Kari Lake CRASHES AND BURNS under CROSS-EXAM at HEARING!!
The complete and utter fraud that is. Kari Lake was cross-examined before the. United States Senate this week. She was. just nominated by Donald Trump to become. the ambassador to Jamaica. This was. after she was effectively fired by a. federal judge because a federal judge. declared her appointment by Donald Trump. when she was running the USAGM, the United States Agency for Global. Media, which oversees Voices of America.
The judge deemed her appointment to be. wholly unlawful because guess what? She. was never actually appointed. She was. put there as by Donald Trump to be a. senior advisor in early 2025. Then she. took on an acting deputy CEO role. They. made up a fake position for her, and. then she engaged in mass layoffs at. Voices of America, including the main. Farsi channel right before or leading up.
to Donald Trump's invasion of Iran. So. we were completely and utterly. unprepared as well to have the kind of. media support there. But a federal judge. ultimately made the ruling that she was. unlawfully appointed from the outset. In. any event, all of her actions were. deemed null and void, including her mass. terminations of like all the people who. worked at Voice of America and who. worked at USAGM. I mean, she gutted the. whole agency, and she gutted everybody.
that worked there. So then what did. Donald Trump do? Well, he appointed her. to become the ambassador to Jamaica. So. she shows up at this hearing before the. United States Senate. I'm just going to. let her appearance speak for itself. I. don't know if she was taking a dip in. the reflecting pool by Donald Trump, but. at any event, here's how she began, and. then I'm going to show you what the. cross-examine looked like. Let's share.
with you what she looked like at this. hearing. Let's play it. >> And third, advancing American economic. interest, I will advocate for US. businesses, work to address trade. barriers such as Jamaica's long-standing. restrictions on US pork exports, and. promote American investment, especially. as Jamaica continues to rebuild. >> Then she was cross-examined by. Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, and he. cross-examined her about her disgusting. conduct during the 2024 Senate campaign.
when she lost to now Senator Ruben. Gallego in Arizona. And she said that. because Senator Gallego's. father, who basically abandoned Gallego. as a child, because his father was. associated with cartels, and therefore. Senator Gallego was captured by the. cartels. And Senator Gallego told the. story about being abandoned by his dad,
about taking his mom's maiden name, about calling out his father's behavior. And so, it's just like a disgusting. thing to do. And then she's continued to. attack Senator Gallego and saying you're. run by the cartels, the cartels control. you. I mean, it's just typical Kari. Lake. I mean, she's so disgusting in her. behavior, and she'll say all of these. just heinous things, just lies and. conspiracies and deranged things. And. then you'll see at the hearing as she's. cross-examined by Senator Kaine, she.
refuses to retract. Watch as he. cross-examines and grills her and shows. why she should never be anywhere near. any position, even the ambassador of. Jamaica she shouldn't be near. Here, play this clip. >> Ms. Lake, accused one of our sitting. colleagues of being controlled by the. cartels. You had no evidence then, nor. do you have any evidence now that our. colleague Senator Gallego is controlled. by cartels, do you, Ms. Lake?
>> Well, we provided the receipts. The. father um was a high-level drug. trafficker trafficking hundreds of. pounds. >> You said that Ruben Gallego was. controlled by the cartels. You provided. no evidence. This was rated pants on. fire a lie. You had no evidence then, and you have. no evidence now that Ruben Gallego is. controlled by cartels. Isn't that right? >> I I. Thank you for the question, Senator.
Kaine. I do appreciate it. I don't know, and I'm not here to do. reputational control or reputation. >> How about an apology to our colleague? If you If you made that claim he was. controlled by cartels, and now you're. saying you don't know what the facts. are, then you're acknowledging that your. charge was wrong. How about apologizing. to our colleague? >> I I don't believe my charge was wrong. Um Ruben Ruben Gallego's father is a. high-level. >> That That's not the question I asked. you. >> That's not the question. You asserted he. was controlled by cartels. You had no.
evidence then, you have no evidence now, you're unwilling to admit it. And here's. something that's even worse, Mr. Chair. That was during the heat of a campaign. Sometimes we say things during campaigns. that we go too far. She's continued to repeat this as a. sitting member of the Trump. administration. A couple months ago, Ruben Gallego put. out a tweet against the invasion of. Venezuela. He didn't mention Ms. Lake. He just said he was against it. And she, at 2:35 in the morning the.
following day, responded, "You are a. member of a Mexican cartel family. You. are also a fraud. No one is surprised by. your take." She's continuing to repeat a. lie. She just told the committee she has no. idea whether it's true or false, but she. was glad to say it and she won't retract. it now. That should be disqualifying. Mr. Secretary, I got a question for you. >> Then you had Democratic Senator Chris. Murphy from the great state of. Connecticut cross-examining Kari Lake.
about uh getting rid of critical. transmitters and getting rid of kind of. critical technology based in Kuwait that. could have been utilized in order to. provide information to individuals in. Iran in January, you know, and. thereafter. And on something as, you. know, as as important as this, he also. catches her lying under oath and. basically committing perjury. Here, play. this clip. >> Um there was this very specific issue.
