Allies of failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake are trying their best to spin her surrender in a defamation lawsuit leveled against her into a victory.
The MAGA candidate declared on Tuesday that she wanted to skip fighting against a defamation lawsuit lodged by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, according a court motion that her attorneys filed.
Lake, who would have likely been forced to give a deposition, sought to get a speedy hearing on how much damages she must pay Richer, signaling she's surrendering.
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But outside of court, Lake and her supporters are still trying to declare victory.
In a recent sit-down interview, Lake accused Richer of being a bully who will be forced to carry the guilt of pursuing a legal remedy.
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When she was asked why she wasn't going to fight to prove she was in the right, Lake responded it's not worth the time and money while she is campaigning to get to Washington D.C.
"They want me to spend $3 million fighting this case and they want me to spend every day off the campaign trail," Lake complained, suggesting her political aims outweigh clearing her name in court.
"So we're going all the way to 'Put up or shut up! Show us what the damages are? Where did my words hurt you? Show me where my words hurt you. Show me where my freedom of speech hurt you. And you put a dollar sign on that.' And he's gonna have to live with that."
Lake was accused of damaging Richer's reputation publicly on social media, rallies and pressers by accusing him of miscounting; specifically that he padded the count with 300,000 bogus ballots in the state governor race in 2022 where she lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs by 17,000 votes.
"A default isn't a surrender or an admission of guilt," posted Abe Hamdeh. "She outmaneuvered Richer. She's telling him to put his cards on the table. good move Kari."
"Kari Lake is calling BULLS--- on Stephen Richer’s defamation suit," wrote @SaltyGoat17. "Kari is on FIRE!!"
Lake supporter Dan Theman tweeted: "Richer BELONGS IN JAIL."
"KARI LAKE IS FOR THE PEOPLE WE LOVE YOU," posted Luca Benevuto.
After Lake's essential surrender in the defamation case, Richer appeared on MSNBC to discuss how much harm she actually caused him and his family.
"Of your millions of followers when you tell them that this man, Steven Richer, has committed the most heinous crimes against our democracy, it doesn't take much imagination that one of your followers, two of your followers might do something very extreme based off that," he said. "So in recent months we've had two people arrested for threats to me.
"I get on a daily basis why I should be in Gitmo why I should be in jail. This needs to stop. That's why we filed this lawsuit.
She just put up the white flag. She doesn't have any evidence."
Watch the video below or at this link.
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