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Kari Lake Loses Bid to Halt Defamation Lawsuit by Election Official

The Arizona Senate candidate is accused of smearing a fellow Republican with election-denial claims.

Election-denying Senate candidate Kari Lake has lost her bid to scuttle a defamation lawsuit by a fellow Republican she accused of sabotaging her effort to become Arizona governor. The state’s Supreme Court lifted a temporary stay in the case, which allows the suit filed in June by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer to move forward to the discovery stage, the Arizona Republic reported. Lake—who claims the 2022 gubernatorial election was stolen from her, much as she claimed the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump—has argued that her smear of Richer was “rhetorical hyperbole” not meant to be taken as fact. Richer has said that Lake’s false claims about him made his life hell and put his safety at risk. “Words matter,” Richer told the Republic. “None of this was ever true. And broadcasting to millions of people that I did some very specific, very unlawful, very destructive things has consequences. That’s why we did this and were happy that we’re one step closer to getting relief for that.” Lake’s lawyers had no immediate comment on the ruling.