Kari Lake won’t defend her­self in Ari­zona defama­tion law­suit and asks court to decide dam­ages

Repub­li­can Ari­zona Sen­ate hope­ful Kari Lake for­feit­ed her abil­i­ty to defend her­self in a defama­tion law­suit, instead ask­ing the court to decide dam­ages.
Lake, who lost her 2022 bid for gov­er­nor to now-Gov. Katie Hobbs (D‑AZ), jus­ti­fied her deci­sion by say­ing she was a vic­tim of law­fare, or the use of the legal sys­tem to impov­er­ish a polit­i­cal oppo­nent. She request­ed that the judge set a default judg­ment hear­ing, for­feit­ing her right to defend her­self, and instead go straight to deter­min­ing whether or not dam­ages are owed to the plain­tiff and how much.
The law­suit was brought for­ward by Mari­co­pa Coun­ty Recorder Stephen Rich­er, wh …