'She surrendered': GOP official suing Kari Lake for defamation speaks out

Well, that brings us to Arizona Senate candidate Carrie Lake, currently running for governor in 2022, where she emerged as one of the fiercest defenders of Trump's coup, as well as a general antagonist of those in the press who tried to correct it. Lies We had a fraudulent election a corrupt election and we have an illegitimate president sitting in the white house the fake news wants us to think that guy got 81 million votes okay, okay, not only am I going to be governor of Arona for 4 years I'm going to fulfill two terms I will be your worst nightmare for eight years and we will also reform the media.

We are going to turn you into journalists again, so get ready, it will be fun. 8 years, can't wait, it'll be funny that she lost, but I guess, to her perverse credit, Carrie Lake is fully committed to the part of going to any Fringe Maga establishment that will accept and affirm her without any evidence of EV . In 2022, the midterm elections she lost were also stolen, we know we won, we know we showed up in droves, and we know they intentionally sabotaged Election Day, so we're going to fight to get myself into governor. legitimate and duly elected. office we won our election.

I know my opponent who is sitting in the governor's office is a fraud and we are fighting that in court, so I really understand what President Trump is facing because they did the same thing to him. In 2020 we cannot stand for election, the judge should declare me the legitimate winner. I am the rightful winner and we must move forward and reclaim our government. Our state government has been hijacked and stolen by a group of people who know this election was fraudulent. people already know who the legitimate governor is and you're looking at her Steve now lost the election won the best webcam in all consecutive years of political competition is the best Donald Trump endorsed a whole list of election deniers in 2022 Carri Lake among them and they all lost, but what really makes her stand out is that she seems to be the only one who lied in her own right and insisted that she was the real winner.

In fact, she did this so often. that she was sued by an election

official

in Arizona, Republican Steven Richer, the Maricopa County recorder, who overcame Lakes' defeat again. A Republican took her to court over her repeated false claims that Richer rigged the election against her and sued her for

defamation

in June of last year. and Lake has been deadlocked on the case since until now she just filed a motion for default judgment, which essentially means she's not contesting liability because if we've seen it time and time again when it comes to lies about voter fraud you can't defend the indefensible.

Now I'm joined by the man who is

suing

Carrie Lake Steven Richer, he's the American Copa County Recorder along with his attorney Jared Davidson, an attorney with Protect Democracy Stephen, let me start with you and just tell me. about what prompted him to take the somewhat extraordinary step of filing this lawsuit after the 2022 election, yes, it wouldn't stop and long story short, that's why we felt like we had to do this, we waited until she filed those court claims he lost in the superior court, he lost in the court of appeals, he lost in the Arizona Supreme Court, then he filed another lawsuit, so I was hoping that he would finally get a new job, but he kept talking about it and he got it the centerpiece of all her fundraising appeals and her political prominence and even a book deal, so I thought she wouldn't get a new job, I'm the job and she would slander my good name to her millions of people. followers, as she is so proud of Proclaim. her profession at the time and really this is the first time and I hope the last time that I sue someone in my individual capacity, but I spoke to the democracy protection team and we thought we had a strong case and in fact we have it.

I have a strong case let me let me ask you um just legally the meaning of today uh the presentation that she's basically not going to contest the

defamation

that she wants to fight on the grounds of damages, but that basically means that you got me. I can't go to court and say that what she was saying was true about Mr. Richard, that's exactly right, Chris. This is an unequivocal admission by Ms. Lake that she has no evidence to support her claims that Mr. Richer engaged in misconduct in the 2022 election. Of course, we all knew she had no evidence from the beginning, but Miss Lake has been repeatedly claiming that she is keen to show the receipts and yesterday told her followers that instead she has no evidence, she is waving the flag and now we are moving. go ahead, not for liability, but we're going to go ahead, uh, to determine not whether M Lake has to pay damages for the harm she has done to Stevenh, but how much she will have to pay for the harm.

I want to talk to Stephen. On that note, I mean, again I want to emphasize this, you are a Republican

official

in Maricopa County, right, yes, and you were the target of Ms. Lake in some of the baroque conspiracy theories that she was weaving. And from my perspective, I know this is someone who lied about the 2020 election. It seemed obvious that he was lying about the 2022 election when he said he didn't win, but I also know that people are on the wrong side of this guy. of lies. They can really see their lives upended, their careers, like what does it mean to be the target of these lies?

Well, it doesn't take much imagination to force you to see the possibility of his millions of followers telling you that this man Steven Richard has committed the most heinous crimes against our democracy, it doesn't take much imagination for one of his followers, two of His followers can do something very extreme based on that, so in the last few months we have arrested two people for threats towards me. daily messages about why she should be in GMO, why she should be in jail and like I said this needs to stop that's why we filed this lawsuit it's a little rich as Jared mentioned this is coming from someone who said she There was all the evidence and she was going to fight to the bitter end, well she just raised the White Flag, she has no evidence and while she lies about me, she is lying to Arizonans, some Arizonans who have gone to jail, some Arizonans who have given money to his campaign, it was all a lie that is now being presented in court.

Yes, Lak's team filed that default judgment motion Tuesday indicating he would challenge capacity. They said Richer should turn over relevant medical and psychiatric records to show that her health was fine. adversely affected, as she detailed in her lawsuit, Lake requested a jury for the default judgment hearing, so Jared there will be some adjudicative process here, but again it will not be based on the basic facts here that she was so eager to challenge that she has completely rejected. White Flag all of this will be in the damages part, that's exactly right. Miss Lake has admitted that she has no evidence to defend herself again.

We've known this all along, but she's been telling her supporter that she has the receipts. Well, we know she doesn't and now that she has handed over the case she will only move forward on the question of how much she will have to compensate for the immense harm she has caused Stephen, simply to get away from her. one second, you're right on this dividing line of American politics, particularly Marope, particularly in Arizona, um, and we've seen Republican members of your party officials, uh, on both sides, right, and that's actually not the case. . It has to do with ideology.

I don't know what your views are on tax rates or abortion or a million different ideological issues, it's really along the lines of this basic fidelity to truth and facts and how that has affected politics in your state. , so tax rates should be as low as possible. I want to make sure we're clear on that, that's how I feel about tax rates. I calculated that 2 plus two 2 plus 2 equals 4 and that is true. That has always been a truth and will be a truth, unfortunately it has become a kind of litmus test in some sectors, not now, it is not entirely decisive and I am going to oppose that trend in my election, but unfortunately it influenced significantly and I will do that.

Let's say to the detriment of the Republican candidates, many of those candidates who won their primaries were based on the big lie that was not transmitted to the average voter in Arizona it is a losing strategy lost in 23 lost in 22 lost in 21 lost in 20, but more That is immoral and people know better and leaders must stop giving legitimacy to this. It's okay, everyone. MSNBC has a new and improved app. They will receive real-time alerts and analysis. Live blogging. In-depth featured videos. the best 2024 election coverage, download the new MSNBC app, here's how. Tap the App Store on your phone, press search in the bottom right corner, type MSNBC, click the MSNBC app, click get or the cloud icon and enjoy it