Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
- Kari Lake may have lost the AZ governor's race, but she's still making money off her MAGA brand.
- She disclosed earning at least $175,000 from paid speeches and book royalties since then.
- She was also paid $100,000 by the party official she accused of bribing her to stay out of poltiics.
Even when you lose, you can come out a winner.
Kari Lake, the pugnacious acolyte of former President Donald Trump who still hasn't conceded her 2022 loss in the Arizona governor's race, is making plenty of money off her enduring star power on the right.
According to financial disclosure documents that Lake filed as part of her US Senate bid on Tuesday, the former TV anchor made at least $175,000 from paid speeches and book royalties.
That includes $100,000 from Winning Team Publishing, the Trump-aligned outfit that published Lake's book, "Unafraid," in 2023.
The other $75,000 came from speeches Lake gave to conservative groups in Texas, California, New York, and Idaho, sometimes netting $15,000 for one appearance.
Altogether, that's more than the $174,000 salary that she would make as a senator.
Lake was required by federal law to file the disclosures. She's all but certain to face Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego in the general election, and may face incumbent independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema as well.
In a statement, a Lake spokesperson accused the media of having "Kari Lake derangement syndrome."
The disclosures also reveal $101,507 in wages from Superfeed Technologies, a company once owned by former Arizona GOP chairman Jeff DeWit.
Lake notably accused DeWit last week of trying to bribe her into staying out of politics, leading him to resign his position after she purportedly threatened to release even more damaging audio.
In his resignation statement, DeWit did note that Lake was on his payroll at the time of their conversation — though he denied the bribery allegations.
"Instead of focusing on a public official unethically attempting to bribe Kari from seeking federal office, the media is fixated on her financial disclosure, which is not news," the Lake spokesperson said. "She reported the same thing when she ran for Governor two years ago and acted ethically. DeWit was never her boss, as he never owned the company."
Lake did file a financial disclosure when she ran for governor, disclosing her position as a communications advisor for DeWit's firm.
However, those documents did not reveal Lake's compensation amounts and included just two paid appearances.
Lake certainly isn't alone in cashing in on being a political celebrity. Lawmakers on both the left and the right have, in some cases, managed to make more than their salaries via book sales.
In 2022, top earners from book sales including Democratic Sens. Raphael Warnock and Elizabeth Warren, while Sens. Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton led the list for Republicans.