Kari Lake files lawsuit riddled with falsehoods seeking to overturn Arizona election
After long refusing to commit to accepting the results of her race if she lost, Republican Kari Lake on Friday filed the legal challenge she's been threatening in the aftermath of losing the Arizona governor's race.
A civil complaint was filed Friday with the Maricopa County Superior Court naming Secretary of State and Democratic governor-elect Katie Hobbs, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, Elections Director Scott Jarrett and both the office of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and individual members.
There are multiple falsehoods and distorted assertions included in the lawsuit that echo the failed legal challenges brought by former President Donald Trump’s team to overturn the 2020 election.
The lawsuit seeks extraordinary, unprecedented and likely unlawful relief of fully overturning the state's election and certifying her as the winner instead of Hobbs.
Lake is being represented by Bryan Blehm who previously repped the failed Cyber Ninjas effort to audit the 2020 election in Arizona, and Kurt Olsen, who reportedly talked to Trump on the day of Jan. 6 and pushed conspiracy theories to justify overturning that election.
Trump 2024 campaign attorney Christina Bobb tweeted a photo of the lawsuit filed against Maricopa County election officials minutes after the closing of business on Friday.
Lake, a former longtime local news anchor in Phoenix, followed in the footsteps of her most popular endorser, Trump, in refusing to accept defeat and raising doubts about the integrity of the election ahead of time. She tweeted minutes after Bobb on Friday about her grievances with the government, big tech and the media, but she did not specifically mention her election challenge.
Lake and her supporters have blasted election officials in Maricopa County, the state's largest, after 70 out of 233 voting locations were impacted by printing problems on Election Day, with many demanding a new election be held. Because the printing issue was intermittent and alternate voting options were presented on-site, Maricopa County officials maintain that no one was disenfranchised.
Arizona law dictates that challenges to elections can only be filed once the vote is certified and only within a five-day window from that certification. After Monday's certification of the vote, Friday appeared to be Lake's last chance to submit a challenge.
Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, the Democratic governor-elect, presided over the official certification of Arizona's vote, to the outcry of some Republicans like Lake. Hobbs has maintained she carries no conflict of interest as former secretaries of state have certified their own election wins and because her office does not count the votes.
ABC News' Alexander Mallin contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
