Senate Candidate Kari Lake Faces Backlash From Arizona Republicans After Recent Bribery Scandal

Senate candidate Kari Lake faced a barrage of criticism from Arizona Republicans at a state party function just days after a recording she made went public, resulting in the resignation of the state party chair, RadarOnline.com has learned.

The incident took place during the annual meeting of the state party in Phoenix on Saturday, January 27, where Lake spoke out, addressing the attendees.

This came five days after the controversial audio was released, appearing to show Lake being offered a bribe by former state party chair Jeff DeWit in exchange for her not running for Senate in 2024.

DeWit subsequently resigned but argued that the audio had been "selectively edited" and alleged that Lake's camp threatened to release additional tapes.

In an interview with Newsmax on Wednesday, Lake admitted to recording the conversation and hinted that she was the one who leaked it.

The senate hopeful explained her motivation for recording, saying, "I recorded this because I was worried, I thought there could be a threat."

"I never listened to it until just a couple of days ago. And I don’t know what nudged me to listen to that recording," she continued. "My daughter, who’s 20, was sitting with me. And I pressed play. And she was gasping listening to this call. And she said, 'Mom, what are you going to do about this?' And I wasn't going to do anything about it. And I thought, 'Oh my gosh, if I don't do something about this kind of behavior, what will my daughter think?'"

Lake's appearance at the party function did not go as she had hoped. Video footage posted on Twitter by Yvonne Wingett Sanchez of the Washington Post captured the reaction of the crowd, who greeted Lake with boos and jeers.

The audience particularly took issue with Lake's assertion that Arizona elections are a "corrupt mess."

Amidst the controversy surrounding Lake, Gina Swoboda was elected as the new state party chair during the meeting.

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As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Lake was confronted for spreading election denialism by former GOP communications director Tim Miller.

"The Circus on Showtime sent out a couple clowns to interview me," Lake wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "It doesn't have to be this painful for the Propagandists in the fake news."

"We could have a great conversation if they would just ask honest questions about the issues that Americans are concerned about," the failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate added.

Miller told Lake, "You probably would have won your governor’s race had you talked about things people cared about instead of the election fraud."