A defamation lawsuit against Arizona Republican Kari Lake filed by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer has been settled, an attorney representing Lake confirmed to Newsweek on Sunday.
"The details of the settlement are confidential, according to two people familiar with the terms," The Washington Post reported, with Richer, who filed the lawsuit on June 22, 2023, adding that "both sides are satisfied with the result."
Richer, also a Republican, filed the lawsuit alleging that Lake, her 2022 Arizona gubernatorial campaign, and an affiliated nonprofit group repeatedly and falsely accused him of actions that contributed to Lake's election loss to Democrat opponent Katie Hobbs.
These actions included claims that Richer and others printed the ballots incorrectly "so that the tabulators would jam all day long."
Lake, who is a vocal supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, has not acknowledged her loss and was involved in several court challenges regarding the election.
Richer's attorney wrote in the complaint that "since the November 2022 election, Defendants have repeatedly and falsely accused Richer of causing Lake's electoral defeat, including by claiming that Richer – a registered Republican – sabotaged the election to prevent Republican candidates, including Lake, from winning."
In March, Richer said that due to Lake and her co-defendants' actions, "my family and I have faced an endless barrage of threats – including calls for our execution – I have lost close personal relationships, and I have had my reputation irreparably damaged," Newsweek reported.
In her own March filing in court, Lake effectively defaulted on the lawsuit, acknowledging everything that Richer first alleged, specifically including that she knew it was false when she claimed he had "sabotaged'' the 2022 election by having ballots printed in the wrong size so they would not be read by on-site tabulators, the Arizona Daily Star reported.
Lake also acknowledged that she knew it was false when she claimed that Richer illegally inserted more than 300,000 phony early ballots into the system.
Nonprofit group Protect Democracy, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Richer, said that the default judgment request meant that Lake and co-defendants were "effectively conceding that they acted with 'actual malice' when spreading lies about Mr. Richer," according to Newsweek.
In July, Richer's reelection campaign ended after he lost the Republican primary to Arizona state Representative Justin Heap, a candidate endorsed by Lake.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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