Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake called for Arizona GOP Chairman Jeff DeWit to resign after audio released on Tuesday appeared to show him offering her a bribe to stay out of the 2024 Senate race.
The audio released by the Daily Mail on Tuesday followed her accusations that people were trying to pay her to stay out of the Senate race after she lost the 2022 gubernatorial race to now-Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ). While at former President Donald Trump’s watch party for the New Hampshire presidential primary, she told reporters that DeWit should resign after the audio was released.
Kari Lake calls for @AZGOP Chair Jeff DeWit to resign after release of audio in which he can be heard bribing Lake to not run for the U.S. Senate in exchange for a potential job (and its salary): https://t.co/8tF4sodXf3 pic.twitter.com/4XBSzoVyYL
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) January 24, 2024
“He’s gotta resign. We can’t have somebody who’s corrupt and compromised running the Republican Party,” Lake said. “I want corruption rooted out of our government. I don’t care what’s on the Democrat side or the Republican side. We are going to root out corruption.”
Lake, a fierce supporter of Trump, touted the former president as a candidate she believes will help root out corruption in politics. When asked if she had anyone in mind to replace DeWit, Lake said she had “not given it a lot of thought” but stressed that corruption needs to be tackled.
The audio allegedly revealed DeWit asking if there was an amount of money that could keep her out of the Senate race.
“So, the ask I got today from back east was: ‘Is there any companies out there or something that could just put her on the payroll to keep her out?’” DeWit said.
“$10 million, $20 million, $30 [million] … no, no, no. A billion? No. This is not about money; this is about our country,” Lake responded. “I think it’s disturbing that … anybody would even think this is —”
He later added in the audio that there were “very powerful people” who wanted her out of the race for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I-AZ) seat.
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“There are very powerful people who are gonna keep you out,” DeWit said. “But they’re willing to put their money where their mouth is in a big way.”
Lake announced her candidacy last year and is widely seen as the likely GOP nominee in what could be a three-way race. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) is seen as the likely Democratic nominee, but Sinema, an independent and the incumbent, has not announced her 2024 plans.