An audio recording of a conversation obtained by The Daily Mail allegedly between Kari Lake and Arizona Republican Chair Jeff DeWit exposes the official attempting to pay Lake to not run in the Arizona Senate race.
The recording begins with DeWit stating to Lake, “This is, this is, this is back east, they … there are very powerful people that want to keep you out of the Senate race. But they’re willing to put their money where there mouth is in a big way. So, this conversation never happened.”
DeWit allegedly could be heard offering a payment to Lake to drop out of the Senate race, saying, “Is there a number at which … not be bought, you can take a pause for a couple of years. Then go right back to what you’re doing.”
Laurie Roberts wrote for The Arizona Republic, saying the 10-minute recording was a political setup by Lake, calling her responses rehearsed, and said DeWit’s bumbling attempt was an effort to clear the race for a candidate would they believe could win.
The conversation appears to be recorded by Lake without DeWit’s knowledge, with the recording device in close proximity to her, picking up audio of her drinking and eating, where the audio of DeWit is being recorded from a distance. Arizona has a one-party consent law, A.R.S. § 13-3012(9), that allows an individual to record private conversations if he or she is one of the parties involved in the conversation and present during the conversation.
Lake called for DeWit to resign, accusing him of being corrupt, stating, “He’s gotta resign. We can’t have somebody who is corrupt and compromised running the Republican Party, I want corruption rooted out of our government. I don’t care if its on the Democrat side or the Republican side…”
The allegations of corruption and attempted bribery against DeWit are unsubstantiated, as Lake is not an elected official, and what DeWit is accused of is not bribery. It is not outside of regular political party practice to organize efforts in support a preferred candidate.
