Kari Lake ‘disappointed in Fox’ after Bret Baier brings up drag queen story

Conservative Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake sparred with Fox News’ Bret Baier on Monday after the anchor asked about her stance on drag queens and the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election.

“I’m actually shocked and appalled that Fox News would take a defamatory story like that, and we are pursuing legal action against this drag queen,” Lake said during a combative interview on the network’s nightly evening newscast. “I’m appalled that you would bring that up when you have not talked about our stolen election …”

Baier interjected “we just spent three questions, Miss Lake, talking about this.”

The anchor had asked Lake about a Washington Post story reporting she has attended the shows of drag queen Richard Stevens for more than two decades and once hired him to perform at her home. Lake has attacked drag queens as dangerous to children during her campaign for Arizona governor, according to Stevens.

“Every candidate takes tough stories, I’m asking you to address this if you’d like to,” Baier told the Republican.

“I’m happy to address it but I’m really disappointed in Fox, I thought you were a little better than CNN,” Lake responded, eliciting a smirk and and chuckle from Fox’s top news anchor.

Earlier during the interview, Baier pressed Lake about her false claims along the campaign trail asserting that the 2020 election was “stolen” from former President Trump through voter fraud in Arizona.

The anchor played a clip showing testimony from Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R), who told lawmakers on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol earlier this month that he repeatedly pressed Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, to prove claims of election fraud after the 2020 election, and said that Giuliani failed to produce any evidence.

“He’s a RINO and he hopefully will be defeated,” Lake said of Bowers.

Fox is currently being sued by voting systems company Dominion over claims that it knowingly aired false statements about electoral fraud being promoted by allies of Trump as he and his aides worked to overturn the results of the election.

During recent analysis of testimony given during the select committee hearings, Baier praised local election workers and Republican elected officials who resisted Trump’s campaign, saying “though the president wanted to keep on trying to overturn the election, that there were patriots along the way who said we can’t do this.”

During the back-and-forth over the Post story on the allegations from Stevens, Baier told Lake “I don’t want to be asking these questions. I ask you to address them, that’s it.”

“I think you do want to ask them but you don’t want to ask about 2,000 mules,” Lake said in reference to a far-right documentary alleging widespread voter fraud that allies of Trump have worked to get into the national spotlight.

As Baier ended the Tuesday interview, thanking Lake for her time, the Republican told him “please send reporters out here to cover this stolen election, we would appreciate it.”