Kari Lake admits she defamed Republican election official

PHOENIX — In a sudden shift, Kari Lake is now admitting she defamed Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, her fellow Republican.

What that leaves is the question of how much she and her campaign will have to pay him.

Richer said the figure is yet to be determined, but will be “a lot.’’

“She has been lying the entire time, we have told her she has been lying the entire time,” he said.

Lake’s surprise court filing Tuesday came as Richer’s attorneys were preparing to ask a judge to declare her in default for failing to file an answer to his complaint first filed last June.

Lake, in essence, beat them to the punch by conceding everything Richer first alleged.

That specifically includes that she knew it was false when she claimed he “sabotaged’’ the 2022 election by having ballots printed on the wrong side and that he inserted more than 300,000 phony early ballots into the system.

Richer declared her decision a total victory for him and his fight to clear his name of the charges she made.

“It is now official that she accepts that all of that is a lie,’’ he told Capitol Media Services.

He said Lake knew she was lying because judges in other election cases she filed, challenging her loss in the 2022 race for governor, found no basis for either of her claims about deliberately missized ballots or fraudulent ballots inserted into the count. Democrat Katie Hobbs defeated Lake by 17,117 votes.

“And now she officially will have a judgment entered against her for lying about me in connection with the 2022 election,’’ Richer said. “That’s pretty rarified air. I don’t think that many people have against them. So that’s special.’’

Yet in a video statement explaining her decision, Lake insisted her legal capitulation has nothing to do with conceding that her statements were wrong — even though her court papers admit that they were. Instead, she said it was a strategic move allowing her to focus her attention on her campaign for the U.S. Senate.

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She said Richer and his attorneys were trying to tie her time up in lawsuits and keep her off the campaign trail.

“It’s called lawfare: weaponizing the legal system to punish, impoverish and destroy political opponents,’’ Lake said. “We’ve all seen how they’re doing it to President Trump. And here in Arizona, they’re doing the exact same thing to me.’’

In filing suit, Richer said Lake, her campaign and the Save Arizona Fund, a political action committee she has used to raise money, acted with “actual malice.’’

That is crucial because, in general, people who are considered public figures like Richer cannot get a defamation judgment unless they prove by clear and convincing evidence that the person making the statement knew it to be false or that the statement was made with reckless disregard for the truth.

Lake initially sought to have the case thrown out, claiming her comments were “mere rhetorical hyperbole’’ that were never meant as statements of fact. A trial judge rejected that assertion, a decision upheld earlier this month by the Arizona Supreme Court.

That left only two options for Lake: go to trial or concede.

With Lake admitting liability, what’s left is figuring out how much she owes Richer, something Lake wants determined by a jury.

Richer has claimed expenses, such as additional security for his home and family he said was necessary because of threats they received, including calls for their execution. He also claims damages to his reputation.

In admitting that she acted with actual malice, Lake also opens herself up to having to pay punitive damages. These are awards designed not so much to compensate victims but to punish those who are liable.

That could involve subjecting Lake to depositions to answer questions about her decisions to make the comments.

All that evidence eventually would be presented to a jury that would come up with a number.