where um. staff were requesting access to US. transmitters in Kuwait um that were. necessary in order to broadcast into. Iran. And you denied them access. to use those transmitters, finally. giving them access to one frequency when. they needed multiple frequencies. You. said that it was because the. transmitters were down, that they were. inoperable. That doesn't seem to be. true. Um it seems in fact from all.
reports that those transmitters were. available and you were simply making a. decision to limit the amount of capacity. we had to broadcast into Iran. And you. seem to have walked back your. contentions that those transmitters were. down. It it It seems like you weren't. telling the truth. Can you tell us now. whether those transmitters were actually. inoperable or whether you were actually. actively denying the ability for our.
staff who do this work to transmit. information into Iran? >> Thank you very much for that question. I. appreciate it. Um first of all, we've. all we've given all funding to Radio. Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, every. grantee that operate Radio Free Europe. is the one that operates Radio Farda or. Fardad rather and um. we've given them every every single. >> But but talk to me about this this is a. very specific issue where. there was a a major problem because we. weren't able to broadcast into Iran.
because you had denied access to these. transmitters. You said it was because. they were inoperable. They were not. inoperable. Correct? >> We we have had repairs done on them so. it could have been at a time when there. were repairs done but we weren't denying. them. >> you are you are definitive. You said. that you said that this was not a. decision to to deny them access that. they were inoperable. I mean. this committee can find the answer to. this question pretty easily. You're. always doing repairs on transmitters. Those transmitters were not inoperable,
correct? >> I will have to look into that. I don't. know. >> But you said that you stated on the. record that they were inoperable whereas. your staff. contended that you were denying them. access to the transmitters in order to. limit the amount of information in Iran. >> Radio Farda was doing a product and VOA. Persia was doing a product and we were. using the 24 hours we had to put VOA, which is a government owned entity out.
on the airwaves in Iran. And [clears throat] and you know, we. have 25 20 only 24 hours in the day. Unfortunately, sometimes I wish we had. more but we chose to put VOA. >> I'm well I'm I'm well over my time. I. think your limitation of our ability to. transmit information to Iran was. egregious. It's made more egregious by. the fact that you were not telling the. truth about what was happening behind. the scenes to limit our ability to tell. an American story in Iran and I will.
follow up for the record on this. question of whether you were telling the. truth about those transmitters being. operable. Thank you, Mr. >> More from his cross-examination right. here. >> So, I heard you take credit for the. current amount of programming in Iran. Um. was your decision to dismantle. uh Radio Farsi and Radio Farda and the. VOA Persia staff. a mistake?
>> Thank you so much for that question, Senator Murphy. I appreciate it. Um we. RFE is who runs Radio Farda. We run VOA. Persia, and it is very much alive and. well. We had great coverage. We We went. into surge mode when the uh attack. happened, and we immediately brought in. a huge team of folks to cover it. We. actually covered the president's speech. live with live translation so that the. people of Iran could. >> I can But just to be clear, I'm not.
asking you to tell me what what is. happening now and what I I'm asking you. Why Why did you fire. or put on leave all of the VOA Persia. staff? Why were we in a position where. we had to reconstitute all of that? Do. you concede that that was a mistake? >> I I don't think it was a mistake. I. think that we were bringing things to. statutory minimum, which is what the. executive order. mandated for us to do, and we had a. small staff, but the minute this. happened, we immediately surged and.
brought more people in. They call it. breaking news mode, and anybody who. works in journalism understands that you. have a kind of a homeostasis level, and. then when news breaks, you you jump in. >> So, when this crisis passes, you will. bring that staff back down to statutory. minimums? >> No, I think we're always assessing and. reassessing and making sure that we're. running things smoothly, but I listen to. the folks in VOA. I don't run VOA. I. work at the agency level, and I listen. to the professionals there to what they. need, and I think I I know there are.
people here in this room who work at VOA. who would tell you that every single. thing they have asked for we have. provided. >> that's absolutely not true. That staff protested the devastating. cuts. It was a mistake to dismantle our. information operations in Iran and your. inability to concede that was a mistake. suggests that we have not learned. lessons and perhaps when this crisis is. gone. we will. >> I just want to contrast that so you can.
see the difference between how Democrats. ask questions and how MAGA Republicans. ask questions and why elections actually. matter cuz you have MAGA Republican. Senator McCormick from Pennsylvania. Commonwealth. He doesn't cross-examine. Kari Lake. He says, "I just want to give. you the opportunity to talk about the. 2022 governor's race and the 2024 Senate. race. You want to You want to address. that at all?" And to be very clear Kari.
