Tomorrow Kari Lake’s attorneys, who previously represented the superb Cyber Ninjas “audit” team (now bankrupt and shut down), will appear before Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson to argue the case they try to make in their most recent lawsuit—that the Arizona 2022 election was botched and Kari Lake should be declared winner of the Governor’s race. In lieu of an outright reversal of the election outcome, Lake’s lawyers are asking for a three-day hearing on their claims that could push the court battle beyond Democrat Katie Hobbs’ Jan. 2 inauguration. Awkward.
I posted a diary yesterday about Lake’s lawsuit—how it mostly repackages the bogus arguments made in previous filings that were not only thrown out of court, but Lake’s lawyers were ordered to pay legal costs because the baseless claims were a waste of the court’s time. The diary also includes a handy page-by-page analysis by the Arizona Republic of Lake’s lawsuit that will be considered tomorrow.
So far the courts have rejected nearly every Republican challenge to Arizona’s 2022 vote: the bozos in Cochise County who refused to certify their election; the first lawsuits Lake and Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem submitted; Finchem’s more recent lawsuit, which was just dismissed “with prejudice”; the trump clown Jeff Zink, who lost his U.S. House race to Ruben Gallego 77-23; Josh Barnett, who finished third in the GOP primary for CD-1 and thought he had a case—that would be no.
There are others but given the recent history of court challenges the writing was probably on the ketchup-stained wall for Kari Lake, so what does a loser do? Go to Mar-a-Lago naturally for trump’s “major announcement.” Perhaps Lake thought trump would include her in his highly anticipated revelation—a VP slot, maybe, to follow up on his stunning presidential announcement, which has gone so well. The best ever.
Of course trump didn’t mention Kari Lake at all in his infomercial for digital trading cards, but she had a platform, so she took advantage of the flag-draped spotlight and a crowd that actually wanted to hear trump. Her kinda people.
The goodies:
“We just had such a huge movement going into election day, so to watch these people—these evil b*stards… Can I say that here, is that alright? To watch them steal this in broad daylight, and if they think they are going to get away with it, they messed with the wrong b*tch, ok?”
Well, that sounds like a winnable legal argument, right up there with Mark Finchem blaming “commie scum” for his drubbing. I look forward to tomorrow, when Kari Lake informs Judge Thompson that he “messed with the wrong b*tch.” Pure class.
It’s likely the judge will dismiss the lawsuit or take it under review, perhaps he’ll grant the three-day hearing, but in no way will he declare Lake the winner. No matter how it turns out, Lake has learned one thing from trump: keep the grift going, so we can expect even more soft-focused videos from the “wrong b*tch” asking for donations to help fight the “evil b*stards” and put her in the Governor’s office. I also wouldn’t be the first to suggest that Lake would welcome a trump-style insurrection at the Arizona Capitol (our own Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol protest featured Paul Gosar and a guillotine). Sadly, whatever happens Monday, there’s more to come. Even if Lake’s lawsuit is tossed, don’t expect a concession.
UPDATE: Thanks to Proginokses in the comments, Lake came very close last night to threatening violence.
“Let me tell you what I'm going to do. They have built a house of cards here in Maricopa County. I think they're all wondering what I'm gonna do. I'll tell you what. I'm not just gonna knock that house of cards over, we're gonna burn it to the ground.”
UPDATE 2: The hearing was held Monday morning before Judge Thompson, who said he would take the matter under review and make a ruling soon, without providing a timeframe.
Thompson, who presided over Monday's live-streamed, hour-plus hearing, listened to each side without asking questions and ended by saying he would make a ruling on the county's motion to dismiss as soon as possible.
UPDATE 3: Judge Thompson ruled Monday night that 8 of 10 counts are dismissed, but two will go to a two-day trial before Jan. 2, which is the date of Katie Hobbs’ inauguration. He essentially said Lake’s team gets a chance to show that the allegations they make about the printer problem and the chain of custody affected the outcome; they must show “identifiable lost votes” and prove misconduct by officials. He also required Katie Hobbs and County Recorder Stephen Richer to testify.
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge has dismissed most, but not all, of Republican Kari Lake's election lawsuit against her opponent, Democrat Katie Hobbs.
In the ruling, Judge Peter Thompson said two counts out of 10 would stand and he will move forward with a trial scheduled for this week