AZ Senate Opponent Gallego Tries to Weaponize Court Unsealing His Divorce Papers vs. Kari Lake

When the news dropped on Wednesday we didn't know exactly what would be revealed when an Arizona court unsealed the divorce papers of Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who is running against Kari Lake for the U.S. Senate. One thing isn't a huge surprise: the Democrat's reaction to it.

On Thursday morning, the Washington Free Beacon won its 10-month legal fight against Gallego and his former wife, Kate Gallego, who is the current mayor of Phoenix:

Oh my god.

‘Likely To Give Birth Any Day’: Ruben Gallego Served Pregnant Wife With Divorce Papers. She Was Blindsided. https://t.co/JEB6epQTk2
— Mike Berg (@MikeKBerg) October 17, 2024

The Free Beacon writes:

On Dec. 15, 2016, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D., Ariz.) filed for divorce from his wife, Kate Gallego, then a Phoenix city councilwoman. He filed a motion to seal the case file on the same day.
That seal was lifted on Thursday after a 10-month court battle between the Gallegos and the Washington Free Beacon, in which the Free Beacon prevailed in the Yavapai County Superior Court, the Arizona Court of Appeals, and, finally, on Wednesday evening, at the Arizona Supreme Court, which rejected a last-ditch effort from the couple to keep the records under wraps.
It was Ruben Gallego who moved to seal the record back in 2016. In his memorandum making the case to the court, he noted that Kate Gallego had "not yet been served" with divorce papers, nor had "her attorney entered an appearance" in the case, but that she was "likely to give birth any day."

Gallego wrote in the filing that his and Kate's "marriage is irretrievably broken" and that "there is no reasonable prospect of reconciliation," something that Mrs. Gallego vociferously pushed back on. As the Free Beacon suggests, the divorce appears to have been initiated from one side only--Ruben Gallego's:

When she responded to her husband’s filing in February of 2017, she said she was "without knowledge of information sufficient to form a belief" about her husband’s claim that the marriage was broken beyond repair—and she denied the allegation.

The newly released papers also show that Ruben petitioned the court to force his wife to pay his attorney's fees. Anyway, the report continues:

Though divorce records are public in Arizona, Gallego argued that this case should be treated differently because "each party is a high profile public official" and the "case will likely receive intense scrutiny from the media."
The divorce was finalized in April 2017, with both parties stipulating that "there was no domestic violence in the marriage" or that "significant domestic violence did not occur."
...
Throughout the legal proceedings this year, the Gallegos maintained they were pressing to keep the records sealed in order to protect their young son. The partially unredacted file released on Thursday contains no personal information about the child.

Guess how a judge who previously was overseeing the case chose to characterize the unsealed filing? Briefly: Ho hum:

Court releases Ariz Dem Senate candidate Ruben Gallego divorce docs that GOP opponent Kari Lake had hyped as damaging.

Judge in case: “One of the most garden variety divorce files I have ever seen.”

Details from NPR below: pic.twitter.com/uC1jhTfVri
— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) October 17, 2024

It must be nice to be a Democrat. And what's Lake Senate election foe Ruben Gallego's reaction? Unsurprisingly, his campaign tried to pre-seed the ground on Wednesday, underlining the judge's personal characterization that absolves Ruben while weaponizing it all against Lake:

In a separate interview with KTAR Wednesday, Ruben Gallego reiterated his view that they wanted the record sealed to protect their son.
“The judge who actually is overseeing this has said this is one of the most boring, boring divorce procedures. The reason Kate and I have tried to keep as much confidential is not for us; it’s for our son, Michael,” he said.
Gallego said Lake has attacked the family of the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; the family of Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer had to get bodyguards because of her attacks; and Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates is stepping down because of election-denier harassment that has left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“This is who we are trying to protect our son from, because she will do anything, she will say anything and hurt anybody just to get power,” he said.

That's right; Gallego is trying to use it to falsely accuse Kari Lake of having a hand in the documents' revelation--and inciting threats of violence. This, when it was the Free Beacon's investigation and lawsuit, not Lake's. Can someone be more dishonest?

Anything relating to their son has been redacted, so it smacks of elitist privilege for them to try to keep this private. Anyway, the voters have a right to the information, as we're a week into early voting in Arizona.

Neither Ruben nor Kate Gallego (whose name is also on the ballot to retain her seat in Nov.) deserves special treatment.

Lake's campaign released a statement after the records were unsealed:

📥INBOX: Statement on Unsealed Gallego Divorce Records

READ MORE: https://t.co/qaHcraJ1jV #AZSen @CarolineWren @KariLakeWarRoom pic.twitter.com/H11wYsmN1A
— Alex Nicoll (@realalexnicoll) October 17, 2024

This might be a little easier to read--Lake advisor Caroline Wren's statement is broken out separately here:

How did Ruben Gallego respond to the horrific details about how he served his unsuspecting wife with divorce papers days before she gave birth?

He demanded Kari Lake apologize!

Our statement on the shocking revalations from Gallego’s unsealed divorce records ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/3iK8QNTRro
— Caroline Wren (@CarolineWren) October 17, 2024

Exactly. His determination to weaponize the whole situation as a political cudgel one week into early voting in the Copper State is no surprise. It's shameless, and says more about him than anything else.

The polls are trending slightly toward Lake, as we come to the last frame of the general election. At the time of this writing, the Real Clear Politics average (9/24 - 10/13) has Gallego leading Lake by 6.4 points, after holding a 7.8-point lead on Oct. 6. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump continues to lead Vice President Kamala Harris in the RCP average for Arizona. We'll keep you posted over the next two weeks.

"The Great One," Mark Levin succinctly sums it up: