Kari Lake’s election fraud claims have cost Arizona taxpayers more than $140,000: analysis

Failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has cost her state's taxpayers more than $140,000 by litigating her faulty claims of election fraud, an analysis shows.

Lake, who recently teased her followers with a major announcement about her "next chapter" only to reveal that she had written a book about her experiences, appears to have made filing election fraud lawsuits - and hyping up the cases - into a full-time job. She has done so to such an extent that taxpayers have had to pay out more than $141,000 to fight a single meritless case Lake filed against Maricopa County, according to a report from MSNBC.

"Late last year, Lake told a crowd she’d like to see Maricopa’s election officials imprisoned for what she imagines is their role in her loss," Democratic strategist Max Burns wrote for the outlet. "Meanwhile, Arizonans are footing the bill as Kari Lake turns their court system into her latest performance art venue."

"Lake has already been ordered to pay over $30,000 in court fees related to her lawsuit against Hobbs, but taxpayers forked out over $141,000 to fight a different single meritless case Lake filed against Maricopa County. For this one, the court was also on the hook for processing over 7,000 pages of 'evidence' Lake’s attorneys provided, none of which actually implicated Maricopa County."

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Burns further reports that Lake, "unlike Arizonans," is bringing in massive amounts of money from her false claims.

"Lake has turned filing frivolous election fraud claims into a full-time job. Unlike Arizonans, she’s also profiting handsomely from her bogus outrage; in just shy of two months after her loss, Lake raised $2.5 million from MAGA die-hards with big promises to beat Democrats in the courts. Then she headlined an election denial speaking tour through Iowa, prompting former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis to criticized Lake for 'just fundraising at this point (ie grifting).' Now it appears Lake is hoping to turn some of that cash toward a possible U.S. Senate campaign next year."