Kari Lake keeps doing apparently illegal shit in D.C.

Kari Lake is already the mortal enemy of facts. Now, she’s also getting crosswise with the law.

Arizona’s two-time failed MAGA candidate has spent the last several months disassembling the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees programs like Voice of America that deliver journalism to parts of the world without a robust, free press. Lake once aspired to lead VOA, but after President Donald Trump appointed her as senior advisor to USAGM, she has instead taken a sledgehammer to it — whether she’s legally allowed to or not.

Lake’s mass firings have drawn legal challenges. On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that Lake claimed in a court filing that she was just following Trump’s orders when she put most of USAGM’s 1,300 employees and contractors on administrative leave — essentially paying them millions of dollars to do zero work. The Post also obtained documents showing congressional staffers for both Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz and GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham warned Lake via email that she had violated the Anti-Deficiency Act by using congressionally approved funds to fire staff at Voice of America.

Schatz himself then sent Lake a letter telling her that she was violating the law. Per the Post, Lake responded: “Your assertion and accusations are completely false and without merit, but I expect nothing less from a far-left Senator with an agenda who doesn’t have a grasp of the law, the grave national security concerns or the realities of this agency.”

Neither Lake nor staff at USAGM responded to questions from Phoenix New Times.

Notably, the Government Accountability Office, a federal watchdog agency, has now opened an investigation into Lake over the issue. However, even if the GAO found wrongdoing, it seems unlikely a Trump-controlled Department of Justice would do anything about it.

A federal judge might have more sway, and the Ronald Reagan appointee handling multiple lawsuits spawned by Lake’s decisions doesn’t seem to buy what she’s selling. In a court filing, Judge Royce Lamberth wrote that when “Congress appropriated $260 million to VOA for (Fiscal Year) 2025, it did not anticipate that such a significant sum of taxpayer funds would be used to pay employees to sit at home for months on end.”

He added: “The legal term for that is ‘waste,’ and it is precisely what federal appropriation law aims to avoid.”

Coincidentally, the legal term for Lake’s job is up for debate. Though Trump appointed her as a special advisor to the agency, Lake seemingly promoted herself first to deputy CEO of USAGM and now calls herself the acting CEO. Not only did Lake state in the Wednesday court filing that she “assumed the role” of acting CEO in late July, she was also referred to as “acting CEO” in an appearance on right-wing cable channel Real America's Voice.

On Wednesday, NPR reported that Lake’s apparently self-guided rise through the ranks is most likely against the law.

Ethics lawyers who served former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush questioned how Lake came to take the title and noted that she didn’t qualify to be acting CEO. According to U.S. law, an acting agency CEO must have acted as principal deputy of the CEO before the vacancy arose, already been confirmed to another position by the Senate or have been a senior agency official for 90 days prior. It also appears that Trump did not officially appoint Lake to the role.

Richard Painter, Bush’s chief White House ethics lawyer, told NPR he doesn’t think Lake qualifies for the title. As a result, he said, Lake’s self-aggrandizement may create an opening for the many VOA journalists currently suing her.

"They're making life a lot more complicated for themselves," Painter told NPR. "This would create an additional argument for anybody she fired or any other acts she engaged in, including entering into contracts."

Lake is no rookie when it comes to claiming titles she hasn’t earned. She still maintains she’s the rightful governor of Arizona, after all. But this is the first time she’s been able to claim any actual government authority. Clearly, it didn’t take her long to exceed it.