Kari Lake reportedly considered by Trump for diplomatic role in Mexico

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President-elect Donald Trump is considering nominating Kari Lake to serve as his ambassador to Mexico, a prominent post for someone with no diplomatic experience and a political persona built around walling off America’s southern border.

Trump's consideration of Lake is "real," a person familiar with Trump’s transition plans told The Arizona Republic.

The potential pick could deepen Trump’s antagonistic relations with Mexico and add another controversial figure needing confirmation from the U.S. Senate, which will flip to Republican control in January.

The online publication Semafor on Monday described Lake as a “top contender” for the job after public speculation in Mexico that Lake was under consideration.

Lake made border security her priority during her losing Senate campaign against Democratic U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, saying illegal immigrants made crime and inflation in the U.S. far worse. She said she wanted to write the bill to finish Trump’s border wall as her first act in the Senate.

Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, her former rival for the Republican nomination in the Senate race, is under consideration to head the U.S. Marshals Service, according to the person familiar with the Trump transition plans. Lamb on Monday confirmed to The Republic his interest in serving in that job or leading the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Chad Chronister, Trump's initial pick for DEA administrator, withdrew from consideration last week. Chronister is the sheriff of Florida's Hillsborough County.

Blake Masters, the 2022 Republican Senate nominee, is being considered as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to two sources familiar with the Trump transition plans.

Lake offers unswerving support for Trump Lake spent more than 30 years as a Phoenix newscaster and has no apparent background in diplomacy or civil service.

She lost consecutive statewide elections for Arizona governor and Senate while casting herself as “Trump in heels.” She has been active in conservative media since her latest loss, cheering Trump on his Cabinet picks and denouncing President Joe Biden, especially for pardoning his son Hunter Biden on weapon and tax crimes.

She attended the Conservative Political Action Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last week, where she offered praise for that country’s president, Javier Milei, who rode to power promising deep austerity.

Throughout her Senate campaign, Lake was a prominent surrogate for Trump’s run for reelection and commanded national attention for her unswerving support for him and a penchant for controversial remarks.

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump and nominee for U.S. Senate in Arizona Kari Lake embrace during a campaign rally in Prescott Valley on Oct. 13, 2024.

Mediaite reported in November that Lake was in “active negotiations” with conservative broadcaster Newsmax, an account that Lake pushed back on at the time.

What is the role of the US ambassador to Mexico? Trump’s ambassador to Mexico will help manage relations between the neighboring nations and with new President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office in October.

Trump won a second term in part by promising mass deportations as part of another crackdown on the southern border and threatening 25% tariffs placed on Mexican and Canadian imports unless those nations rein in illegal drugs, such as fentanyl, and illegal immigrants.

Trump and Sheinbaum talked after his win in November. That ended with conflicting accounts about their plans moving forward.

Trump claimed that Sheinbaum “agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border.”

In a news conference in Mexico City, Sheinbaum told reporters that a migrant caravan Trump had mentioned was “not going to reach the Mexican frontier” with the U.S. But she maintained that “it has never been our plan to close the border with the U.S.”

Reading a letter she wrote following her conversation with Trump, Sheinbaum made clear that Trump’s economic threats would face Mexican retaliation.

“One tariff will follow another in response and so on, until we put our common businesses at risk,” she said.

Trump’s 2015 entry to politics began with a denunciation of illegal immigrants from Mexico, when he memorably said the country was “not sending their best.”

“They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

Arizona Republic reporter Stephanie Murray contributed to this article.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake reportedly considered by Trump for ambassador to Mexico

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