Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake lost it when pressed about her role in spreading debunked claims about widespread fraud in the 2020 election by British journalist Emily Maitlis.
Lake, whose rise in the Republican party is largely due to embracing Donald Trump’s 2020 election lies, was questioned by Maitlis on her News Agents podcast about extreme rhetoric in politics and her role in promoting the big lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump.
“I’m not going to sit here and go through all of the evidence of what happened,” Lake told Maitlis in a clip highlighted by Mediaite. “Do you believe Joe Biden won 81 million votes? Do you think he’s more popular? A guy who can’t string two sentences together? You believe he’s more popular than Barack Obama? I’m asking you, do you believe that he is the most popular president in history? You have to have brain cells.”
“I believe the election was run fraudulently,” Lake added. “Well, obviously you’re sitting across the pond and you don’t understand what’s happened.”
The election denier then launched a serious of personal attacks on the journalist when asked if she accepts the role she played in inflaming the political rhetoric in the country by peddling widely debunked lies.
“You are just part of the fake news, and you’re lying. You don’t know a damn thing about Arizona,” Lake said. “You don’t know one thing about our election. And you sit there with a smirk on your face. You’re sitting over in England, in the UK, in a country that’s being destroyed.”
“I’m just asking what it says about the Republican Party that they need to lie, to intimidate, to threaten,” Maitlis pressed. “Is it because you don’t believe you can win at the ballot box? Why would you need to do that?”
“You are just a sad case of a human being, and I’m so sorry for you,” Lake responded. “I’m sorry that you bought into the propaganda. I hope that you’ll look in the mirror and see that you’ve been following propaganda and you don’t understand what’s happening.”
She added that Maitlis needs her head “examined” when asked if she would concede the Arizona Senate race if she lost and whether she would accept the results of the 2024 presidential election if Trump is defeated.
Lake is running for an open seat in Arizona following the retirement of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema who left the Democratic party to become an Independent. Lake is the heavy favorite to win the July 30th Republican primary as she is endorsed by Trump.
Lake will face the likely Democratic nominee Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz) in November. Polling has consistently show Gallego ahead of Lake.
