Lake deletes tweet targeting Maricopa judge after officials seek sanctions

Defeated Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake (R) deleted a tweet accusing the judge who dismissed her election challenge of integrity violations.

The tweet, which was posted early Monday morning, suggested the founding partner of a law firm representing Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs (D) emailed Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson “what to say” as he authored the dismissal.

“The Dismissal of Kari Lake’s Election Lawsuit Shows Voter Disenfranchisement No Longer Matters @Rach_IC:”Legal experts believe his decision [by Judge Thompson] was ghostwritten, they suspect top left-wing attorneys like Marc Elias emailed him what to say,” the now-deleted tweet reads.

Maricopa County and Hobbs — in both her capacities as secretary of state and governor-elect — cited the tweet in asking the judge to impose sanctions on Lake and her attorneys on Monday, arguing that Lake’s campaign’s broader election challenge was groundless and constituted harassment.

Lake’s campaign argued in court filings that the post “simply retweeted” the author of the article, Rachel Alexander. 

The tweet quoted Alexander’s opinion article published by conservative website Townhall, although the article does not cite which legal experts believe the judge committed impropriety, and provided no evidence of the allegations.

“Tweets, especially those authored by others, do not support sanctions under Arizona law,” Lake’s campaign wrote to the judge.

The Hill has reached out to Lake’s campaign for further comment.

Progressive election law firm Elias Law Group, which is managed by Marc Elias, represents Hobbs in the case in her capacity as governor-elect.

A spokesman for the firm deferred comment to Elias’s tweet about Lake’s post.

“I’ve had a lot of lies told about me today–more than usual,” Elias wrote on Twitter. “More than even after the 2020 election. I always first point them out and ask for them to be deleted. Honorable people do so. But, the people still lying about me are doing it on purpose. But I’m done. Goodnight.”