"Kari Lake's Defamation Lawsuit Dilemma"

Kari Lake, a prominent election denier and Arizona Republican running for the US Senate, signaled that she will not contest claims that she defamed top Arizona election official Stephen Richer. Richer sued Lake after she repeatedly lied about him, falsely accusing him of injecting illegal votes and intentionally misprinting ballots. Lake's court filing essentially concedes that she won't try to prove her claims were true and asks for a "default judgment" against her, while still requesting a jury to resolve any factual disputes around damages. This development comes as defamation lawsuits are being used to hold spreaders of misinformation accountable, and Lake's move may be a risky strategy to solely focus on damages in the case.