Kari Lake emerges as contender to be Trump’s ambassador to Mexico
There is speculation at Mar-a-Lago that Kari Lake — who twice failed to win office in Arizona — is being considered as President-elect Donald Trump’s ambassador to Mexico, The Post has learned.
One source confirmed to The Post on Monday there were discussions at the once and future president’s West Palm Beach, Fla., resort this weekend about her being a top contender for the diplomatic post.
Lake, 55, is considered the leading candidate for the ambassador position, two sources familiar with the situation previously told Semafor.
Trump’s ambassador to Mexico will play a significant role in what he has said will be a top priority of his second administration in deporting millions of illegal migrants.
She has been a staunch supporter of the incoming president since earning his endorsement in her run for the Arizona’s governor office in 2022.
The former news anchor for Phoenix-based Fox affiliate KSAV-TV narrowly lost that race to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs — but refused to concede and challenged the outcome for years to no avail.
In her run for governor, Lake wrote an op-ed detailing plans to create a “compact of like-minded states” to deport illegal migrants back across the southern border, similar to proposals now laid out by Trump, 78, for his second term.
“This compact will establish an interstate commission overseeing joint border security operations comprised of law enforcement resources from member states,” Lake wrote at the time in the Independent Journal Review.
“The compact will provide for states to not only arrest illegal immigrants crossing into Arizona, but also to return them back across the border,” she added. “We will keep Washington informed of our efforts, but Arizona will not seek permission to defend ourselves. In our federalist system, states are sovereign and we will exercise our inherent powers to resolve this crisis.”
Lake then ran a campaign to be Arizona’s next senator in the 2024 election, but lost again, coming in more than two percentage points behind Democrat Ruben Gallego.
The soon-to-be 47th president’s border czar Tom Homan has put forward plans for cooperation with state and local officials to kick criminal migrants — and others who entered the US illegally — out of the country.
Meanwhile, Trump already sparked a standoff with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum floating a sky-high 25% import tariff — which Mexico’s leader said had resulted in a “very kind” phone call to discuss immigration and the trafficking of the deadly opioid fentanyl across their nations’ border.
“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” Trump threatened beforehand on Truth Social in late November.
Trump’s transition team did not confirm or deny that Lake was being considered for the post, but not all Republicans have been happy about the twice-failed candidate being elevated to the ambassador position.
“Republicans want to get rid of two-time loser Kari Lake,” a source close to the Republican National Committee told The Post. “The best way to do that is for Trump to exile her out of the country in a plum sinecure that will keep out her of Arizona politics for at least four years.”
Reps for Lake did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
