Kari Lake held a press conference on Rumble Wednesday evening to discuss revelations from a newly released recording of a conversation last March between herself and former Arizona Republican Party Chair Jeff DeWit, who was forced to resign after it came out. In the recording, DeWit is heard attempting to convince Lake to drop out of politics for a couple of years in exchange for a well-paying job, prompting an outcry that forced his resignation on Tuesday. Lake fielded questions from both reporters and other viewers during her talk, which lasted around half an hour.
One of the questions asked of Lake was whether she knew who DeWit was referring to when he told her “very powerful people” “Back East” were behind the offer. Lake said she didn’t know, but said D.C. was so corrupt it would be possible to come up with a list of 400 to 500 people or groups that could be behind it.
A source knowledgeable of the situation told The Arizona Sun Times that it was the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), naming Political Director Tim Edson. When The Sun Times asked the NRSC if this was true, the organization did not respond.
On Wednesday, NRSC Chair Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) distanced himself from the accusation to NBC News reporter Sahil Kapur. According to Kapur, Daines said, “Just saw the report on it. I have not listened to it. I saw the social media post, first I’d heard of it.” Lake said she did not believe Daines was part of it.
Lake refuted DeWit’s claim that she worked for him, which he claimed in a press release announcing his resignation. She said he was an employee of Superfeed; he was not her boss, he didn’t own the company, he was just a co-worker.
One viewer asked why it took Lake 10 months to reveal the exchange. She said she mentioned it at CPAC in March, and changed her speech in order to discuss it. She did not name DeWit in that speech. Lake said the MSM never asked her a single question about it, only becoming interested after she named him.
She expressed frustration about this type of situation pervading politics, “[W]hat happens is people run for office, and immediately they get bribed, they get blackmailed.”
A viewer asked her whether she had experienced this before. Lake responded and said after she won the primary in Arizona’s gubernatorial race, a supporter wanted to start a PAC to support her, and said he would put in $1 million of his own money. But 24 hours later, he made some demands; she can’t be around MAGA people and can’t support Trump or other MAGA candidates. Lake refused, and so the PAC was never started. Someone told her afterwards they’d never seen a candidate say no to that type of thing before.
Another viewer asked if she was worried for her safety. In the recorded conversation, DeWit warned her not to speak about their conversation publicly because it might put his life in danger. Lake said she gets threatened a considerable amount, and one way she is harassed is by flattening her tires. She said it is because we are “We’re not living in normal times, living in dangerous times.” They try to stop you “because you are making a difference.”
She had one optimistic observation, pointing out that “if they’re willing to bribe you out, they don’t think they can cheat this next round.” Lake said, “We discovered a lot of the ways that they cheated in 2020…2022.”
Lake said the corruption goes up to Biden, the “geriatric patient leading us into war.” She said, “They tried to convince everybody that Joe Biden won 81 million votes, please don’t insult our intelligence.” She went on, “I do believe that they are having a hard time coming up with new ways. Why? We don’t want you on the ballot, because they can’t stop this movement.”
A viewer asked her how to fix this type of situation. Lake said by electing America First candidates. They “are strong enough to withstand all of the hatred,” she said.
Jordan Conradson, a reporter for The Gateway Pundit, asked Lake about the mainstream media attacking her instead of DeWit. Lake said she hadn’t read the articles yet, but referred to Arizona Republic op-ed writer Laurie Roberts as a “cat lady” who writes for “the Repugnant,” which has a subscriber base of “like 5,000 people in a state of 7 million.” She said Roberts writes “seven to eight hit pieces on me a week.”
Lake noted that Roberts has a sister on the Arizona Supreme Court, who she said she talks to every day. Considering Lake has election cases in front of the Arizona Supreme Court, she found this very troubling.
Lake joked about how the media calls her and others on the right “extremists” and “far right,” which she thought was fine since “so far I have been right, and I am extremely worried about the future of our state and our country.”
When asked about fundraising, Lake responded, “You know, I’m up against a behemoth, which is the Soros machine and the Democrat machine, and they somehow always seemed to outraise us. I mean, who knows where their money comes from? We can imagine all day, but it’s probably from sketchy sources — just like a Hunter Biden selling, as I said, finger paints for half a million dollars.”
A final question for Lake was whether she thought Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) intends to run for reelection. Lake is running for her U.S. Senate seat, and Representative Ruben Gallego (R-AZ-03) has already announced he is running. Lake responded and said Sinema needs 65,000 signatures by early April. “With each passing day, I think it’s less likely,” she said.
Lake said the Arizona Republican Party will decide at their mandatory annual meeting on Saturday who will replace DeWit. Former AZGOP Chair Kelli Ward told The Sun Times she is not likely to return. Jill Norgaard, a former state legislator, has been appointed interim state chair.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Kari Lake” by Kari Lake.
