Friday, June 7th, 2024

ARIZONA -–  At a recent campaign event, Kari Lake gave a speech in front of a confederate flag, spread “baseless accusations of widespread election fraud,” campaigned with an extremist accused of stolen valor, and called it a “magical day” according to new reporting from The Guardian. 

Kari Lake campaigning under a confederate flag follows previous rallies held at January 6 watch party locations where she encouraged supporters to “strap on a Glock” because “the next six months is going to be intense” and suggested active and veteran military and law enforcement should “buckle up” and be “ready for action.” 

Lake “hasn’t gotten off the election conspiracy bandwagon,” continuing to claim at the event, “Of course we did [win the ‘22 gubernatorial election]. They stole our government” and that she continues “trying to get rid of these damn machines that are corrupt.”

Read more:

The Guardian: Revealed: Trump ally Kari Lake gave speech in front of Confederate flag

By: Joan Greve

June 7, 2024

Key Points:

• The Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake addressed supporters with a Confederate flag displayed behind her during a campaign event at a Trump merchandise store in Arizona last week, where she repeated false claims about election fraud.

• In footage obtained by the Guardian, Lake is seen speaking into a microphone, surrounded by a group of supporters, at the Trumped Store in Show Low, Arizona. Behind her, a Confederate battle flag and a yellow “Don’t Tread On Me” flag are affixed to the wall. Both flags are available for purchase on the website of Trumped Store, which sells an array of merchandise with the former president’s name and likeness.

• Writing on X last week, Lake described the event as a “magical day.”

• “So many incredible patriots in Heber-Overgaard, Show Low and the White Mountains,” she said. “America is stepping up. Arizona is stepping forward. It’s time to save this great Republic. I’m honored to be in this fight with all of these amazing patriots.”

• The Confederate flag has long been condemned as a symbol of racism and slavery, and a number of institutions have sought to distance themselves from it in recent years.

• Reached for comment about the video, a spokesperson for Kari Lake told the Guardian: “The Kari Lake campaign does not respond to British propaganda outlets. We stopped doing that in 1776.”

• In the video, Lake is heard repeating her baseless accusations of widespread election fraud in the 2022 gubernatorial race, which she lost to the Democrat Katie Hobbs. When a supporter told Lake that she actually won the 2022 election, she replied: “Of course we did. They stole our government.”

• In the months after the 2022 election, courts repeatedly dismissed Lake’s legal claims challenging the results of the gubernatorial race, and her lawyers were sanctioned for making “false factual statements”. In April, the US supreme court dismissed Lake’s lawsuit challenging Arizona’s use of electronic voting machines. At the Trumped Store event, Lake indicated she planned to reopen her appeal in the voting machines case, which she confirmed on Friday.

• “We’re trying to get rid of these damn machines that are corrupt,” Lake told supporters last week.

• Lake went on to repeat the false claim that Trump won the 2020 presidential election, presenting her belief in election fraud as an asset in the Senate race. If Lake wins the Republican primary on 30 July, as she is widely expected to do, she will go on to face the Democratic congressman Ruben Gallego in November.

• “I’m the only person running for US Senate – either Republican or Democrat – who truly believes there was fraud in the election in 2020,” Lake said to applause from attendees. “Anybody believe there wasn’t fraud in 2020? Anybody believe Joe Biden really, truly got 81 million votes?”

• Lake appeared at the campaign event alongside Steve Slaton, the Trumped Store owner and Republican state legislative candidate who has attracted controversy over allegations that he inflated his military record. On his campaign website, Slaton claims to have served in Vietnam as a “crew chief/co-pilot on an AH-1G Cobra Attack Helicopter”. But military records obtained by the Mountain Daily Star indicate that Slaton was stationed only in Korea, primarily serving as a helicopter repairman, and did not even join the army until after the last US troops left Vietnam.

• Slaton’s campaign website also includes a photo of him standing in front of a Confederate battle flag at the Trumped Store. A photo, posted to X by the Arizona state senator Wendy Rodgers, shows Lake and Slaton posing together at the campaign event last week.