/ Modified jan 24, 2024 4:33 p.m.

Arizona GOP head resigns over leaked recording trying to bribe Kari Lake

Head of the Arizona Republican party Jeff DeWit announced his resignation Wednesday, a day after a recording leaked where the GOP chair appears to be offering Senate hopeful Kari Lake a bribe to take a break from politics.

Jeff DeWit Jeff DeWitt speaking in Phoenix in 2019
Gage Skidmore

In a statement Wednesday DeWit says he decided to resign after receiving an ultimatum from Lake's team that if he didn’t there would be a new and more damaging recording released.

In the recording made public by the Daily Mail he tells Lake people who he won’t name want her to stay out for two years.

“There are very powerful people who want to keep you out,” he says, adding “but they're willing to put their money where their mouth is in a big way. So, this conversation never happened.”

DeWit says the recording was selectively edited.

Lake is a MAGA firebrand who lost the Arizona governor’s race in 2022. The recording’s release comes just ahead of Trump’s visit to Arizona Friday and the state’s annual GOP meeting Saturday where they elect officers.

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