Judge Holds Emergency Court Hearing over Election Lawsuit, Calls for Kari Lake and Katie Hobbs to Appear

UPDATE: Kari Lake provided this statement to The Arizona Sun Times Tuesday afternoon:

Today’s hearing regarding my lawsuit was telling. The Judge noted the volume of evidence my team compiled. The defendants’ team seemed desperate to sweep it under the rug.

I am thankful to Judge Peter Thompson and his team for the work they do and we are confident that given the opportunity, we will expose this election for the sham it was.

Arizona Judge Peter Thompson issued an order Tuesday for Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake and Governor-elect Katie Hobbs to appear in court regarding the election lawsuit filed by Lake.

“The Court has reviewed Plaintiffs’ Verified Statement of Election Contest filed December 9, 2022. Because this matter is an election challenge, the return hearing will be set on an accelerated basis,” according to Thompson.

Aside from Lake and Hobbs, Maricopa Count Stephen Richer, Board of Supervisor members Bill Gates, Clint Hickman, Jack Sellers, Thomas Galvin, and Steve Gallardo, and Director of Elections Scott Jarrett were also called to appear. The order stated that the appearance would be held over a video conference at 11 am on Tuesday. The hearing was not for arguing the case but for setting up the logistics of the case moving forward.

The Arizona Sun Times reached out to the Lake campaign for a comment but did not receive a response before publishing time.

Although the hearing was not able to start right at 11 due to technical errors and heavy online traffic, the livestream was able to begin before the noon hour….

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Continue reading this article at The Arizona Sun Times.