PHOENIX — An audio recording released Tuesday appears to reveal the chairman of the Arizona Republican Party tried to nudge fellow Republican Kari Lake out of politics before she became a U.S. Senate candidate last year.
"There are very powerful people who want to keep you out," Party Chair Jeff DeWit said to Lake on the audio. "They're willing to put their money where their mouth is, in a big way."
On Tuesday evening, while campaigning for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in New Hampshire, Lake called for DeWit to resign.
"We can't have somebody who's corrupt and compromised running the Republican Party," she told NBC's Vaughn Hillyard.
The audio recording was posted by DailyMail.com, a London-based news site. DailyMail said two sources authenticated DeWit's voice.
Left unanswered is why Lake waited 10 months to discuss the details of the recording.
The audio quality indicates Lake was wearing a wireless microphone during the conversation.
During her brief political career, the former TV news anchor has had a habit of wearing a wireless mic for performative conversations.
Trump rally Friday in Phoenix
This collision between Lake, one of former president Donald Trump's most ardent supporters, and DeWit, his earliest endorser, comes just days before Trump's Phoenix campaign rally Friday. The event is sponsored by the state Republican Party.
DeWit has come under fire from the party's far-right wing in recent months and is likely to face a leadership challenge at the party's annual meeting on Saturday, the day after the rally.
DeWit is a former Trump campaign lieutenant who has served as party chair for just a year.
DeWit and the state party have not responded to requests for comment.
Lake spoke of 'bribe' last year
The recording appears to verify a claim Lake made in March 2023, that powerful people had tried to "bribe" her "that week."
"They came to my door and they tried to bribe me out of getting out of politics," Lake told the crowd at a Conservative Political Action Committee event. "This really happened. I'm telling you this because this is how disgusting politics is."
Lake had lost what many Republicans viewed as a winnable race for governor in November 2022. A 2024 run for the U.S. Senate was in the offing.
An 'ask from back East'
During the 10-minute recording posted by the Daily Mail, DeWit refers to unnamed people "back East."
"The ask I got today from back East was, is there any companies out there, something that could just put her on the payroll and get her to keep her out?" he tells Lake.
"I said, 'What do you want to do?' 'Whatever we need to do.'"
DeWit tried flattery.
"You should be honored. That means they know how powerful you are," he said. "Usually, very few people get this."
Lake responded: "I know, I'm just I'm pissed that they don't care more about our country."
He also tried the direct approach: "Is there a number at which ..."
"... I can be bought?" Lake interjected. "No."
Lake heard DeWit out, never raising her voice but rejected the offers.
"I can win," she said. "Why don't you go back and tell them that I can win? Won't they get behind me?"
They parted on friendly terms.
Lamon-Lake tension
One of the tensions in the conversation involves DeWit's relationship with former GOP U.S. Senate candidate Jim Lamon and Lake's avid support for Trump.. DeWit had gone to work for Lamon after returning to Arizona.
Lamon failed to get Trump's endorsement in 2022, despite having DeWit on his side. Lamon supported Ron DeSantis for president in 2024.
When DeWit and Lake met in early 2023, Lamon was eyeing another Senate run, putting him on a potential collision course with Lake.
Barrett Marson, a longtime Republican political consultant at Marson Media, said DeWit was in a precarious position as party leader in Arizona.
"The real problem for Jeff is, he is sort of a man without an island," Marson said.
"He is too MAGA for the establishment, and he is too establishment for the MAGA wing of the party."
Marson was baffled that DeWit wasn't aware Lake would record the conversation. Several times during the conversation, DeWit asks Lake to keep it to herself.
"Kari Lake is always miked up," Marson said. "Any conversation you ever have with Kari, you have to understand she is recording you. So I don't understand how Jeff didn't know that.
"This is a shady looking deal that he is offering and I don't even understand why you would offer it. Even if someone asked him to."
DeWit inherited party mess
DeWit is a former Arizona state treasurer who was the first elected official in the country to endorse Trump for president in 2015.
DeWit went on to become a top official in Trump's first two campaigns for president and serve in the Trump administration.
He inherited a Trump-aligned Republican Party that had lost its historic lock on statewide offices over three election cycles and was bleeding cash in futile lawsuits to overturn election results.
Kelli Ward, the former chair who presided over the party's electoral defeats and played a role in the fake elector scheme after the 2020 election, needled DeWit on social media: "And they say that I was a controversial AZGOP Chair…"
DeWit has managed to stabilize, if not grow, the party's finances despite being abandoned by major donors.
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