The story of the week was an audio of a private meeting between Kari Lake and Arizona GOP Chair Jeff DeWit being leaked to the media.
DeWit allegedly offered a bribe to Lake to not run for office, which she turned down.
After the audio was leaked, DeWit resigned, but not before he set the house on fire.
Talking Points…
- The leaked audio
- DeWit Resigns
- Analysis
The audio leaked was clearly not the entire conversation; hence, why I am being cautious about how I report this, which you will understand when you see DeWit's response to it all. Regardless, this is the audio that got everyone up in arms…
This kind of evil bribery is happening everyday in politics
People ask, what does it look like behind the scenes when people sell out and sell their souls
This is a perfect example, good on @KariLake for standing her ground
— Drew Hernandez (@DrewHLive) January 24, 2024
Lake had mentioned that exchange during last year's CPAC event, but she offered up no proof at the time. Now, she also demanded that DeWit resign for his alleged corruption.
DeWit tendered his resignation, but he did not take all the blame. After hearing how the recording was allegedly taken out of context, DeWit insisted that Lake set him up. He continued:
"I believe she orchestrated this entire situation to have control over the state party, and it is obvious from the recording that she crafted her performance responses with the knowledge that she was recording it, intending to use this recording later to portray herself as a hero in her own story."
Lake's advisers responded to the claims by DeWit, stating:
"The tape speaks for itself: The Arizona GOP Chairman Jeff DeWit attempted to bribe Kari Lake. Thankfully, Kari is an extremely ethical person who rejected DeWit's multiple attempts to offer her money and corporate board seats in exchange for Kari not running for public office."
I would be lying if I said that I trusted Lake 100 percent, but this is not a good look for DeWit. The real problem here is that he would even entertain such an idea, regardless of the context. If someone comes to him as the chair and offers to bribe someone not to run, his job is to expose that person, not bring the offer to the candidate.
Something tells me this is not the end of this. DeWit did not sound like he was taking a parting shot on his way out the door but instead seemed bent on revenge for what Lake did to him. This is definitely something we are going to need to keep an eye on moving forward.
