United States: Mr. Peter Thompson, a US Maricopa County Superior Court Judge, has rejected the request to sanction Ms. Kari Lake, the republican candidate in Arizona’s gubernatorial race, over allegations she made about the legitimacy of the state election.
Earlier, Ms. Lake filed a lawsuit alleging voter fraud and challenging the counting and certification of the electoral contest held in November in a bid to be declared the winner despite a lack of evidence. The suit was rejected by the Superior Court in Maricopa County on December 24.
Later, Mr. Peter Thompson ruled that Ms. Lake would be responsible for paying more than $33,000 to her rival, democrat Ms. Katie Hobbs, for expenses incurred through expert witnesses and ballot inspections.
The decision comes after Ms. Hobbs filed a motion to sanction Ms. Lake for the claims she mentioned as “groundless and not made in good faith.”
However, Mr. Thompson rejected the thrust of the democrat’s argument. The judge remarked that “the fact that Ms. Lake failed to meet the burden of clear and convincing evidence did not mean that her claims were, or were not, groundless and presented in bad faith.”
Ms. Lake was one of the most high-profile republican candidates in the midterm elections and has also embraced former republican president Mr. Donald Trump’s false claims of voter fraud in 2020.
The republican candidate lost the governor’s race to Ms. Hobbs but refused to accept it and made unconfirmed claims about election fraud on her Twitter feed.
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