Image Credit: screenshot/CNN 
Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake clashed with CNN anchor Dana Bash over the 2020 presidential election during a Sunday interview.
On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Bash falsely claimed there was “no evidence” of fraud or malfeasance in the 2020 election, and asked Lake why she keeps claiming there was.
“You called the 2020 election corrupt, stolen, rotten and rigged, and there was no evidence of any of that presented in a court of law or anywhere else that any of those things are true. So why do you keep saying that?” Bash asked Lake.
"Why do you keep saying that?"@DanaBashCNN presses Republican gubernatorial candidate for Arizona Kari Lake about her claims on the campaign trail that there was election fraud in the 2020 election. @CNNSotu #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/dDuZDrQ7ns
— CNN (@CNN) October 16, 2022
Unfortunately for Bash, Lake had receipts.
“Well, there’s plenty of evidence,” Lake responded. “We had 740,000 ballots with no chain of custody. Those ballots shouldn’t have been counted.”
Bash ignored her answer and charged ahead with the same line of questioning.
“Are you undermining faith in elections by saying that the 2020 election was stolen when there’s absolutely no evidence to support that?” Bash asked.
Lake replied, “In 2018, Stacey Abrams never conceded. She still hasn’t. I don’t hear CNN calling her an election denier.”
“We have the right — it’s protected with our First Amendment — to question our government and to question elections,” Lake continued. “We still have the First Amendment, and when you start seeing the media cancel people for questioning their government, then that’s when we have a problem.”
Bash then played clips from the January 6 committee hearings of government officials claiming the 2020 presidential election was not stolen, and asked why Lake doesn’t believe them.
Lake: All I’m saying is we need to restore honesty and integrity in our elections.
Bash: You’re right it doesn’t bring votes back, but at least that is transparent. If leaders like you and President Trump are saying that the election was stolen, aren’t you participating, contributing, even causing the idea of people thinking that the election is not safe and secure?
Lake: No. We are going to make sure our elections are safe and secure for Democrats, Independents and Republicans alike. We want to know our legal vote counted. We want to know the winner on election night. We don’t want to be counting for ten days.
Bash: Don’t you want your votes to be counted? Don’t you want your votes to be counted no matter how long it takes in 2022, in November?
“You want to have me on here and talk 2020 election, and you’re the one who accuses me of constantly talking about it?” Lake asked.
Bash responded: “I would never bring this up, ever, had you not been bringing this up, consistently, on the campaign trail.”
Bash concluded by asking if Lake would accept the election results if she loses.
“I’m going to win the election and accept that result,” Lake said. “The people will never support and vote for a coward like Katie Hobbs…”
Watch the full exchange: