Kari Lake ‘excited’ over election trial but Katie Hobbs won’t have to testify
Tuesday’s statement by Kari Lake to her fans was that she was eager to show voters that elections are truly corrupt at a two-day trial in her lawsuit challenging election results.
Peter Thompson, a judge at Maricopa County Superior Court, tossed eight of the 10 charges in Lake’s suit Monday. However, two of them were allowed to proceed. This gives Lake an opportunity to prove her theory that she committed intentional election misconduct in a 2-day trial.
Lake said that Christmas came early yesterday to people who attended a Turning Point USA rally held in Phoenix. This is so historic.
Lake stated that Hobbs cannot “duck out” from testifying and that Hobbs would have to “take the stand.” However, her legal team withdrew Tuesday’s subpoena in order to force Hobbs to testify.
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According to the Secretary of State’s Office, Hobbs will not testify.
Thompson’s Mesa courtroom is the venue for the trial. Lawyers were required to submit witness schedules by Tuesday. Hobbs’ request to not testify in the trial was denied Monday by Thompson. Thompson’s lawyers filed an emergency appeal against Lake’s team, which retracted the subpoena. The appeal stated that Lake’s claims did not relate to Hobbs or any “personal knowledge” she might have.
Lake and others who promoted election conspiracy claims were happy to have Hobbs’ testimony, even though it could not have been done virtually.
Lake stated that they were putting these “beasts” to the test. “We are really excited. “We have an outstanding case.”
The Arizona Republic requested comment from Kurt Olsen and Bryan Blehm, but they did not respond.
Lake supporters circulated a video on Twitter showing Sen. Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff), a conspiracy-promoter-state senator, excitedly throwing her hands up in the air as she announced Monday’s judge’s decision to the Turning Point attendees.
Hobbs declined to make any comments, but Nicole Demont, the campaign manager for Hobbs, stated in a written statement that she is “laser-focused on preparing” for her first day as governor-elect.
Demont stated that “the voters made their decision clear last month and we are confident that the will of voters will prevail when contest process ends.”
On Tuesday, Lake’s team reviewed a small number of Nov.8 ballots that had been previously approved by the judge.
Here are some things to know about the forthcoming trial
Lake, a Trump-endorsed former TV news anchor ran a campaign against Hobbs. It fuelled Trump supporters’ notions about election fraud and indicated that she would not accept Hobbs’ victory. After the Nov. 8 election, Lake filed her lawsuit. It showed that she lost to Hobbs, her Democratic opponent and current Secretary-of-State Hobbs by approximately 17,000 votes.
The lawsuit, which is 70 pages long, was filed in Maricopa County Superior Court Dec. 9. It claims that illegal ballots “hundreds and thousands” infected the election. The case of Lake, which contains thousands of pages worth of exhibits and witness declarations, relies heavily on so-called expert analyses. Hobbs, Stephen Richer, Maricopa County Recorder, and five county Board of Supervisors members, as well as Scott Jarrett (county elections director).
Lake asks the court to declare Lake the rightful winner or to order a new election.
The trial will begin Wednesday morning at the Mesa court facility at 222 East Javelina Avenue. It is expected that it will continue through Thursday. Each day will include 6.5 hours of testimony with breaks.
Events will be livestreamed from the court’s website: Go to https://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/calendar/today/ on the day of the trial and scroll to the Lake case. On a first-come-first-served basis, some seats will be made available in the Mesa courtroom.
The public could see, though not hear, the ballot review taking place Tuesday at the county’s election facility in livestream video at: https://recorder.maricopa.gov/elections/electionlivevideo/
Lake’s legal team and Hobbs’ observers inspected a few printed ballots, as well as early ballots, from the election. There were 50 ballots that were marked “spoiled” by Election Day.
What are Lake’s claims about the election?
Lake’s lawsuit does not allege fraud, but it does claim that an unknown county employee mishandled the printers, “resulting to some lost votes” for Lake. She claimed that Runbeck Election Services employees, a Phoenix company that supplies election equipment, added an unknown number to the county’s total and that delivery receipts were not kept in compliance with state law.
According to court documents, Lake’s legal team intends to call more than 12 witnesses. This list includes Mark Sonnenklar, an election attorney, who will present declarations from witnesses who witnessed problems during the election and “charts derived from such declarations.”
Heather Honey, founder of Verity Vote (a conservative election watchdog organization), will be a judge for a voice message left by “Betty”, an employee of Maricopa County Election’s Department.
About a third of the polling stations in Maricopa County were affected by printer problems during the election. Officials from the county say that no voter was disenfranchised.
After tabulators started rejecting printed ballots Nov. 8, causing frustration and long lines at polling places, county officials advised voters who were concerned that their ballots might not be counted to leave them in a “door three” batch. They would later be retrieved and counted.
Many Republican voters followed Lake’s instructions to vote in person on Election Day, rather than by mail. This made them more vulnerable to polling-place issues.
According to Ilena Haber, despite being out of country, County Recorder Richer will be present via video on Dec. 21.
Haber stated that the office was looking forward to the outcome.
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