PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. — Multiple Republican attorneys in Arizona say they and others involved in the party’s election disputes in past cycles are keeping their distance this time, largely because of Senate candidate Kari Lake’s history of false fraud claims.
Earlier this month, Kory Langhofer resigned as chief legal counsel for former President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee’s “election integrity” operation in Arizona. He is now among more than a dozen Republican attorneys in the state who were part of the Arizona Republican Party’s litigation team during previous election cycles, including in 2020 and 2022, but who will not join their efforts this fall.
It’s a dynamic that has created uncertainty around the party’s much-vaunted legal efforts in a key state as it battles for the White House and Senate weeks after Election Day.
Langhofer, who filed the Trump campaign’s first legal challenge to his 2020 loss in the state and represented the Arizona Senate in the discredited ‘Cyber Ninja’-led audit of that year’s election, declined comment to NBC News about his departure.
Three GOP lawyers involved in previous campaigns in Arizona, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak openly about their hesitation to take on this cycle, told NBC News that there is particular concern about a bias from Lake — which caused her loss will continue to challenge in the period from 2022. governor’s race while casting doubt on the upcoming election – to encourage lawsuits and question procedures. One of the lawyers described it as ‘fatigue’.
“Kari creates an environment that is inhospitable to very reasonable people,” said an Arizona Republican lawyer involved in previous cycles.
Arizona has been a hotbed of Republican Party-fueled conspiracy theories about a stolen election since Trump’s defeat in the state and nationally in the 2020 presidential race.
“There is only a perception [Republican lawyers] not doing enough proactively,” said a second lawyer about preventing alleged fraud. “But what is enough? If you can’t identify something, what do you do?”
Following Langhofer’s departure, the Trump campaign last week announced the hiring of Harmeet Dhillon, a Republican National Committeewoman and a powerful attorney from California, to move to Arizona for the final weeks of the campaign. Dhillon is not licensed to practice law in Arizona, but a source familiar with the efforts said she was expected to hire a local attorney.
“I don’t know who will be in the war room or what other Arizona attorneys will be there,” said a third Republican attorney in Arizona, who is among those not involved in this year’s legal effort. “I really don’t know what’s going on.”
Each of the three attorneys who spoke to NBC News said they would still be willing to assist the Arizona legal operation in the coming month if legitimate concerns arise that affect the election.
After Langhofer’s departure, Lake’s senior campaign adviser Caroline Wren chided the RNC and the Trump campaign in a post on ”
In April, the RNC touted that it would create a massive “election integrity” operation with 100,000 lawyers and volunteers across the country to prevent fraud ahead of the November election.
“Is it possible that we are all being laughed at by the @gop regarding a bogus ‘Election Integrity’ program that doesn’t actually exist?” Wren wrote in the post. “Yes, and honestly it’s more plausible than it could be.”
Days later, the RNC brought in Dhillon to oversee the state’s legal front. Dhillon does not have a deep history in the state, although she worked for Lake during the 2022 election week, when the then-governor candidate attacked Maricopa County election officials over mechanical problems with some voting center printers that caused longer wait times in several counties.
According to multiple sources involved in deliberations over the decision to turn to Dhillon, the Trump and Lake campaigns are confident in her decision-making regarding filing any lawsuits in the coming weeks. Still, the Republican Party of Arizona is now relying on its party chair, Gina Swoboda, to initiate a dialogue with state and county election officials. Swoboda does not have a law degree, although she previously worked in the Arizona Secretary of State’s office.
In a statement, Swoboda expressed his confidence in Dhillon.
“Harmeet is ready to lead the fight,” she said. “We are full steam ahead in our unprecedented commitment to election integrity,” she added.
Wren wrote in a statement to NBC News: “The Kari Lake Campaign has full confidence in Harmeet Dhillon and Gina Swoboda to lead election integrity efforts in Arizona and we are thrilled with this outcome.”
Lake’s legal efforts surrounding her last election continue to cause headaches for Republicans in Arizona. Earlier this year, one of Lake’s attorneys, Bryan Blehm, was fined and disbarred for lying to the Arizona Supreme Court during his representation of Lake’s 2022 election challenges.
An Arizona court will also determine the damages Lake owes Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer as part of a defamation lawsuit he filed against her after the 2022 election. Richer, a Republican, alleged in the lawsuit that Lake “repeatedly and falsely accused Richer of causing Lake’s electoral defeat.”
Some of the legal tension within the parties also stemmed from Richer’s discovery that 218,000 Arizona voters had never proven their citizenship as part of their process to determine voter eligibility — the result of an apparent administrative error years ago.
Earlier this month, Wren openly questioned why the Trump campaign had not filed a lawsuit challenging the eligibility of the “218,000 uncertified ‘US citizens’.”
However, the Republican Party of Arizona filed an amicus brief in the courts that sided with Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, calling on the court to consider the eligibility of these voters, many of whom were registered as Republicans. enforce so that they could participate. in this fall’s elections.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
