The Republican Party’s Arizona gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake, first put forth and backtracked on a conspiracy allegation regarding her challenge of the 2022 election results.
This came after a local judge rejected her lawsuit and Democratic winner Katie Hobbs went on the offensive with sanctions demands.
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Lake’s Lawsuit Rejected in 10-Page Ruling
Kari Lake, a former long-time Fox News anchor and a close ally of former President Trump, disputed the results in Maricopa County.
She did this over alleged voting violations which she claimed hindered her supporters from casting their ballots on Election Day – such as malfunctioning voting devices and long lines.
Maricopa County, which includes the city of Phoenix, Arizona, has a population of some 4.5 million people. It is the most populous county in the state and the fourth nationwide.
Lake lost the November 8 gubernatorial election to Democrat Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s secretary of state, by about 17,000 votes.
She insisted she won the election and had a legal team challenge the results in court. At first, Maricopa County Judge Peter Thompson allowed her team to inspect random ballots at her request.
However, on Saturday, Christmas Eve, Thompson rejected her lawsuit for nixing the results in Arizona’s largest county, arguing the technical experts who testified, and Lake’s own witnesses, failed to produce any evidence of illegal irregularities or voter fraud during the midterms last month.
Kari Lake was in the courtroom on Saturday; though she didn’t testify, The New York Post reported.
After Lake heard the judge’s 10-page ruling, she took to Twitter, where her initial reaction was that her legal team would appeal it for the sake of her voters.
My Election Case provided the world with evidence that proves our elections are run outside of the law. This Judge did not rule in our favor. However, for the sake of restoring faith and honesty in our elections, I will appeal his ruling.
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) December 24, 2022
A few days ago I asked what conspiracy theory Kari Lake would offer for why she lost her election contest lawsuit. It is more insane than even I predicted. pic.twitter.com/8K6OIfSVcc
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) December 26, 2022
Pursuant to the court’s order, motions for sanctions against Kari Lake and her attorneys were filed this morning in Arizona.https://t.co/extWKCTecU pic.twitter.com/xA1n89bNgu
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) December 26, 2022
‘More Insane’ Than Expected
On Monday, however, Maricopa County submitted a motion to the local court asking that the GOP gubernatorial candidate be sanctioned, Mediate reported.
Arizona Governor-elect Katie Hobbs also joined the motion, demanding Lake pay $37,000 as a sanction for making false claims about how the 2022 gubernatorial vote was “rigged.”
In the past, Lake said the election would get “rigged” before the actual casting of the votes.
After the court ruling against her, she retweeted a conspiracy theory claiming the judge, Peter Thompson, had his ruling “ghostwritten” and top leftist lawyers, such as Marc Elias, sent it to him and he only read it out aloud in the courtroom.
The Republican gubernatorial candidate later deleted the conspiracy allegation regarding the judge.
Marc Elias was the top lawyer for the 2016 presidential campaign of Democrat icon Hillary Clinton. Elias celebrated on Twitter that Lake deleted the conspiracy accusation against Judge Thompson.
The former Clinton lawyer wrote that days earlier, he wondered what “conspiracy theory” Lake would resort to after losing the election challenge lawsuit and he found her post “more insane” than he expected.
According to a local Fox News reporter’s estimate, Lake and her team could face sanctions of up to $700,000.
All told, between Hobbs and several lawyers for the County – Lake and her attorneys could face up to $700K in sanctions to cover total fees. https://t.co/RzdZ94TjPZ
— ᴊᴜꜱᴛɪɴ ʟᴜᴍ | 林俊豪 (@jlumfox10) December 26, 2022
UPDATE:
Arizona’s Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs filed a separate motion detailing what she wants Kari Lake to pay in sanctions: more than $550,000, mostly to @MarcEElias‘s firm.
Maricopa County filed for separate sanctions.
More details, @LawCrimeNews https://t.co/XFM0ZYn4BN pic.twitter.com/G6FYEvcO3i
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) December 26, 2022
This article appeared in The State Today and has been published here with permission.
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