Kari Lake has revealed new details on her bizarre encounter with resigned Arizona state party chair Jeff DeWit before he tried to ‘bribe’ her into spiking her U.S. Senate run – and how his urgent call to meet at her home raised her suspicions.
‘I felt like I was in an episode of House of Cards,’ she told Megyn Kelly in an interview for her podcast on SiriusXM as she described the encounter.
Lake said she taped the conversation after comments by DeWit presented a ‘huge red flag’ – before according to her audio recording he dangled potential money or employment if she were to take a break from her political career.
‘The only reason I taped this is because it sounded highly suspect when he said “I’ve got to come over. I’m right outside your neighborhood. I’m pulling in and I have to talk to you in person. Because what I have to say cannot be said over the phone,” she told Kelly.
‘I don’t know about you, but a huge red flag comes up when you hear that and I thought what on earth? I felt like I was in an episode of House of Cards. What on earth is going to happen here? And I never even listened back to it until earlier this week,’ she said.
Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake says resigned state GOP Party chair Jeff DeWit called her from near her home with an offer he said he could only discuss in person. She blasted him for the attempted ‘bribe’
It was just the latest charged development since DailyMail.com’s bombshell report that led to DeWit’s resignation.
Lake said she was ‘finish the edits on my book’ when she got the call, and was getting ready to pack for her appearance at CPAC – where she ultimately revealed the attempted ‘bribe’ for the first time.
‘And so I shoot him out of the house. And I got on the plane later on. And I was thinking about what I wanted to talk about at CPAC. Many times during this conversation he said, “This conversation never happened. Don’t talk about it. Don’t say anything about it.” I said “I have to say something about this.” So I changed my speech the next day at CPAC and I brought this up immediately.’
She said the encounter motivated her to jump into the race, where there are fights in both parties over a seat held by independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.
‘If these people back east if these powerful people are going to try to bribe me out of politics that tells me that I need to jump in with both feet. And that’s one of the reasons I ultimately decided to have to do this,’ she said on the Megyn Kelly show.
Lake described her taped conversation with interviewer Megyn Kelly on her SiriusXM podcast
She indicated she didn’t know who was ultimately behind the offer.
‘The sad thing is you could sit and ponder for 24 hours and probably come up with a list of 400 corrupt people or entities or maybe even more, it could be anyone.’ She said she had her ‘suspicions here and there but I really don’t know,’ calling the event ‘surreal.’
Lake also tore into DeWit for the way he exited his post with a written statement.
‘He wrote a two page resignation letter and I never heard an apology for this incredibly unethical, hinging almost incredible behavior, never an apology to the people of Arizona, it was a two page diatribe manifesto.’ She called him ‘delusional’ for thinking there had been ‘creative editing’ on the tape of their conversation.
‘I put 10 Almost 11 minutes of this bribe out. And I don’t know how you could edit that any difference I laid it out… And so I don’t know how that can be taken out of context. It’s exactly what he said. And he never even apologized for that behavior.’
She ridiculed the idea that it was ‘normal business talk.’
‘I’ve been in business and I’ve been in, I’ve got lots of friends who are saying this is a friendly conversation. I’ve got lots of friends, I’ve never had a conversation like that… And I don’t know anybody who thinks that’s normal.
She said she never taped any other conversations of DeWit.
Her comments came after Lake’s team lashed out at DeWit after he said he was resigning his post only after getting an ‘ultimatum’ to either leave or face more ‘damaging’ information about himself.
Her team said DeWit has engaged in ‘multiple’ attempts to dangle opportunities to take a break from politics, and blasted DeWit’s own claim of being blackmailed following DailyMail.com’s exclusive report on the stunning recording that prompted his exit.
‘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,’ said Lake campaign senior advisers Caroline Wren and Garrett Ventry.
They said Lake, who challenged her 2022 election defeat in her run for governor, would be an ‘incredible’ senator.
‘No one from the Kari Lake campaign threatened or blackmailed DeWit. It is unfortunate that Dewit hasn’t recognized how unethical his behavior was and still hasn’t apologized to Arizona Republicans. DeWit’s false claims are just par for the course. The Arizona GOP must be relieved to have his resignation. Now we can focus on getting ethical leadership and win big in 2024,’ they said.
Kari Lake on Tuesday demanded the resignation of Arizona Republican Party chair Jeff DeWit after DailyMail.com published audio of the moment last year when he tried to bribe her from running for Senate. On Wednesday her team bashed his claim that he was threatened with still more ‘damaging information’
DeWit resigned as the chair of the Arizona Republican Party Wednesday, 24 hours after DailyMail.com published leaked audio of him offering Kari Lake a plum job or money to step out of politics.
