The gubernatorial race in Arizona is becoming more of a sure thing for Republicans as Election Day gets closer. Katie Hobbs has run away from doing any kind of debate with Kari Lake, and in doing so, has seen her poll numbers start to drop in amazing fashion.
Which is why when the Hobbs campaign office in Phoenix was burglarized on Monday night, Katie Hobbs was anxious to make political hay out of the situation, and promptly put the blame on Lake and her campaign.
Statement from our campaign on tonight's news: pic.twitter.com/OLqPMa5pYt
— Katie Hobbs (@katiehobbs) October 27, 2022
Neither campaign or police have said what was stolen from the office.
Police responded to a commercial burglary call at the office in midtown Phoenix on Tuesday afternoon.”
“Information was learned that items were taken from the property sometime during the night,” a police statement said. “No suspects have been identified. This is still an active investigation with detectives checking all security cameras in attempts to identify and locate the subject involved.”
The campaign released photographs of a person it said was identified as the suspect by the Phoenix Police Department after police reviewed the surveillance footage. The images show a younger man wearing shorts, a short-sleeved T-shirt and a backpack.”
This was the photograph released by the campaign to the media.
Police are investigating a burglary at Katie Hobbs’ #Phoenix campaign office. Hobbs, the Democratic nominee, is in a close race against Republican Kari Lake for #Arizona governor. Hobbs' campaign released this surveillance picture. More details – https://t.co/3gmTTQW7yD. pic.twitter.com/qKYuJPc0yi
— Dan Marries (@DanMarriesKOLD) October 27, 2022
Well, Kari Lake was not going to take that accusation lying down.
“That is absolutely absurd. It sounds like a Jussie Smollett part two. You’re going to drag the people through something like this,” Lake said in response to a question from a CNN reporter following an event honoring first responders on Wednesday.”
“You’re letting a woman who has been running a terrible campaign direct you to a story like this? You know she is running a bad campaign,” Lake added.”
“I can’t believe she would blame my amazing people, blame me for something like that,” Lake said. “I don’t even know where her campaign office is. I’m assuming it’s in a basement somewhere because that’s where she’s been campaigning. You guys are despicable for falling into that trap.”
“I’m saddened that Hobbs and her camp would try to pin this on us. It’s defamatory and it’s wrong. Her own party is attacking her. She is trying to deflect her abysmal campaign,” she said.”
Fast-forward to today. An arrest was made by the Phoenix police, though we have zero information on who this person is as of yet. But hey, MSNBC got a reporter out there for a live shot!
Over to you, Katie Hobbs. Are you pleased that an arrest has been made? Can you give a statement to the media? Oh no, Katie Hobbs doesn’t want to talk about the break-in. Hmmmm.
Katie Hobbs when asked about the campaign office burglary & what items were taken/if there’s reason to believe it was politically motivated:
“I’m not talking about it.” https://t.co/VjGVeMaTvF pic.twitter.com/yNd2wCcoZN
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) October 27, 2022
Why doesn’t Katie Hobbs want to talk to the nice MSNBC reporter about the burglary at her campaign office? Well, Katie Hobbs doesn’t like talking about a lot of things (except abortion because it’s all she’s running on), as we all know from her refusal to actually debate Kari Lake.
What is more likely, but currently unknown because the Phoenix Police Department has only confirmed that they have arrested a suspect, is that this was not a political burglary. Let me put it this way: if a suspect was arrested, and Phoenix police identified the person as someone connected to the Lake campaign, don’t you think that Katie Hobbs would be SPRAYING that news all over Twitter and the media? After all, Kari Lake is busy tweeting out that this was “confirmed” to not be a politically motivated burglary. How does she know that? Has the Phoenix Police Department spoken to both campaigns?
Now, until the police actually identify the suspect who was arrested and what was stolen, all we are left with is guesses. Except for the fact that Katie Hobbs really, really, REALLY doesn’t want to talk about the burglary, even to a friendly reporter. Just how likely is it that the Hobbs campaign is about to end up with a lot of egg on its face? We are going to find out. And if this does end up being a random crime and not a political one, and Katie Hobbs and her campaign end up being utterly humiliated for casting aspersions on Kari Lake and her campaign, then I think it’s safe to wrap up this race and put a ribbon on it for Kari Lake.
UPDATE 10/28/2022 8:30 am PT:
Egg. Egg everywhere.
Daniel Mota Dos Reis was booked on one count of third-degree burglary, according to the department.”
On Wednesday night, a patrol officer saw a news story that included a surveillance image and recognized the man shown as a suspect who had been arrested earlier in the day in connection with a separate, unrelated commercial burglary, police said in a statement Thursday.”
“The officer researched the arrest and learned the suspect, 36-year-old Daniel Mota Dos Reis, was still in jail but would soon be released. The officer contacted the jail and was able to re-arrest Dos Reis,” according to the statement.”
While police did not mention a potential motive in their statement, an incident report obtained by CNN said Dos Reis told authorities he “just needed a place to stay for the night because he was cold,” although it’s unclear what incident he was addressing.”
CNN is working to identify an attorney for Dos Reis.”
An Apple computer mouse, Apple keyboard and a black Nikon camera were taken in the incident, according to the incident report. Police had earlier said in a statement that “items were taken from the property sometime during the night.”
Kari Lake and her campaign can expect that apology in approximately never from Hobbs and her crew.
Welcome Instapundit Readers!
Featured image: composite of Katie Hobbs (via Gage Skidmore on Flickr, cropped, CC BY-SA 2.0) and Kari Lake (via Gage Skidmore on Flickr, cropped, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Janna na Blanter says: It could turn out to be even worse as the released picture of the guy who looks like a nerd who would have read too many historical accounts of Watergate and thought to be “helpful” to Hobbs in bringing Lake down like Nixon.
jerm says: They found the guy: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/26/politics/headquarters-katie-hobbs-broken-into-arizona/index.html
Cameron says: I love how they can spit out fake accusations of death threats and the media will nod in approval and never challenger them.
Wfjag says: The perp was identified. He’s not being talked about in most of the media. He doesn’t meet the narrative – Immigrant from Angola who was arrested while being held by the police for another burglary near to the one of the Hobbs Campaign HQ (a policeman recognized him from the surveillance video and re-arrested him at the jail). Apparently, he’s to be freed (again?) pending trial (It might raise embarrassing questions – Why is a repeat perp released pending trial? So he can commit more till trial? There is no right to trial and the presumption of innocence applies at trial. Before trial, the presumption is that there was probable cause for the arrest. So, why is he being released so commit more crimes?).
askeptik says: He’s so thin, must be a Vegan…….since when do Vegan’s support Lake … inside job!
GWB says: I’m wondering if there’s work being done on Lake’s side for a defamation suit?
[…] down-ballot effect could really help the GOP. Kari Lake is running a strong race and Katie Hobbs is a cowardly candidate, and it looks like Republicans will be able to hold the governor’s mansion. And that is good […]
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