OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has broken her silence after police responded to “suspicious” items that were mailed to her campaign headquarters over the weekend. In response to questions from reporters, the former Phoenix-area newscaster said that some staffers were exposed to a white powdery substance before police and the FBI were summoned.
“I have been so busy campaigning. This happened. I was not in the office. One of our wonderful staffers, a couple of them, were actually exposed,” Lake said following a campaign event in Queen Creek, Fox News Digital reported. “And so far, they’re doing okay. We’re monitoring them, and we want to make sure that everything’s okay.”
She went on to say that initially, the substance was to be sent to an FBI lab in Quantico, Va., but was rerouted to a closer facility instead.
“So we’re going to find out what it was,” she said, adding that the incident over the weekend was not the first time that her campaign was targeted.
“But listen, we’re in dangerous times,” she continued. “This is not the first time we’ve been threatened.
“I’ve been threatened many times. Our tires have been slashed. We’ve had screws drilled into our tires so that our tires would blow out while we’re on the road,” Lake added. “We are living in dangerous times, and that’s why we need to elect somebody who’s strong and a fighter and not a coward. We’ll get to the bottom of this. I really don’t want to get too far ahead of it.”
The Phoenix Police Department previously told the outlet that officers responded to a “found property call at an office building.”
“When officers arrived, they learned there were suspicious items located inside the mail,” Phoenix Police Sgt. Phil Krynsky said. “Additional resources responded to collect the items and secure the area. There have been no reports of injury and the investigation remains active.”
“Yesterday, one of Kari’s staffers opened up an envelope that had a suspicious white powder in it and had a letter in there with a bunch of vulgarities and ranting and raving about Kari,” a source close to the campaign told the UK’s Daily Mail.
“The employee then noticed a second package that was exactly like the first one she had opened, and she reported it,” the source said.
The FBI, a hazmat team, and a bomb squad responded to the scene and the FBI took the substance.
Fox News Digital noted further:
This comes as the latest instance of reported crimes targeting lawmakers, political candidates and their families in recent months.
New York GOP Rep. and gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin was attacked at a campaign event in July by a man wielding a sharp object, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul was hospitalized two weeks ago after a man who broke into their San Francisco home hit him with a hammer and Arizona Democrat gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs’ campaign headquarters in Phoenix was broken into last week.
Late last week, Lake made headlines again when she called out the Biden administration over the chaotic southwestern border, saying she would take action on her own to secure it.
“We have crime at a sky-high level in Arizona, fentanyl pouring across, and we are going to take charge of our own border. And I don’t care what the Arizona Repugnant says about it. I care what the people of Arizona say, and they say they want a secure border. They’re tired of the crime, and they’re tired of the fentanyl,” she told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” program.
“I got word down in Yuma County on Saturday night, three criminal smugglers came in, and one of them was shot and killed by Border Patrol. These men were armed with rifles. Apparently, they were shaking down illegal immigrants who were crossing the border and robbing them.”
Lake said on day one as governor, she plans to declare an official invasion at the southern border, arguing the Constitution grants states the right to protect themselves “when our federal government fails us.”
Lake also slammed her Democrat opponent Katie Hobbs and her “terrible ideas.”
“I don’t think Biden or anybody can throw her a lifeline. The people are rejecting her. They don’t like her policies. They realize she’s for open borders, and she’s going to try to turn us into California. And frankly, we’re not interested in that, doesn’t matter who comes in stumps for her.”
