(TotalConservative.com) – On Monday, Kari Lake, the 2022 Republican nominee for Arizona governor, filed a motion to have a defamation lawsuit against her dismissed.
Stephen Richer, the Maricopa County Recorder, filed the lawsuit in June, accusing Lake of making false statements claiming he deliberately sabotaged the election results in his county.
Last year on election day, around 59% of Maricopa County polling locations had malfunctioning printers, disrupting the ability of tabulators to read ballots, which resulted in long lines. According to Republicans like Lake, their party voted on election day 3 to 1 over Democrat voters, who are more likely to do early voting rather than wait until election day. This is what prompted Lake to call for a new election because she believes her party was disproportionately affected by the malfunctions.
A judge ruled against Lake’s request for a new election and upheld the legitimacy of Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs’ victory. The judge felt there was not sufficient evidence to prove Maricopa County intentionally interfered with the printers on Election Day or other matters raised by Lake’s attorneys during the trial.
The Arizona Court of Appeals affirmed that ruling. The Supreme Court of Arizona also upheld most of the original ruling save for one issue which they sent back to the trial court which had to do with signature verification laws. The trial court ruled the county officials followed the law, which Lake then appealed.
Now Lake is being sued by Richer who argues the statements against him by the Republican candidate were false. According to his suit, “the sole issue” of the case is if Lake “should have a judgment entered against her” as a political candidate who made “comments about a public official regarding an election.” Richer argues that Lake knowingly propagated “malicious falsehoods” about the election which resulted in “threats of violence” against him and his family and disrupted their lives.
Jen Wright, Lake’s attorney, issued a statement on Monday about the suit and said it constitutes “precisely the kind of abuse of the legal system” that was supposed to be stopped by legislature passed in 2022 to strengthen protections of citizens’ freedom of speech about “matters of public concern.”
Lake argues that Richer’s lawsuit against her is an “attack on the First Amendment.”
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