This dropped into the inbox a little bit ago and we couldn’t resist sharing it. It’s a “fact-check” from the DNC War Room calling Jill Stein, the Greens Party candidate who could pull votes away from Kamala Harris in a few key states where the Democrats haven’t been able to bar her from ballot access, a liar for accepting Republican help.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 1, 2024

FACT CHECK: Jill Stein’s Spoiler Campaign Is Propped Up By Republicans

Spoiler candidate Jill Stein today denied that her campaign is being propped up by Republican consultants and lawyers. Stein said, “We do not accept Republican help. Where we have been made offers of help, we do not respond.” 

Stein is lying. Her campaign has hired a Republican consulting firm to help her get on the ballot, and in a recent court case in Nevada, she was represented by Trump’s former personal attorney.

In response, DNC Senior Advisor Adrienne Watson released the following statement: 

“Once again, Jill Stein isn’t telling the truth. But the facts don’t lie. Stein is working hand in hand with Republican consultants and even Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer. It’s clear that Republicans are elevating Stein in an attempt to help Trump win. This will be a close election and the only way to stop Donald Trump is by voting for Vice President Harris.”

Jill Stein Hired Republicans to Prop Up Her Candidacy:

GOP lawyers and operatives have helped Stein’s campaign with ballot access litigation — including Trump’s former personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow, and an attorney involved in a lawsuit trying to overturn the 2020 election, Michael Dean. 

Wall Street Journal: “Former Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow, who worked on the defense team in one of the former president’s impeachments, was among those representing the Green Party in efforts to get Stein back on the Nevada ballot…”

Forbes: “[Sekulow] has long aligned himself with former President Donald Trump and worked as his personal lawyer when he was in the White House, including representing the then-president during his 2020 impeachment trial and in the Mueller investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign.”

Wisconsin Examiner: “The Green Party was represented [in Wisconsin] by Brookfield attorney Michael Dean, who regularly works with Wisconsin Republicans.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “[Dean] has long been involved in conservative legal fights and last year was part of a lawsuit that claimed without evidence that voting machines were hacked by foreigners.”

GOP operatives and consulting firms — including one operated by someone who attended the January 6 attacks on the Capitol — helped Jill Stein with signature collection to gain ballot access. 

Wall Street Journal: “Federal Election Commission records show Stein paid $100,000 in July to a consulting outfit that has worked with Republican campaigns, as well as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential bid. The [ballot access] firm, Accelevate, is operated by Trent Pool. The Intercept reported that he appeared to be part of the mob that breached the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.”

Associated Press: “Jefferson Thomas, a longtime Republican operative from Colorado, submitted petition signatures that his firm, The Synapse Group, gathered on behalf of Stein in New Hampshire, records show.”

Jill Stein Has Previously Embraced Republican Assistance:

Jill Stein and her campaign said she saw “no issue” joining forces with Republicans and would “take the help.” 

Wall Street Journal: “Stein, who used to practice internal medicine, told the Journal she saw no issue joining forces with Republicans […]. All that is beside the point, according to Stein.”

CBS News: “‘We’re going to take the help that’s available to us,’ said Jason Call, Jill Stein’s campaign manager… ‘We understand that Republicans are going to want to help us for their own reasons…’”

Jason Call, @CallForCongress: “A lawyer stepped up to take the case. They are Republicans. You know what? I do not give a fuck.”

Republicans Praise Jill Stein’s Candidacy:

Trump praised Jill Stein’s spoiler candidacy for years, saying he likes her “very much” because “she takes 100% from them.”

Donald Trump at Pennsylvania Rally in June: “Cornel West, he’s one of my favorite candidates. Cornel West and I like her also, Jill Stein, I like her very much. You know why? She takes 100% from them. He takes 100%.”

Washington Examiner: “‘Crooked Hillary Clinton just called the respected environmentalist and Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, a “Russian Asset.” They need a Green Party more than ever after looking at the Democrats disastrous environmental program!’ Trump said.”

Steve Bannon admitted that “the path to victory here is clearly maximizing the reach of these left-wing alternatives,” adding, “the more exposure these guys get, the better it is for us.”

New York Times: ​​“In the multicandidate race, Mr. Trump led by a single percentage point; Mr. Biden led Mr. Trump by three percentage points in a hypothetical head-to-head race. ‘The path to victory here is clearly maximizing the reach of these left-wing alternatives,’ said Stephen K. Bannon, the former White House chief strategist who also served as Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman in 2016. ‘No Republican knows that oil production under Biden is higher than ever. But Jill Stein’s people do,’ added Mr. Bannon. ‘Stein is furious about the oil drilling. The college kids are furious about it. The more exposure these guys get, the better it is for us.’”

MAGA activist and GOP operative Scott Presler said it was his goal to gain ballot access for Stein in Pennsylvania.

New York Times: “Other Trump supporters are trying to help third-party and independent candidates with the expensive and arduous process of gathering the signatures needed to get on state ballots. Scott Presler, the conservative activist whom Lara Trump said she wanted as an early hire at the Republican National Committee, publicly reached out on social media to Ms. Stein and Cornel West, a left-wing academic who is running for president as an independent, to offer his help in collecting signatures to get them on the ballot.”

How rich is this?

First of all, of course they’re right. Stein is lying through her teeth. She’s taking all the Republican help she can get, and rightly so.

After all, Lenin didn’t get home to Russia to start the revolution without help from the Germans, and no Bolsheviks were particularly conflicted about that.

And let’s not pretend the Democrats didn’t, for example, prop up Chase Oliver as a third-party Senate candidate in Georgia in 2022. Oliver’s two percent and change in the general election, which forced a runoff that Herschel Walker ended up losing, cost Republicans a Senate seat they would have otherwise won.

Democrats meddle in Republican primaries constantly. They find minor candidates who’ll pull Republican votes off the GOP nominee every chance they get.

And now they’re upset Jill Stein hired a Republican consulting firm?

Cry me a river.

Here’s hoping Stein is famously successful, and that she manages to siphon off two or three or four percent from Kamala Harris in November. Then the DNC can REALLY bitch and moan about her.