Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein pushed back against an assertion from “Fox News Sunday” Host Chris Wallace that she is spearheading a recount in three key states to expand her donor base.
“This money is going strictly to a segregated account which can only be spent on the recount,” said Stein, pursuing recounts in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, all of which President-elect Trump narrowly won.
Wallace noted that Stein only garnered about $3.5 million for the 2016 election, but for the recount has received more than $6 million from 145,000 donors.
“The fact that you have 145,000 donors is purely coincidental?” Wallace asked.
Stein said that she is not pursuing the recount to benefit herself or Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, despite the fact she is not contesting results in states that Clinton narrowly won.
“This is a time where people have an entire loss of faith in our political institution,” she said. “The way money is coming in from small donors makes it very clear.”
Stein’s efforts to get recounts in the three states has been bumpy.
She raged against the “exorbitant” $1 million bond needed to finance a statewide recount, after the Green Party announced late Saturday it was dropping the state-level case and would instead pursue an emergency federal court order.
“The judge’s outrageous demand PA voters pay such an exorbitant figure is a shameful, unacceptable barrier to democratic participation,” Stein tweeted Sunday morning.
The judge’s outrageous demand PA voters pay such an exorbitant figure is a shameful, unacceptable barrier to democratic participation.
— Dr. Jill Stein? (@DrJillStein) December 4, 2016
One recount still continues in Wisconsin and another may happen in Michigan, but without overturning the Pennsylvania results, Trump’s Electoral College total is still a win and he will in all likelihood be sworn in as president.
