Kari Lake travels to Mar-a-Lago, fresh off projected loss in Arizona - The Washington Post

The deliberation vessel is holding a “Gala and Experience” astatine Trump’s nine connected Thursday and Friday. An agenda says the event’s purpose is to “ensure polices are prepared and finalized for caller sessions of Congress and the authorities house.”

Lake has not conceded defeat. The sojourn to Mar-a-Lago, portion ballot counting continues successful Arizona, signals that she is already taking steps to support her illustration successful the erstwhile president’s orbit. Her enactment besides could beryllium consequential for Trump, who launched his 2024 statesmanlike run this week nether disapproval for his relation successful the party’s underwhelming show successful the midterm elections.

Lake, a erstwhile tv quality anchor, modeled her bid for politician connected Trump’s campaigns and echoed his mendacious assertions that helium was cheated retired of reelection successful 2020. She speaks to the erstwhile president regularly, according to existent and erstwhile run advisers. The erstwhile president called successful to her campaign’s “war room” connected Sunday to explicit disbelief that Republicans were trailing successful ballot counts and to explicit enactment for her and different GOP candidates.

Lake was projected Monday to suffer the contention to Democrat Katie Hobbs, the existent caput of state. On Tuesday, Lake reacted to Trump’s announcement of a 3rd bid for the White House by declaring connected Twitter that helium had her “complete and full endorsement!” Lake was often discussed arsenic a imaginable vice-presidential prime for Trump, though she maintained connected the run way that she intended to service a afloat word arsenic politician if elected.

Now that she’s been defeated for authorities office, her governmental way is little clear. On Thursday, she told her supporters connected societal media that “we are inactive successful this fight,” denouncing Maricopa County, location to Phoenix and much than fractional the state’s voters, for problems connected Election Day that progressive malfunctioning printers.

In the aboriginal hours of Election Day, printers astatine 70 of the county’s 223 polling sites produced ballots with ink that was excessively airy to beryllium work by vote-counting machines. That caused ballots to beryllium rejected by the machines. Voters were told to either hold successful line, question to different voting determination oregon deposit their ballots successful unafraid boxes that were transferred to downtown Phoenix and counted there. County officials dispatched technicians to hole settings connected the printers experiencing the problems. While technicians were retired astatine different polling locations, they besides changed settings connected printers proactively, a region spokesperson said. County officials program to analyse the basal origin of the printer problems successful the coming weeks.

Lake and her allies person formed the problems arsenic “voter suppression,” a taxable that whitethorn go cardinal to GOP ineligible efforts successful statewide races. But region officials person repeatedly said nary 1 was denied the close to ballot and noted assorted instances of Republicans spreading misinformation astir the usage of the unafraid boxes connected Election Day, contempt specified boxes having been utilized for years.

Her run besides issued a bid of video testimonials from voters who assertion to person been denied a accidental to vote. They included a nexus to a fundraising leafage for Lake’s campaign.

A justice refused a petition from Republicans to widen voting hours connected Election Day successful airy of the problems, uncovering that nary 1 had been prevented from voting. Lake’s run is weighing its ineligible options successful coordination with Abraham Hamadeh, the Republican campaigner for lawyer wide who is trailing his Democratic hostile but whose contention has not yet been called, according to radical with cognition of the deliberations.