trying to curry favor with ‘potential’ V.P. candidates.'”

“President Trump will choose his running mate on his own time, and those who are playing the media game are doing so at their own peril,” the spokesperson said.

This past week, President Trump predicted that Ms. Lake will be a “terrific” and “great” senator for Arizona. He made no mention of any talk about whether she could become vice president.

It comes as the former president disputed claims that he is looking to choose former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who is running against him for the Republican Party presidential nomination.

“She is not presidential timber,” President Trump said at a campaign event in Concord, New Hampshire, this past week. “Now when I say that, that probably means that she’s not going to be chosen as the vice president.”

Haley ‘Not Tough Enough’

“I know her very well. She’s not tough enough. She’s not smart enough. And she wasn’t respected enough. She cannot do this job,” he added.

“She’s not going to be able to deal with President Xi [Jinping]. She’s not going to be able to deal with [Vladimir] Putin,” he said, referring to the respective leaders of China and Russia.

Later, during an interview with Fox News, President Trump said that there is “no rush” to pick a No. 2 because it “won’t have any impact at all.”

“The person that I think I like is a very good person, pretty standard. I think people won’t be that surprised, but I would say there’s probably a 25 percent chance it would be that person,” he said.

When asked about whether Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) is on his short-list, the former president said he is a “great guy” but noted that other South Carolina politicians endorsed him as well.

“You know, [Scott] endorsed me. There’s an example, [Nikki Haley] comes from South Carolina, Tim Scott is from South Carolina. But if you look [at] the governor, great governor, another senator [Lindsey Graham]. We happen to like Lindsey,” he said.

“But, [Gov. Henry McMaster] knows it very well. He endorsed me. It’s very hard for a governor to endorse somebody when you haven’t … I mean, Henry McMaster was the lieutenant governor under her and he endorsed me … What does that tell you?”

Haley: I Don’t Want to Be VP

As for Ms. Haley, who served in the Trump administration as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, she told Politico on Jan. 19 that she’s not looking to be vice president. Such a role, she added, is “off the table.”

“I’ve said from the very beginning: I don’t play for second. I don’t want to be anybody’s vice president,” Ms. Haley told the outlet.

In another interview, she was more direct. “I do not want to be vice president. Period. I don’t know how many more times I can say that,” Ms. Haley said.