The U.S. Senate hopeful asked a judge to dismiss Richer’s defamation case against her
CAITLIN SIEVERS
Arizona Mirror
Attorneys for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake argued in court on Tuesday that a judge should dismiss Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer’s defamation lawsuit against her, saying that Lake’s claims were “rhetorical hyperbole” and not meant to be taken as facts.
Lake’s lawyers also claimed that Richer filed the suit with the intention to chill her right to political speech, as protected by the First Amendment. Attorneys representing Richer argued against both of those claims.
Richer, also a Republican, filed the suit in June after enduring a continuous onslaught of vitriol and false claims from Lake and her followers regarding the outcome of the 2022 race for Arizona governor, which Lake continues to claim was stolen from her and given to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.
Lake lost the race by 17,000 votes and has lost multiple challenges to the results in trial, appeals and the Arizona Supreme courts.
One of the attorneys for Lake, former Arizona Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright, claimed that Lake’s statements about Richer were merely her opinions backed up by provable facts, and therefore protected speech.
When Lake said that Richer was somehow involved in the illegal injection of bogus ballots or that he “sabotaged” the election, those statements weren’t meant to be taken as facts, Wright said.
“Those are her opinions about the facts,” Wright told the court.
