Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake blasted reporters at a press conference Thursday for peddling the Arizona Democrat Party’s “defamatory” claim that she incited the break-in at her Democrat opponent’s headquarters.
A break-in occurred at Democrat Katie Hobbs’ campaign headquarters in Phoenix earlier this week, and on Thursday, alleged burglar Daniel Mota Dos Reis, 36, was arrested in connection with the incident. While the Arizona Democratic Party claimed Lake incited the burglary, The Western Journal reports Reis is a self-described Democrat and immigrant from Angola after finding what appears to be his Facebook page.
Moreover, NBC News Correspondent Vaughn Hillyard noted that police “have not said they have evidence this was politically motivated.”
However, Hobbs’ campaign manager, Nicole DeMont, took aim at Lake in a statement about the break-in on Wednesday before the arrest. It reads in part:
Let’s be clear: for nearly two years Kari Lake and her allies have been spreading dangerous misinformation and inciting threats against anyone they see fit. The threats against Arizonans attempting to exercise their constitutional rights and their attacks on elected officials are the direct result of a concerted campaign of lies and intimidation.
The Arizona Democratic Party followed up with its own statement, laying blame on Lake for the incident.
“Make no mistake — this is a direct result of Kari Lake and fringe Republicans spreading lies and hate and inciting violence — and it is despicable,” a tweet from the party read.
Lake held an emergency press conference on Thursday where she blasted members of the media for publishing the statements from DeMont and the Democrat Party.
“She put out a defamatory statement, and you all ran with it,” Lake said. “You didn’t do your journalistic duty; it was malpractice of journalism like I’ve never seen before, and it was an effort, I believe, to influence this election.”
“Many of you are an arm of the Democrat party, many of you are propagandists, and almost all of you should be ashamed,” she added.
Lake said the Democrat Party’s subsequent statement was the “cue” for members of the media to start reporting on it. Throughout the press conference, she called out NBC News, Newsy, the Guardian, Fox 10 Phoenix, a local reporter from Axios, and a reporter for the Arizona Republic.
“You gotta do better, guys. We were 13 days out from this election, and you’re trying to influence this election much like you did in 2020 when you refused to cover Joe Biden’s criminal son Hunter Biden’s laptop,” said Lake.
“You refused to cover that, you refused to cover the evidence that was on that,” she added. “And this time, it’s the other way around. You’re taking completely bogus stories, and you’re running with them. It’s absolute fake news.”
Lake went on to add, holding an image of a poll:
They put defamatory statements, lies about me, and the reason that they did that is because this is the real news yesterday that none of you wanted to cover. We’re 11 points up. You’re in a frenzied panic because your chosen candidate is not winning. You didn’t want to cover this, so you run with a complete garbage bullshit story. Shame on each and every one of you.
Lake also joked that she had evidence Hobbs broke into her campaign earlier in the day before presenting an image of a chicken. Lake’s campaign has associated Hobbs with chickens because she refuses to debate, and Lake has branded her a “coward.”
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