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Leaked audio recordings of Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake and Arizona GOP Chairman Jeff DeWitt seem to suggest the high-level Republican Party official bribed the former television anchor not to run for office.<\/p>\n
The 10-minute audio was published by the Daily Mail of London<\/span><\/a> Tuesday and the fallout was swift. DeWitt resigned Wednesday.<\/p>\n In the audio, DeWitt allegedly offers Lake a variety of deals, such as being put on a company payroll or financial compensation in exchange for taking a pause from the political scene for a couple of years.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are very powerful people who want to keep you out,\u201d DeWit said. \u201cWhat they\u2019re willing to do is put their money where their mouth is in a big way.\u201d<\/p>\n He repeatedly indicated that people \u201cback east\u201d had sent him as a messenger, and he requested Lake\u2019s discretion. He said she could say no, but \u201cthe conversation never happened,\u201d and \u201cdon\u2019t tell people.\u201d<\/p>\n Lake rejected complicity and refused to cooperate. She told DeWitt she didn\u2019t have a price tag. $10 million, $20 million, $30 million, a billion \u2013 the answer was no.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not about money, it\u2019s about our country,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n After the allegations came to light, Arizona GOP officials began calling for DeWitt to step down. In his resignation letter, DeWitt<\/span> accused<\/span><\/a> Lake of violating their friendship with a secret recording. He claimed Lake had set up the whole situation and questioned Lake\u2019s trustworthiness in the Senate if she couldn\u2019t be trusted with \u201cprivate, confidential conversations,\u201d according to National Public Radio.<\/p>\n Lake addressed the leak, noting that she had mentioned the bribe on several occasions since March 2023, when the incident occurred, and the mainstream media had asked zero questions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe name came out, and now they\u2019re all of a sudden interested in it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n During the live Townhall.com<\/span><\/a> event Wednesday night, Lake fielded questions from supporters and revealed another attempted bribe. She told the audience a wealthy donor offered to create a political action committee (PAC) for her campaign with $1 million. However, when the man listed his \u201casks\u201d of distancing herself from former President Trump, other MAGA Republicans, and MAGA in general, Lake said she turned him down, with \u201cThanks, but no thanks.\u201d<\/p>\n Lake added that someone in her campaign couldn\u2019t fathom turning down a million dollars because she didn\u2019t want to do a \u201cfew simple things.\u201d<\/p>\n Lake clarified that they weren\u2019t simple, and she wasn\u2019t willing to take money with strings attached.<\/p>\n