(The Hill) — Arizona gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake defended widely criticized comments she recently made that appeared to joke about the recent attack on the husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying she “never made light” of the incident.
Lake also told The Daily Mail that her comments were taken out of context by the “fake news media” and blamed it on “creative editing.”
“I never made light of the attack,” she said. “I was talking about our children and why they don’t have better security. And I said that our politicians have security and that our athletes have security and we need to have security.
“Go back and look at the tape and don’t do any creative editing, like the fake media tends to do, and you’ll see what I was saying,” the GOP candidate told the tabloid.
Last week, Lake referenced “Nancy Pelosi” during a campaign stop shortly after news of the attack broke.
“Well, she’s got protection when she’s in D.C. Apparently her house doesn’t have a lot of protection,” the Arizona governor candidate said, prompting laughter and applause from the crowd.
Paul Pelosi was attacked early Friday morning in his San Francisco, Calif., home by David DePape, who allegedly wanted to kidnap Nancy Pelosi and break her kneecaps.
When police arrived, DePape and Paul Pelosi were tussling over a hammer before DePape allegedly struck Pelosi on the head with the weapon.
DePape faces state and federal charges for the attack. Paul Pelosi has recovered after undergoing successful surgery for a skull fracture.
Several Republicans, including Donald Trump Jr., have mocked the attack, while other conservatives have aired unfounded conspiracy theories about the incident.
