(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- On Tuesday, a Maricopa County judge ordered Arizona Republican Kari Lake to pay some court fees related to her failed election lawsuit but stopped short of imposing sanctions.
Over the weekend, Judge Peter Thompson rejected Lake’s lawsuit, concluding that there was no clear or convincing evidence of misconduct. He also reaffirmed Democrat Governor-elect Katie Hobbs’ victory.
Lake, who lost to Hobbs by around 17,000 votes, appealed the judge’s decision, filing a request for a direct review from the Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon.
Attorneys representing Katie Hobbs had charged Lake and her attorneys of violating legal ethics rules in bringing the lawsuit, arguing Lake’s team knew their challenges were unsubstantiated. Hobbs’ attorneys asked the judge to sanction Lake and her legal team.
Judge Thompson did not agree, saying that the claims Lake presented in the case “were not groundless and brought in bad faith.”
However, he ordered Lake to pay Hobbs $33,040.50 in compensation for expert witness fees and again reaffirmed that Katie Hobbs won the election.
Judge Thompson had permitted Lake to attempt to prove two of the ten charges made in her suit at last week’s 2-day trial, involving printer problems and Maricopa County’s ballot chain of custody.
According to Judge Thompson’s ruling on Saturday, Lake’s team had to show that someone intentionally caused the county’s printers to malfunction and that there were enough “identifiable” votes lost to change the outcome of the election.
The judge found that Lake’s team failed to meet that standard since “every single witness” that appeared in the trial “disclaimed any personal knowledge of misconduct,” adding that the court “cannot accept speculation or conjecture in place of clear and convincing evidence.”
In addition to the legal fees Lake was ordered to pay in this suit, she and her attorneys could also face an estimated $695,975 in court costs from Maricopa County and the Secretary of State’s Office, the other two defendants in the case, who also filed similar motions against Lake.
That’s a lot of cash. Fortunately, Kari Lake has raised a lot of money fundraising off of her legal challenge. In a recent appearance on Steve Bannon’s podcast, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell admitted that he was bankrolling Lake’s failed lawsuit.
https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1604946918626701312
