PHX Reporter

A court motion filed in Maricopa County seeks to sanction former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake (R) and silence her claims challenging the integrity of the election Lake lost to now-Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ).

"Before a single vote was counted in the 2022 general election, Kari Lake publicly stated that she would accept the results of the gubernatorial election only if she were the winning candidate," according to CBS News, quoting the motion.

Defendants in a suit filed by Lake say the former Republican nominee for governor wrongly contested the legitimacy of the election, also claiming that Lake owes $25,000 in legal expenses. The defendants say Lake and her attorneys filed a "bad-faith" lawsuit.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs | Facebook/Katie Hobbs

"Enough really is enough. It is past time to end unfounded attacks on elections and unwarranted accusations against election officials," the motion states, according to CBS News.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson previously found that the court did not have a clear case that supported the allegations of misconduct, which Lake claimed affected the outcome of the election. Lake lost the gubernatorial election by about 17,000 votes.

 "When all the votes were counted and the result of the election certified, establishing that Ms. Lake had lost the election to Defendant-Contestee Katie Hobbs, plaintiff stayed true to her promise," the motion reads. "But she has not simply failed to publicly acknowledge the election results. Instead, she filed a groundless, 70-page election contest lawsuit against the governor-elect, the secretary of state, Maricopa County and several of its election officials and employees, thereby dragging them and this court into this frivolous pursuit."