Arizona gubernatorial debate is all fire, Kari Lake does NOT back down

Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake believes the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from former President Donald Trump, and she doesn’t have any qualms about letting the world know.

Indeed, when asked during an Arizona gubernatorial GOP primary debate this Wednesday evening about why she refers to current President Joe Biden as “illegitimate,” she let it all out.

“He lost the election, and he shouldn’t be in the White House. We had a corrupt election,” Lake unabashedly replied.

Watch from the 17:30 mark below:

She then challenged the three other candidates on stage to raise their hand if they agreed.

“I’d actually like to ask everybody on this stage if they would agree we had a corrupt, stolen election. Raise your hand,” she said.

She and two other candidates immediately raised their hands, while the fourth candidate, Karrin Taylor Robson, cried foul.

“I’m not gonna play your stunt, because on election night, Kari Lake called the election for Joe Biden,” Robson claimed.

Before Lake could respond, moderator Ted Simons cut in with another question.

“I want to know why you think that the election was either rigged, stolen, or whatever the phrase might be,” he asked.

“Corrupt and stolen. I’ve looked at the evidence,” Lake promptly responded.

Simons responded by noting that the courts disagree. But as he spoke, Robson could be heard taunting Lake, telling her to “turn it [the evidence] in.” This caught Lake’s attention.

“I know you don’t believe our election was stolen, Karrin,” she said.

“I believe our election was absolutely not fair, and I’ll tell you why,” Robson countered.

Robson appears to be among the majority of Republicans who believe that the election wasn’t stolen, per se, but who do acknowledge the unfairness inherent of all the election law changes that Democrats made in the months preceding it.

Before Robson could continue, Lake cut in to tout her bona fides.

“There’s a reason that the people who want to see election integrity are endorsing me. I just got the endorsement of Dinesh D’Souza. I’ve got the endorsement of all the America First people,” she said.

Before she could continue, she wound up being cut off, too — this time by fellow candidate Scott Neely, who delivered a brief speech about how he’s the only candidate who’s “signed the election integrity declaration at the state Capitol” and who supports a piece of legislation called HB2289.

Simons then cut in to again press Lake on her 2020 election beliefs.

“Kari, the governor, the attorney general, the speaker of the house, the U.S. attorney general, none of these people agree. The U.S. Attorney General William Barr — who says he would vote for Donald Trump again — he says that the ‘2000 Mules’ film shows nothing, there is no evidence,” he said.

“Wow! Have you seen it?” Lake asked in response.

“It doesn’t matter if I’ve seen it,” Simons retorted.

“But I’m curious [if you have] because it shows a lot. It shows a lot,” Lake replied.

“I’m asking you. Because William Barr, the attorney general, says there’s nothing there. At what point do you think Republican voters are going to say ‘let it go’?” Simons then asked.

This inspired a lengthy lecture from Lake about the reality of living in America under current President Biden.

“I think it’s the number one issue. The reason that we have a border that is wide open, we have fentanyl pouring in, killing our young people, we have people pouring across the border, we have an invasion on our border, the reason we have children being smuggled and trafficked, and adults being trafficked across this country, the reason we have sky-high inflation and can’t afford our gas, can’t afford our groceries, is because we had a rigged, stolen election,” she said.

“The facts are there. The forensic audit proves it. Seven-hundred-forty-thousand ballots that did not have a chain of custody, can not be authenticated, yet were counted. They should not have been counted.”

Simons was apparently left unimpressed.

“Why can’t that information be submitted as evidence?” he asked.

“It is. And our AG has the evidence. He’s failing to act on it,” Lake replied.

“Why is he failing to do that?” Simons pressed.

“I think because he thinks he can get away with it,” Lake responded.

“Why would he think that?” Simons asked.

“There were a lot of people who were part of the corruption. They watched a corrupt election happen. Then they certified a corrupt election,” Lake said.

“You would not have certified our election?” Simons asked.

“No, I would not have,” Lake replied.

Vivek Saxena

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