Defeated gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has filed a motion to dismiss a Maricopa County official's defamation lawsuit against her, stating that her challenge to the November midterm results in Arizona was "a matter of significant public concern."
  • Lake targeted Maricopa County Superior Recorder Stephen Richer as one of the people she claimed were responsible for allegedly sabotaging the midterms race. 
  • She repeatedly called him a "crook" and accused him of adding 300,000 phony ballots to the final count, among other crimes—claims dismissed by a county judge earlier this summer.
Richer, a Republican, filed a defamation lawsuit against Lake in June, saying her false accusations against him have led to threats of violence and even death. But Lake's lawyers have now come back to Richer saying he's trying to silence her. 


  • "In 2022, the legislature strengthened laws protecting the rights of citizens to speak freely on matters of public concern," Lake's attorney Jen Wright said in a statement on Monday. 
  • "Richer's lawsuit is precisely the kind of abuse of the legal system the law was designed to stop."
  • She added: "Stephen Richer is an elected official. His unlawful attempt to abuse our legal system in order to insulate himself from criticism of his awful job performance establishes a dangerous precedent in our nation's history."
  • "There is no hurt feelings clause in the United States Constitution," Lake wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday, commenting on the motion to dismiss. 
  • "I have a right to free speech. And I have EVERY right to remind Stephen Richer that he has failed the people of Maricopa County."
  • She added: "We can't count on him to count our votes."