The race for Virginia Governor, between Terry McAuliffe and Glenn Youngkin, has been rife with drama and new stories for the past several weeks. Such as the Loudon County Schoolboard being accused of hiding sexual assaults in an effort to keep parents supportive of their transgender student policies.
Both candidates promised that they would accept the state certified results of the vote. The Washington Times quoted both candidates during a debate back in September of this year. Youngkin, when asked about his opponent winning, was quoted as saying “Absolutely, but I don’t expect that to be the case.” When the question of accepting results was turned to McAuliffe he said, “Sure, absolutely. But we’re gonna win.”
Then legal analyst Jonathan Turley dropped the following tweet…
McAuliffe may be preparing to challenge any win by Republican Glenn Youngkin. He has given $53,680 to the Elias Law Group. McAuliffe does not appear disturbed by Elias’ highly controversial career or his possible exposure in the Durham investigation…https://t.co/Gb6YzAJmBo
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) October 28, 2021
So, on October 28th, 2021 at 4:41 PM, a journalist from Fox News attempted to reach out to Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe’s campaign team. The journalist, Tyler O’Neil was attempting to confirm whether or not McAuliffe had hired a lawyer with the intent to challenge the race should his opponent, Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin be declared the winner as stated by Turley.
The email wasn’t very long. It said, “This is Tyler O’Neil at Fox News. I am writing a story about the report that McAuliffe hired Marc Elias, potentially to challenge the election results. Would the campaign explain the purpose of the hiring? Would the campaign counter Jonathan Turley’s suggestion that McAuliffe may be planning to contest the election?”
Christina Freundlich responded back on the same day at 4:49 PM, “Can we try to kill this”.
O’Neil believed that the email was not at all intended for him or for Fox. Freundlich sent a response that again, wasn’t meant for him or his employer and it stated, “To dispute the challenges of the election.”
There was never an official statement made by the campaign to Fox News or Tyler O’Neil.
The tweet below references more information on what Turley had tweeted about and what O’Neil was trying to get confirmed when it came to the hiring of the expensive, nearly $60,000, high-profile attorney. What could McAuliffe want with the lawyer? Why spend so much money? Why say he would accept the results if he planned to challenge them?
Both Turley and @GlennYoungkin‘s campaign have suggested that McAuliffe’s claims about @staceyabrams, @BrianKempGA, and the 2018 election suggest McAuliffe might be considering a post-election challenge. https://t.co/sllyOESEjt
— Tyler O’Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) October 28, 2021
The story could have died away and been left to only a few, but Christina Freundlich appeared to try to save face by stating she felt it was clear that she’d managed to kill the story.
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
However, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and a few others pointed out the obvious; that she had in fact made it far worse and helped the story gain it’s own traction.
please kill again https://t.co/haEf5TqutU
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 29, 2021
I killed the story that I am talking about and everyone is currently reading about.
Just top notch stuff there.
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) October 29, 2021
You didn’t kill the story, Christina. You created a new one. #PR101 https://t.co/G5znIBA4xf
— Beth Baumann (@eb454) October 29, 2021
I’m not so sure you understand what “kill the story” really means, especially since even you are still talking about it. https://t.co/K7yo6w910b
— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) October 29, 2021
“I think it’s clear based on this story that we did in fact…kill the story”
Clearly someone has lost a mind! pic.twitter.com/PV3QAWCQOE— Russell Davis (@keith_davis11) October 29, 2021
Some of this panic by McAuliffe may come from several struggles including a Fox News Poll that was released on October 28, 2021 that indicated Youngkin was leading at 53% and that McAuliffe was sitting at 45%. It is important to note that during the California Recall vote for Governor Newsom vs. Larry Elder, the Republican candidate had also been leading the polls before a surge of votes came in. Newsom was subsequently declared the winner.
This story syndicated with permission from For the Love of News