Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer has filed a defamation lawsuit against Kari Lake for exposing the corruption behind Arizona’s 2022 gubernatorial election.
The Republican election official said he’s faced “violent vitriol and other dire consequences” due to claims Lake made fighting the fraudulent election.
“I filed this lawsuit to make sure that Lake, her campaign and her PAC are held accountable for their utter disregard for the truth and the grave harm they have caused,” Richer wrote in an op-ed Thursday for The Arizona Republic.
BREAKING: The Maricopa County Recorder has sued Kari Lake for defamation
In other words, he is suing Lake for correctly exposing the truth about Arizona's rigged 2022 election (2020 too) pic.twitter.com/0utTGUIQtU
— George (@BehizyTweets) June 22, 2023
“So today I’m suing Kari Lake to hopefully put an end to the false statements,” Richer wrote on Twitter.
I'm suing Kari Lake.
I'd hoped the defamation would stop after the election. I waited.
I'd hoped it would stop after the first election trial. I waited.
I'd hoped it would stop after the appeal. I waited.
I'd hoped it would stop after the second trial. I waited.
I'd…
— Stephen Richer—MaricopaCountyRecorder (prsnl acct) (@stephen_richer) June 22, 2023
“For the last seven months, a high-profile former statewide candidate for office — from my own political party — has spread falsehoods about our elections and about me specifically,” Richer wrote in the op-ed.
“Rather than accept political defeat, rather than get a new job, she has sought to undermine confidence in our elections and has mobilized millions of her followers against me,” he added.
The defamation lawsuit was filed Thursday in Maricopa County Superior Court.
From The Arizona Republic op-ed:
Through her actions and statements, Lake has irreparably damaged my personal and professional life and reputation.
Her words have provoked death threats from Lake’s followers. I’ve been forced to increase my personal and professional security while still watching over my shoulder.
I’ve even lost friends and lifelong relationships because Lake has falsely painted me as a criminal.
She has cast doubt on my loyalty to our country, our state and my office.
She did this knowing that it would only throw gasoline on the fire of falsehoods about our elections.
Lake has not sent me into hiding. Nor will she ever.
But her defamatory statements have irrevocably altered my life, closed opportunities and damaged relationships.
That goes beyond free speech protections
I firmly believe in the protections we’re all afforded under the First Amendment, which is something so unique and beautiful about being an American.
We all have the right to express ourselves, our thoughts and our opinions publicly.
That’s why this case is not about the mis- and disinformation — and even hatred — that Lake, her campaign and her PAC have spewed about me.
Instead, it’s about the instances where Lake and her campaign entities chose to violate defamation law by repeatedly making specific untruthful statements alleging that I had committed heinous crimes.
Slinging mud is fair game, but Arizona law and the First Amendment draw a line at defamation.
False statements that damage others distort the marketplace of ideas and harm others’ ability to exercise their own free speech rights.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer is suing Kari Lake for defamation, alleging she made false allegations that he sabotaged the 2022 election by injecting 300,000 illegal ballots into the final vote tally in Maricopa County.https://t.co/INadZ3Gfb9
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) June 23, 2023
The lawsuit accuses Kari Lake of "falsely and with actual malice" claiming at a rally that Maricopa County recorder Stephen Richer sabotaged the 2022 general election by misprinting Election Day ballots.https://t.co/KmYvs3Xc39
— Axios (@axios) June 23, 2023
AP noted:
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.
The suit, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, names Lake, her campaign and her political fundraising group as defendants. In addition to unspecified monetary damages, Richer is seeking a court order declaring Lake’s statements false and requiring her to delete them from social media.
U.S. Supreme Court precedent sets a high bar for defamation cases brought by public officials like Richer. But Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit against Fox News Channel over false claims about its vote-counting equipment resulted in damaging disclosures of internal Fox messages and a $787.5 million settlement.
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