In the tape, DeWit can be heard explaining that powerful people would offer her a job or money if she sits out of politics for two years, even saying at one point, ‘Is there a number at which …’
In his resignation statement he accused Lake of setting him up by recording a private conversation, and denied trying to bribe her. He claimed he was trying to offer ‘perspective, not coercion,’ and said the tape had been ‘selectively edited.’ He called it an ‘unguarded exchange,’ and claimed Lake may have been in breach of her ‘fiduciary duties’ as his employee at the time.
‘This morning I was determined to fight for my position,’ said DeWit, 51. ‘However a few hours ago I received an ultimatum from Lake’s team: Resign today or face the release of a new, more damaging recording.’
He said he was resigning in the hope that it would end her attacks on him.
Jeff DeWit and his wife Marina with President Donald Trump. DeWit was elected chair of the Arizona Republican Party last year. Soon after, he urged Kari Lake to step back from politics for two years. ‘There are very powerful people who want to keep you out,’ he told you
DeWit was the chief operating officer for Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns. The Trump administration nominated him for a senior role in NASA and he took over the Arizona Republican party in January last year.
The leaked audio, from a conversation in early March, 2023, sent shockwaves through Republican circles.
A day earlier, Lake, 54, had demanded his resignation. As she arrived at Donald Trump’s campaign party in Nashua, New Hampshire, she told DailyMail.com that the American people had had enough.
‘The truth is all coming out now,’ she said.
At the time of their conversation in March last year, Lake was known to be weighing a run for Senate. Days after DeWit’s approach she went public with her allegations that powerful forces tried to stop her running but never revealed who was behind it.
On Monday, Arizona talk show host Garret Lewis named DeWit, who was elected chairman of the party in January last year.
Audio obtained by DailyMail.com revealed how he made his offer at her home in early March last year.
‘There are very powerful people who want to keep you out,’ he can be heard saying.
Later in the 10-minute recording he asks her for ‘a number’ and floats the idea of finding her a job that would keep her busy for two years.
DeWit accused Lake of setting him up as he resigned as chair of the state party
DeWit claims he faced an ‘ultimatum’ and decided to step down from his post
In his resignation statement DeWit claimed he simply suggested postponing her plans for two years in order to run for governor again.
‘It was a suggestion made in good faith, believing it could benefit both her future prospects and the party’s overall strategy,’ he said.
He admitted he ‘said things I regret’ but accused Lake of ‘deceptive tactics’ and of releasing a ‘selectively edited’ audio recording.
‘The recording, from over ten months ago, is not only taken out of context but also undermines the integrity of private discussions critical for party leadership,’ he said.
Lake’s senior advisers Carolina Wren and Garrett denied any underhand tactics.
‘No one from the Kari Lake campaign threatened or blackmailed DeWit,’ they said.
They called on him to apologize to the people of Arizona and added: ‘The tape speaks for itself.’
In it DeWit tells Lake one of the most public faces of the former president’s MAGA movement and a woman frequently spoken of as a 2024 vice-presidential pick, that he thinks Trump will lose and it is time to make way for someone else.
After asking her not to mention the conversation to anyone, he makes his first offer.
‘So the ask I got today from back east was: “Is there any companies out there or something that could just put her on the payroll to keep her out?’
Lake reacts with indignation.
Lake spoke to the Daily Mail at the Sheraton Hotel in Nashua, New Hampshire, where journalists, campaign staff and supporters gathered to watch the primary results
Local Republican committees heaped pressure on DeWit to step down as state party chairman
‘This is about defeating Trump and I think that’s a bad, bad thing for our country,’ she said.
At the time of their conversation, Lake was publicly mulling a run for the U.S. Senate.
And the episode reveals the tensions triggered after she refused to accept defeat in the 2022 Arizona governor race.
She emerged as a national figure, becoming a regular on Fox News as she echoed Trump’s election denialism. That put her at odds with the more traditional wing of the Republican Party who feared a new breed of Trump loyalist may alienate big donors.
In October, she announced her run.
The new 10-minute audio clip includes DeWit asking for secrecy.
‘If you say no, its fine, it’s your choice, don’t tell people,’ he tells Lake.
Later he sets out the rationale behind the offer.
‘I think what it really comes down to for a lot of people, it’s not about like control or agenda,’ he says. ‘It’s about the ability to raise money to win.’
Lake sticks to her guns.
‘I don’t want to make a deal with these kinds of people. This is a hill worth dying on,’ she said.
‘I’m not … if they’re gonna steal the election to make me and our movement go away. I’m not letting them do that.
‘I owe it to the people of Arizona to carry their torch and voice.’