With the gubernatorial election in Virginia neck and neck, and momentum clearly on the side of Republican Glenn Youngkin (some polls even show him ahead), Terry McAuliffe’s campaign apparently has a contingency plan in place in the event of McAuliffe’s defeat. The campaign has hired attorney Marc Elias, well-known for mounting legal challenges to elections, and has already spent nearly $60,000 for his services.
Elias was previously a partner at Perkins Coie, the controversial law firm hired by the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. Elias was responsible for hiring Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research on Donald Trump. Elias said he started his own firm, The Elias Law Group, because “our democracy is at risk and it is the most effective way for me to fight back.”
When Fox News reporter (and former PJ Media editor) Tyler O’Neil reached out to the campaign for comment about hiring Elias, McAuliffe’s spokeswoman, Christina Freundlich, accidentally included O’Neil in a message to campaign colleagues, in which she asked, “Can we try to kill this.”
Freundlich must have quickly been alerted to her mistake because she eventually sent another message to clarify.
“To dispute the challenges of the election,” she said.
Despite her egregious error, Freundlich has tried to publicly shrug off the controversy she caused as much ado about nothing. “I think it’s clear based on this story that we did in fact…kill the story,” she claimed.
I think it’s clear based on this story that we did in fact…kill the story https://t.co/rRCEzAL0Kj
— Christina Freundlich (@christinafreund) October 29, 2021
McAuliffe’s apparent efforts to challenge the election results if he loses is hardly shocking. He recently claimed that Stacey Abrams was the legitimate winner of the 2018 gubernatorial election because 1.4 million Georgia voters were disenfranchised before that election. McAuliffe also maintains that George W. Bush stole the 2000 presidential election from Al Gore.
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