Kari Lake praised Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's visit to Arizona to promote the SAVE America Act, telling Newsmax on Friday the trip has rattled those she accused of overseeing flawed elections in the state.
"I thank her deeply for that," Lake, acting CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, said on "Rob Schmitt Tonight."
Noem traveled to Arizona to discuss the SAVE America Act and election integrity efforts, appearing in a state that has remained at the center of national debate over election administration since 2020.
The House passed the SAVE America Act on Wednesday by a 218-213 vote. The legislation requires proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo identification when voting. It also requires states to purge noncitizens from voting rolls.
The bill's chances in the Senate depend upon whether Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., can either muster enough support from Democrats or change filibuster rules that would require only a simple majority vote to pass it.
Before Noem's news conference, Lake said she enjoyed seeing what she described as discomfort among former state election officials.
"I loved watching the former election officials, the corrupt people, people involved in our disgusting elections in Arizona, squirming and twisting and worrying," Lake said.
Lake also expressed confidence that President Donald Trump would take action on the issue.
"I know that President Trump will get to the bottom of it, and he will secure our elections," she said.
Arizona has faced intense scrutiny over its election procedures since 2020. Trump lost the state by 10,457 votes and has maintained his defeat that year in Arizona and other states was the result of voter fraud.
Lake, a former television news anchor, ran for Arizona governor in 2022 and lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs by 17,117 votes. She has repeatedly claimed her loss was the result of voter fraud.
Host Rob Schmitt referenced questions about elections in Arizona and Georgia, including ballot procedures in Georgia's Fulton County.
The FBI last month seized hundreds of boxes of ballots from election offices in Fulton County as part of a criminal investigation into possible "deficiencies or defects" in the vote count in the 2020 presidential election. Trump lost that state to Joe Biden by 11,799 votes.
Lake's comments echoed her long-standing criticisms of election administration in Maricopa County, Arizona's most populous county, which has been the focus of reviews and legal challenges in recent years.
"I know that the rats are running in Maricopa County and in Arizona, and there's a lot of rats," Lake said. "I hope next time [Noem] comes to Arizona, she brings law enforcement and a ton of handcuffs, boxes full of handcuffs, because there's real criminality happening in that state surrounding elections."
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