WHOOPS! Reporter asked McAuliffe spox for email comment on Jonathan Turley's take, then it got awkward

Doug P. | 10:05 PM on October 28, 2021

As we told you Thursday evening, a new Fox News poll is showing Republican Glenn Youngkin with an 8-point lead among likely voters ahead of Tuesday’s gubernatorial election in Virginia. We’ll find out how accurate that is in just a few days.

Along those lines, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley made some comments about who the McAuliffe campaign seems to be bringing on board:

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

…There are a host of election lawyers but McAuliffe selected an attorney accused of lying to the media, advancing rejected conspiracy theories, and currently involved in a major federal investigation that has already led to the indictment of his former partner.

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) October 28, 2021

A Fox News reporter then contacted the McAuliffe campaign asking for comment on Turley’s remarks on the hiring of Elias. Apparently the Fox News reporter was accidentally included in a reply meant for other McAuliffe staffers:

Fox News reporter: "I am writing a story about the report that McAuliffe hired Marc Elias, potentially to challenge the election results […]"

McAuliffe spoksperson: "Can we try to kill this" pic.twitter.com/buSINd4wRn

— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) October 29, 2021

EXCLUSIVE: Team @TerryMcAuliffe emails reveal effort to "kill this" @FoxNews story. The campaign did not take kindly to questions about @JonathanTurley's suggestion that hiring Marc Elias suggests McAuliffe might plan to challenge the election results.https://t.co/HVQyLT2ofQ

— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) October 28, 2021

Oops!

“When Fox News sent the campaign a request for comment, the McAuliffe campaign scrambled to "kill" the story, according to emails mistakenly sent to Fox News.”https://t.co/IWIsL7kw24

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 29, 2021

However, McAuliffe spox Christina Freundlich had this to say:

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

Oh.

Wait, what?

But here we are

— Andy Lancaster (@andylancaster) October 29, 2021

I think it's clear, based on your tweet, that you did not, in fact, kill the story.

— Whatevs (@j035ich5pach) October 29, 2021

you literally just confirmed the story, christina https://t.co/qftWFOqngC

— kaitlin (@thefactualprep) October 29, 2021

Seems like Christina might have a different definition for “killing a story.” https://t.co/CievhA6bL2

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) October 29, 2021