Kari Lake appeared on the show of an Islamaphobic conspiracy theorist who has espoused white nationalist
views and offered no pushback when the host claimed her combat veteran
opponent in the U.S. Senate race wants his fellow veterans to kill
themselves.

Lake appeared on “Loomer Unleashed,”
hosted by Laura Loomer on May 21 to discuss her bid for U.S. Senate. In
the interview, as the two women discussed the southern border, Loomer
claimed that U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, the likely Democratic nominee in
this year’s Senate race, was in favor of illegal immigration. That led
her to claim Gallego did not care about veteran suicide. 

“I think, too, another thing that’s
really shameful about Ruben Gallego is he likes to tout, you know, his
military service, as if he’s some kind of war hero in our country,”
Loomer said about the U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq. She
went on to say that, “if Ruben Gallego truly cares about veterans,” then
he would “keep illegal aliens out” claiming that money used on
immigration should be going to veterans. 

“I would even go as far — maybe it’s
provocative to say — I would say he’s in favor of veterans committing
suicide, because until he actually says he wants to divert all of those
resources from illegal aliens to all of those veterans who are in need,
and maybe we could even save some of the lives of these veterans,”
Loomer said. “I don’t wanna hear Ruben Gallego talk about his military
service anymore.”

After Loomer’s comment, Lake said she
did “appreciate” Gallego’s service before saying that his district has a
high homeless population. 

Gallego’s campaign said Lake’s conversation with Loomer shows how little she thinks of veterans.

“Kari Lake’s decision to stand behind
Laura Loomer’s disgusting lies is reprehensible,” Gallego campaign
spokeswoman Hannah Goss said in a statement to the Arizona Mirror.
“Ruben Gallego is a combat veteran who lost Marine brothers to suicide
and has worked tirelessly to prevent other veterans from experiencing
the tragedy that he knows all too well. This is exactly who Kari Lake is
— a self-serving liar who disrespects our veterans, their service, and
their sacrifice. Lake needs to apologize to the 500,000 Arizona veterans
who risked everything to keep this country safe.”

Gallego is a Marine Corps veteran who deployed to Iraq in 2005 as an infantryman and served with a unit that saw the most Marine casualties of any unit, with 22 soldiers killed. 

Gallego has spoken publicly
about veteran suicide and the struggles returning soldiers face with
post-traumatic stress disorder. During his tenure in Congress, he has
also been a part of bipartisan legislation aimed at veteran suicide, as well as bipartisan legislation aimed at protecting whistleblowers in the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Lake did not respond to repeated requests for comment. 

Loomer is known for her provocative
actions and statements and has spread a number of conspiracy theories,
including ones that are promoted by white supremacist groups. She is also known to associate with white supremacists and has been noted for spreading false information about the Hamas-Israel war.   

Lake also did not push back against
claims by Loomer that Democrats are attempting to grant undocumented
immigrants voting rights. Non-citizens are already barred from voting in
federal elections. 

“Well, it’ll be game over for America,” Lake said in response to Loomer’s false claims.
“I mean, this is the last, final election. We either get this right and
we vote for America First policies or, you know, we vote with Joe
Biden, people like Ruben Gallego, who truly want the destruction of our
country.”