Following a ruling that said that failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake does not have a First Amendment right to call Maricopa County recorder Stephen Richer a criminal, the Arizona Republic reporter wondered if Lake was “waking up in a cold sweat as she channels her inner Rudy Giuliani.”
“The state’s biggest crybaby”
Laurie Roberts, the Arizona Republic journalist, first joked that this year ended like 2022 with Lake’s loss. However, Roberts wondered if this could be the time for “the state’s biggest crybaby” to face accountability.
The latest ruling
Following her 2022 defeat, Lake accused two Republican election officials in Maricopa County of manipulating ballots. Richer sued her for defamation, and Lake’s lawyers argued it was “rhetorical hyperbole.” But Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jay Adleman was not buying Lake’s legal argument.
Inside the ruling
Judge Adleman wrote, “The court is satisfied that the disputed statements — if indeed they are ‘provable’ as false or defamatory — would be undeserving of the protections associated with our First Amendment principles.” Earlier in July, some of Lake’s lawyers were fined $120,000 for filing the “frivolous” election lawsuits.
Comparing Lake to former NYC Mayor
If Lake wants to avoid a defamation ruling that could cost her millions, she has to prove Richer sabotaged the 2022 elections. Roberts reminded that Giuliani got “hit with a $148 million jury verdict after a judge found he defamed a pair of Georgia poll workers.”
Giuliani against the world
After the verdict, the former NYC Mayor declared bankruptcy and doubled down on his claims, arguing that Judge Beryl Howell had not permitted him “to offer one single bit of evidence in defense, of which I have a lot.”
The Georgia workers lived in fear
The two Georgia workers, Ruby Freeman and Wandrea’ ArShaye (‘Shaye’) Moss, a mother and a daughter, faced death threats and had to move and quit their jobs. This all happened after Giuliani, Trump’s lawyer at the time, disseminated a video that he declared showed Freeman and Moss stuffing voting machines with “suitcases” of “fake ballots” and passing a “USB thumb drive,” which was, in fact, a ginger mint.
Giuliani won’t back off, and neither will Lake
As Roberts noted, Lake described in great detail how Arizona’s election workers, including Richer, “set out to steal the election from the Republican nominee for governor.” Like the former NYC Mayor, she failed to prove anything despite numerous legal filings.
The Judge called out Lake
The Arizona Judge wrote, “In point of fact, defendant Lake’s statements regarding improper 19-inch ballots and/or the existence of 300,000 fraudulent ballots may be discerned by a factfinder as either true or false when considered in the light of any available evidence.” He added, “These statements constitute assertions of fact that are actionable under prevailing Arizona law.”
Lake has to prove Richer sabotaged the elections
Roberts writes, “Lake has opened her big mouth to accuse Richer of committing crimes,” Now she has to “prove that he personally sabotaged the 2022 election by adding 300,000 phony ballots to the vote tally. Never mind that the Judge in Lake’s election challenge rejected that claim a year ago.”
Lake’s fighting on X
Lake announced that she is running for an Arizona Senate seat in October. The staunch Trump supporter wrote on X, “They are suing me for having the courage to speak out about election fraud and maladministration. They are indicting and persecuting President Trump. They are imprisoning journalists.” She added, “You are next. No one is safe with this tyrannical government.”
The importance of the case
MSNBC’s Alex Wagner explained that this case has “significant implications for what we as a country allow election deniers to get away with.”
In conclusion
“The judge’s ruling means that Richer will get his day in court,” the columnist wrote, adding, “Lake will get hers as well — to back up her incendiary claims with actual proof.” Roberts concluded, “Oh, the utter unfairness of it all.”
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