Lake conducted herself so disgustingly. during those races. Remember all the. lies and conspiracies and lawsuits and. frivolous behavior that she engaged in? And this is to me why these MAGAs are so. disgusting and like and why they're so. despicable cuz he gives her this like. layup and then she's like, "I was just. fighting for election integrity and. security and that's all we can ask for. right now." And I mean that's what. Donald Trump is doing again. Just this. behavior As this shouldn't be a.
political party thing. You're a loser. You lost in 2022. You lost in 2024. You. took on a fake position. at the. at a critical agency at the US Agency. for Global Media which oversees Voice of. America. Then you proceeded to like fire. everybody. Your whole life legacy is. just being horrific as you Just watch. what she does though. Play this clip. So. I'd like to just give you a minute to. step back and give you the opportunity.
to speak in the case there's anything. you'd like to address as it relates to. your 2022 and 2024 elections. >> Can I have more than 5 minutes? >> No, >> [laughter]. >> I don't know about that, but. >> Um actually, you don't want that. probably, but thank you so much Senator. McCormick for opening your schedule to. me this week. I enjoyed meeting with you. and yes, in a family of nine, eight girls, one. boy, um that I did learn diplomacy. because you have to at the end of the. day, you know, and we had didn't have a.
lot of means. We we were pretty poor, although nobody ever told us that. We. had to hop in bed and sleep with our. sisters, you know, we we didn't have. enough bedrooms. So, you didn't want to. take that fight or disagreement all that. way to the next day. So, I'm so honored. to have grown up in a big family. Thank. you very much. I felt that I ran. incredible campaigns with the grassroots. of Arizona firmly behind me. And I'm. very proud of the way that I conducted. myself and the way we ran those. campaigns as a newcomer to politics,
um you know, I I thought that this. country was set up where an outsider. could step into politics, but then I. realized that sometimes the political. class doesn't want the outsiders, but. that's okay. That was a great learning. experience. You know, I fought for fair. and free elections in the courts for the. people of Arizona, and I'm glad that the president is going. to continue fighting for fair and free. elections. I'm looking to the future and. what I want to do is to hone my skills. I want to take everything I've learned. thus far and work at being the best.
diplomat and ambassador that the US has. ever sent to Jamaica, and I'm looking. forward to that. >> And then she was questioned by Jeanne. Shaheen, and Jeanne Shaheen, Senator. Shaheen, from New Hampshire, I mean, she lays out. the case against Kari Lake and and Kari. Lake's behavior, but But I I just think. that she like kind of lets Kari Lake. just go and and ramble. I I mean I guess. we can see that Kari Lake is, you know, just beyond unqualified for anything. I.
mean she should not be an ambassador to. Jamaica. I mean we shouldn't be. rewarding these frauds. Um I'll I'll let you judge this one for. yourself. Let's play it. >> You destroyed the Farsi language. broadcasting ahead of President Trump's. war in Iran. You cut the Spanish. language services ahead of the. administration's action in Venezuela. You put over 2,000 employees on leave. paying them not to do anything for. months. And when my staff asked how much that. cost taxpayers, you had no idea.
Well, we know that keeping those. personnel out of office and on. administrative leave has cost American. taxpayers. $139.7. million. And. an independent audit found that your. interpretation of the so-called. statutory minimum standard on staffing. caused the agency to violate the law. And when my staff asked questions about. these actions and invited you to meet. with them, you refused to meet and you. subsequently directed your team to stop. all communications with my staff on this.
committee. So, help me understand how we're going to be. able to trust you to respond to. Congress' concerns if you're confirmed. as ambassador to Jamaica if what you've. done to date is to stonewall questions. that I have on behalf of this committee. >> Thank you, Ranking Member Shaheen, for. the question. I appreciate um. your concern for the agency. It's an. important agency and I'm as I said to.
the chairman, I'm really proud of the. work that we are doing there. Um we have made ourselves available to. your team. I was really happy to be able. to meet with your team. I see some of. them behind you right now from your. Western Hemisphere expert to um Naz and. Amy and and Mike and Mark. They were. incredibly. uh kind and had a lot of questions about. USAGM. It's It's a difficult task to. bring an agency to statutory minimum, and I leaned heavily on career. civil servants who were at the agency to.
help figure out what that not what that. meant. And we we're actually operating. at a higher level than what they. suggested. I think that we needed more. people to do the job, and we're working. really hard to make sure we continue to. be efficient. If we have not been. forthcoming with our time with your. committee, I I will apologize for that. I know that many members of our team. have met with your. with your staff, and I can think of. three or four times that we've met with. them already. And if that wasn't enough,
then we can work to continue our open. dialogue. I know that we have reached. out recently and said, "Where do we. Where can we find some common ground. here on what you need so that we're. providing it in a timely fashion?" And. we haven't heard back. I did say that I. would make myself available to meet with. you, and then never got a response from. your team if that was. open in your schedule. >> Um. if you didn't hear back from us, I'm. sorry that that happened. >> [clears throat]. >> I hope you will commit to provide this.
committee any information that's. requested if you're confirmed. >> Yes, I will commit to working through. the State Department and. their legislative affairs folks to make. sure that we have an open line of. communication and that whatever is. needed, we can provide you. >> Thank you. >> There you have it, folks. Let me know. what you think. Hit subscribe. Let's get. to 7 million subscribers, and thanks for. watching. Thanks for watching. >> [music]. >> Be sure to add the Midas Touch Podcast. on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever. you get your podcast for new updates. every single day.
