Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake expressed full confidence in newly-elected Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Chair Gina Swoboda during a Sunday interview. She also offered new insight about the alleged bribe that was relayed by former AZGOP Chair Jeff DeWit.
Speaking to “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo, Lake called Swoboda “an incredible woman who is an election integrity hero and will make prioritizing securing our elections a top priority” before the November elections.
The Senate candidate added that Arizona Republicans are “breathing a big sigh of relief” after Swoboda’s decisive victory on Saturday, when the new AZGOP chair was elected by a margin of more than 1,000 votes. Lake was among many high profile endorsements of Swoboda.
Lake also confirmed in the interview that she was behind the release of audio showing DeWit relayed an offer to Lake which would have seen her receive a well-paying private sector job in exchange for staying out of politics. She previously confirmed recording it after DeWit demanded to meet at her home with short notice.
“Just this week I actually found that recording that I made and I put it out,” Lake revealed, calling the audio “almost 11 minutes of him attempting to bribe me.”
Lake summarized, “I told him to go back to the people Back East, who were putting him up to this, and tell them they’d have to kill me before I would stop.”
Asked by Bartiromo why DeWit was asked to make the offer, Lake suggested the interests “Back East” do not approve of her vocal support for former President Donald Trump.
Citing polling which shows her beating both her likely Democratic opponent, Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03), and Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), Lake said arguments that she is not considered a viable candidate do not withstand scrutiny.
“I’m an America First Republican, I don’t apologize for that. I do support President Trump, and I don’t apologize for that,” stated Lake after explaining, “I they’re really worried about that.”
Lake continued, “I think they want to get people back in the U.S. Senate who they can control, who might be more of the neocon-type Republican, who are going to continue to push for endless wars, who are going to continue to push for an open border policy.”
In his resignation letter, DeWit claimed Lake’s representatives threatened to release more audio unless he resigned from his position. He also characterized the recording of his meeting with Lake as a conversation between colleagues, and stressed the belief of the “Back East” interests that Lake could not win a general election.
