Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has announced a major legal move after her Democratic opponent, Katie Hobbs, the secretary of state, was certified as the winner in their race on Monday by various state officials.
Now that the certification is complete, reports noted, Lake has five days to mount any legal challenges, and she said she is doing so.
“We’re ready to go with what we believe to be an exceptional lawsuit. And we believe we will be victorious in that lawsuit,” Lake told Real America’s Voice “War Room” host Steve Bannon on Tuesday.
“We’ll take it all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to. We will not stop fighting,” she added.
U.S. District Judge John Tuchi, an Obama appointee, has already rejected a Lake lawsuit that alleged election disenfranchisement and other improprieties. What’s more, in his ruling, he sanctioned her campaign for filing the suit in a near-unprecedented move.
“Imposing sanctions, in this case, is not to ignore the importance of putting in place procedures to ensure that our elections are secure and reliable,” Tuchi wrote in his order. “It is to make clear that the Court will not condone litigants ignoring the steps that Arizona has already taken toward this end and furthering false narratives that baselessly undermine public trust at a time of increasing disinformation about, and distrust in, the democratic process.
“It is to send a message to those who might file similarly baseless suits in the future,” Tuchi’s order said, leading to a blistering response from Lake’s campaign.
“This case is not about money or gain,” said Lake campaign spokesperson Ross Trumble in a statement to media outlets. “It was essentially a public interest lawsuit seeking electoral integrity.
“It is very, very rare to sanction a party in public interest suits. All in all, this reads like an angry Obama appointee who wants to send a message. The message is if you lose, shut up and don’t come to court. The message is not that you lost a case or acted in bad faith,” he added.
