‘I want corruption rooted out of our government. I don’t care if it’s on the Democrat side or the Republican side. We are going to root out corruption’
Arizona GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake called for the state’s Republican Party chair, Jeff DeWit, to resign after an audio recording surfaced of him appearing to present Ms. Lake with an offer of money to leave politics.
The recording, published by The Daily Mail, dates back to last March and features a conversation between Ms. Lake and Mr. DeWit. The audio suggests that the Arizona GOP chair brought an offer from unspecified “powerful people” in exchange for Ms. Lake stepping away from the political scene for two years.
“He’s got to resign,” Ms. Lake insisted during an interview with an NBC reporter on Tuesday night, just before former President Donald Trump’s appearance at his New Hampshire primary victory party.
“We can’t have somebody who’s corrupt and compromised running the Republican Party,” she added.
In the recording, Mr. DeWit is heard suggesting that powerful figures want Ms. Lake to stay out of the Senate race for two years. Ms. Lake, however, vehemently rejects the proposal, emphasizing her commitment to standing with President Trump against corruption in Washington, D.C.
“There are very powerful people who wanna keep you out. But they’re willing to put their money where their mouth is in a big way. So this conversation never happened,” Mr. DeWit is heard saying in the recording.
Ms. Lake responds firmly: “This is crazy though. They should want me. I’m a great candidate. People love me. These people are corrupt.”
As the conversation progresses, Mr. DeWit implies that the motive behind the offer is not control or agenda but the ability to raise money to win elections. Ms. Lake, however, remains resolute, expressing frustration that unnamed figures would attempt to buy her out rather than work with her.
The recording reveals Mr. DeWit making multiple offers, even suggesting that Ms. Lake could take a pause for a couple of years and then resume her political career. Ms. Lake adamantly rejects each offer, stating that the issue is not about money but the good of the country.
