Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate appears with Nazi sympathizer

On Nov 4, 2021

“Anti-maskers club here with Kari Lake,” said Schmidt-Crockett alongside Lake and Arnold in the video. “America First,” they each said.

After Arnold posted a photo of the trio on Twitter, Lake replied, “It was a pleasure to meet you, too.”

The former longtime TV anchor at a Phoenix Fox affiliate station has also earned the endorsement of other far-right conspiracy theorists, including Rep. Paul Gosar, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.

In the wake of Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in Arizona last year, the state GOP has censured Republicans who have spoken out against Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, while support for the partisan audit of Maricopa County’s election has become a litmus test for candidates in GOP primaries for governor and Senate.

On Wednesday, Lake’s campaign held what it called an “election integrity” rally to commemorate the anniversary of the 2020 election, which she falsely promotes as the “Big Steal” in event flyers.

CNN reached out to Lake’s campaign for comment multiple times but did not receive a response.

Lake posed for a photo last month with Ron Watkins, a MAGA conspiracy theorist who helped spread and amplify the violent far-right QAnon conspiracy across social media.

Watkins, who is running for Congress in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, wrote in the post, “Just had dinner with Kari Lake, the next Governor of Arizona. She inspires me with her tenacity and willingness to lead the fight to take back Arizona from do-nothing RINOs.”

At a Back the Blue campaign event in early October, Lake’s campaign invited right-wing activist Mary Ann Mendoza, who lost her police officer son in a crash involving an undocumented immigrant, to speak.

Last year, Mendoza promoted a QAnon-laced conspiracy theory tweet thread that baselessly alleged Jews were plotting to take over the world, causing the Republican National Convention to abruptly drop her from its speaking lineup.

Lake also appeared at events with at least two Republicans who have run or are running for Congress and have engaged with the QAnon conspiracy theory, Josh Barnett and Daniel Wood.

Barnett, who is running in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, previously shared numerous QAnon hashtags on his social media platforms (including the innocuous-looking #savethechildren). Although he has since distanced himself from the conspiracy theory, he has become active in pushing for Arizona’s sham election audit.

Some Arizona Republicans embrace election conspiracies as they bow to Trump

Lake has praised Barnett on social media as “an American hero” and “patriot” who “deserves so much credit for making sure the debacle election of 2020 was investigated. The forensic audit would not have happened without you.”

There was no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election and the sham audit confirmed that Biden had defeated Trump in Maricopa County.

While speaking at a Q&A in October, Lake praised Barnett, who sat in the audience, for assisting with that audit.

“We have some people like Josh, in here,…