Katie Hobbs asks court to sanction Kari Lake over Arizona election fraud claims

Anna Giaritelli

December 26, 05:09 PM December 26, 05:09 PM

Incoming Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs accused failed Republican candidate Kari Lake of knowingly waging “unfounded attacks” over the legitimacy of the 2022 election and has asked the court to intervene.

Hobbs filed papers Monday asking a judge for the Superior Court of Arizona’s Maricopa County to sanction Lake and her legal team from making more false accusations against election officials in Maricopa County, the most populated county in the state.

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“Enough really is enough. It is past time to end unfounded attacks on elections and unwarranted accusations against elections officials,” Hobbs’s team wrote in the filing.

Lake had already sued Hobbs on the basis that the race was stolen from her in Maricopa County. Lake lost by 17,000 votes, and the court rejected her claim that she was the real winner. Lake has yet to concede after seven weeks.

"She has not simply failed to publicly acknowledge the election results. Instead, she filed a groundless, seventy-page election contest lawsuit against the governor-elect, the secretary of state, and Maricopa County and several of its elected officials and employees (but no other county or its employees), thereby dragging them and this court into this frivolous pursuit," the filing states.

Hobbs accused the Trump-endorsed former local news anchor of never intending to concede the election regardless of whether she suspected foul play or not.

“[Lake] had decided well before the election that if the results did not favor her, she would deny that they were legitimate. And she misused this court to do so,” the Hobbs filing states.

Lake claimed with no evidence that local election officials purposely rigged the election against her and that Hobbs, the state secretary of state, had used her authority to interfere with the election.

Maricopa County Deputy Attorney Thomas P. Liddy came to Hobbs's aid and said Lake was using the courts to "harass political opponents and sow completely unfounded doubts about the integrity of elections" and make money from it by fundraising as she waged the unfounded attacks.

Lake was a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump, who claimed after the 2020 election that it had been rigged against him. His campaign has yet to prove so.