Ronna McDaniel lashes out at Kari Lake, fights to retain RNC chair amid challenges

"You look at Arizona, you've had the state party at war with the governor in that state for four years. The two candidates for governor, one wouldn't endorse the other. You had one candidate saying 'if you're a McCain voter, get the hell out of my rallies' and then the McCain voters said 'yeah, I'm not going to vote for you,'" McDaniel said.

CNN reported in November that Lake said at a rally, "We don’t have any McCain Republicans in here, do we? Alright, get the hell out."

After the November midterms proved disappointing for the GOP who were expecting a "red wave," many in the Republicans have called for new leadership at the RNC, saying that it was McDaniel's leadership that was in many ways ot blame for the lack of that red wave materializing.

Attorney Harmeet Dhillon and MyPillow founder Mike Lindell have both announced challenges to McDaniel and former New York Republican candidate for governor Lee Zeldin, has said he could potentially run.

Early in the interview Schmitt said, "it's tough to hear criticism about yourself." to which McDaniel replied: "I have broad support among the RNC, that people will actually know what the RNC does."

She later said there was a lot of "misinformation out there about the RNC." Calling reasonable criticism misinformation is a tactic that has been used by many in power over the past few years to squash dissent and discredit their political opponets.

McDaniel's comment about Lake comes as the former GOP gubernatorial candidate has raised a post-midterm election lawsuit against Democrat Governor-elect Katie Hobbs. Lake's suit alleges illegal votes affected Arizona's governor's race. A ruling is pending in that case.

The RNC chairmanship is set to be decided at the group's annual winter meeting, where the committee’s 168 members will meet in Dana Point, California in late January.