Chair of Maricopa Elections Department Bill Gates has reportedly gone into hiding after alleged threats by MAGA voters and officials whose GOP candidates — such as election-fraud promoter Kari Lake — lost in Arizona’s midterm elections.
After Lake lost to governor-elect Katie Hobbs, she tweeted, “Arizonans know BS when they see it,” fueling her already enraged base by continuing to pound her — and Donald Trump’s — Big Lie drumbeat.
Soon after, Maricopa County Attorney Tom Liddy “reported what he considered to be a threat from the Lake campaign to the local sheriff,” according to HuffPost, saying that “there were a ‘lot of irate people out there’ whom the campaign ‘can’t control.’”
On Sunday, Gates, a lifelong Republican who has staunchly defended Arizona’s voter integrity, “was moved to an ‘undisclosed’ location,” where officers from the Sheriff’s office will be on guard. He confirmed with an Arizona Fox station that he moved “for his own safety,” according to HuffPost.
From Fox10:
His [Gates’] stance has caused a slew of backlash online and in person. Some people were seen launching verbal attacks on Gates during a meeting with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors earlier this week.
Other county officials have reported receiving calls they considered threatening from campaign volunteers.
And from HuffPost:
He [attorney Liddy] said an attorney from the Republican National Committee speaking on behalf of the campaign warned Liddy on the phone a week ago that there were “a lot” of Lake supporters who were really “irate” and the campaign was unable to “control” them. Lake was about to be projected as the loser in her race.
Both the RNC attorney and Lake campaign have denied any threat against Liddy.
Kari Lake has still not conceded to governor-elect Katie Hobbs, even though she lost by more than 17,000 votes.
