A campaign staffer for Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake once admitted to participating in a murder-for-hire plot against an FBI informant who was part of a heroin distribution case, according to reports.
Kenneth Ulibarri was hired by the Lake campaign to oversee Latino engagement, spokespeople for the candidate confirmed to Raw Story on Tuesday. It’s not clear if the campaign knew of Ulibarri’s past criminal record at the time of his hiring, and a spokesperson for Lake has not yet responded to a request for comment by the Washington Examiner.
MAJORITY OF VOTERS HAVE ELECTION DENIERS ON BALLOT FOR POSITIONS THAT OVERSEE ELECTIONS
The Justice Department charged Ulibarri in 2014 for allegedly attempting to murder an FBI informant to prevent the agent from testifying at a trial that accused Ulibarri and several others of cocaine distribution and money laundering. Ulibarri was also charged with distributing heroin, according to the DOJ.
However, Ulibarri later testified that he was not serious about his threats to kill the FBI informant, instead claiming he did it to make money.
“In May 2014, I met with a confidential source (CHS1) to discuss selling heroin to CHS1. In those meetings, I told CHS1 that I and some others were hiring a hitman to kill another confidential source (CHS2) for $20,000,” he wrote in his plea agreement. “The United States maintains that I made these statements with the intent of hiring a hitman to kill CHS2. However, I maintain that these statements … were false and that I made these statements about a hitman for the purpose of obtaining money. … Either way, I admit that the natural and probable effect of the statements I made was to interfere with, obstruct, or influence an official proceeding.”
Ulibarri ultimately pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and heroin distribution and was sentenced to prison, according to Raw Story.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Lake is set to face off against Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs for the governor’s seat in Arizona that is being vacated by Gov. Doug Ducey (R). The high-profile race has taken center stage as Lake has repeatedly rejected the results of the 2020 election, while Hobbs spent much of her campaign defending the state’s administration of the election, in which she had a crucial role as the secretary of state.
Arizona has been at the center of former President Donald Trump’s claims of voter fraud, with the state Senate spending months auditing the 2020 election in Maricopa County. Top officials in Maricopa County criticized the effort, stressing the report had “no new evidence” that would alter the result of 2020’s presidential election.
