Kari Lake Brutally Mocked in Scathing Rebuke from Arizona Judge

Kari Lake was hit with another legal loss in Arizona on Thursday in her ongoing battle to prove that her 2022 loss to Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs was plagued with election fraud.

Lake, a former TV anchor who ran as a Republican in Arizona's gubernatorial race last fall, lost by about 17,000 votes to Hobbs in November 2022 but has since refused to concede, repeatedly asking the court to throw out the certified election result over accusations of fraud in the state's largest county, Maricopa County.

Her legal challenges were eventually dismissed by the court, although Lake has continued to fight the election results through appeals and court requests, including arguing in a two-day public records request trial in September to have access to all 1.3 million ballots cast by early voters in 2022 in order to inspect that the signatures on the ballots match the envelope they were returned in.

That request was also denied in a ruling Thursday by Maricopa County Judge John Hannah Jr., who mocked Lake's repeated attempts to prove instances of voter fraud.

"Ms. Lake regards the electoral process much like the villagers in the famous fable regarded the goose that laid the golden egg, except that her goose failed to lay the egg she expected," Hannah wrote in his 12-page ruling. "She insists that something must have gone wrong."

"If only she could cut open the electoral process and examine each of its 1.3 million pieces, she says, she would be able to figure out what happened and show that the prize has been there waiting for her all along," the judge continued. "And even if she doesn't find what she's looking for, she suggests, the act of disassembly will strengthen everyone's confidence that the machinery produces reliable outcomes. We will know it lays the right eggs."

Hannah added that Lake's request to release the ballot envelope signatures—which state law mandates remain confidential—missed "the big picture of democratic self-governance," writing that "the broad right of electoral participation outweighs the narrow interests of those who would continue to pick at the machinery of democracy.

"The public release of 1.3 million ballot affidavit envelopes signed by Maricopa County voters would undermine the process of verifying those voters' ballots in future elections," he continued. "It would create a significant risk of widespread
voter fraud where none now exists. It would expose voters to harassment and potentially force them to defend the integrity of their own votes.

"Some number of voters would stop participating entirely, out of fear of identity theft or concern about privacy," the judge concluded. "But those individuals have exactly
the same interest in being heard through the electoral process as those who voted for unsuccessful candidates in past elections. Their frustration and disillusionment are every bit as harmful to democratic self-government as the frustration and disillusionment of those who have come to doubt the 'integrity' of the electoral process."

Democratic Arizona Representative Ruben Gallego—who is running against Lake in Arizona's 2024 Senate race for independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema's seat—also mocked Lake in a post to X, formerly Twitter, Thursday evening, writing, "The @KariLake losing streak continues."

Lake's campaign account on X, Kari Lake War Room, shot back at Gallego, arguing that Hannah had ruled that the public records request "was valid," but he "chose not to release the records anyway."

"You can brag all you want about this ruling AGAINST transparent elections, @RubenGallego," the account continued. "We would just ask that you learn how to read."

Newsweek reached out to Lake's press team via email for further comment.