A top Republican election official in Arizona filed a defamation lawsuit Thursday against Kari Lake, who falsely claims she lost the 2022 race for governor because of fraud.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer said he's faced"violent vitriol and other dire consequences" because of lies spread by Lake, including death threats and the loss of friendships.
A spokesperson for Lake did not immediately respond to a request for comment. She is openly considering a run for U.S. Senate and is a leading contender to be Trump's running mate in his 2024 presidential campaign. U.S. Supreme Court precedent sets a high bar for defamation cases brought by public officials like Richer. Butover false claims about its vote-counting equipment resulted in damaging disclosures of internal Fox messages and a $787.5 million settlement.
The suit takes issue with two claims in particular — that Richer intentionally had 19-inch ballot images printed on 20-inch paper, causing counting problems, and that he injected 300,000 bogus ballots. It details nearly three dozen times she made the claims publicly on social media or at rallies and news conferences.
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