Lake Insists On Resignation Of GOP Chair Over Attempted Bribery
Republican Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake demanded state GOP Chair Jeff DeWit step down in the wake of an explosive audio recording revealing him attempting to bribe her into avoiding a run for office.
The Daily Mail exposed the evidence in which DeWit asks Lake to state her price to stand down.
In the exchange recorded last March, the 51-year-old GOP official tells Lake that “there are very powerful people who want to keep you out.” He followed this statement by requesting that she not reveal his offer to anyone else.
DeWit continued. “So, the ask I got from back east was: ‘[Are] there any companies out there or something that could just put her on the payroll to keep her out?’”
Lake was clearly startled by the proposition. She responded, “This is about defeating Trump and I think that’s a bad, bad thing for our country.”
DeWit persisted and was heard asking, “Just say, is there a number at which —.” Lake interrupted him, “I can be bought? That’s what it’s about?” The state’s leading Republican continued, “You can take a pause for a couple of years. You can go right back to what you’re doing.”
To her credit, Lake flatly rejected the overture. She told DeWit, “This is not about money, it’s about our country.”
Speaking with an NBC reporter during former President Donald Trump’s New Hampshire victory party, the Senate candidate was adamant that a change needs to be made. “He’s gotta resign. We can’t have somebody who is corrupt and compromised running the Republican Party.”
Lake is a close Trump ally and is prominently mentioned as a potential vice presidential choice for the 2024 GOP frontrunner.
At the time of the recording, Lake was contemplating a run for the U.S. Senate. She was narrowly defeated in a hotly contested and controversial race for Arizona governor in 2022.
She made her Senate candidacy official in October.
Lake previously alluded to an effort by more traditional Republicans to push her out of the political sphere. However, she avoided specific details until the Daily Mail revealed the recording.
Once the audio became public, several Arizona officials called for DeWit to resign.
