Former Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) who is once more running for governor after holding the position from 2014-2018, loves to discuss former President Donald Trump. McAuliffe often seeks to tie Youngkin to Trump, including and especially when it comes to the 2020 election. However, McAuliffe is the one doing what he accuses Youngkin of doing, and continues to do so when it comes to the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.
WATCH: Terry McAuliffe refuses to say George W. Bush was legitimately elected president and defends his claims that the 2000 and 2004 elections were stolen. #VAgov #VAGovRoundtable #BigLie pic.twitter.com/4wQe5SOkkF
— Glenn Youngkin (@GlennYoungkin) October 7, 2021
The question was as straightforward as you could get, with WAVY News 10 anchor Anita Blanton asking McAuliffe during a Thursday night interview: "was President George [W.] Bush legitimately elected?"
McAuliffe gave a mini history lesson about the U.S. Supreme Court's involvement in the 2000 election, before saying "yeah, he got sworn in, once you're sworn in we gotta move on," though he did have to be prompted by Blanton.
Further, McAuliffe did not move on after George W. Bush was sworn in. And he spun such a doubling down of not doing so, fixating on that Bush v. Gore case and pointing out that that was different from the 2020 election. "At the time, let's be very clear," McAuliffe ultimately said, "I wasn't running for governor... I was chairman of the Democratic National Committee at the time," he laughed. It was in such a role that McAuliffe has made such claims about the 2000 election.
The hypocrisy never ends with Terry McAuliffe.
— Team Youngkin (@TeamYoungkin) July 28, 2021
In 2001, the first thing McAuliffe did as DNC chairman was challenge the legitimacy of the president, claim the election was stolen AND accuse the Supreme Court of “tampering” with the results.
Roll tape: pic.twitter.com/Rqv5uInsaB
Townhall has covered McAuliffe's take on the 2000 election, as well as Youngkin acknowledging that President Joe Biden is the legitimate president. Youngkin has told Guy as much on "The Guy Benson Show" and FOX Business' Maria Bartiromo.
Youngkin has made election integrity a priority of his campaign, which McAuliffe has equated with claims that results of the 2020 presidential election were not legitimate.
Blanton had also brought up ads McAuliffe released on the issue. In one shared to McAuliffe's Twitter account on Wednesday, a narrator claims that Youngkin was "putting Trump's agenda first."
Brandon Jarvis reported on the ad for VA Scope, also including a statement from McAuliffe:
“At a time when Virginians are worried about good jobs, a quality education, and the rising costs of health care, Glenn has called his Trumpian election integrity plan the ‘most important issue,’” McAuliffe said in a statement Wednesday. “He refuses to let go of Trump’s 2020 election conspiracy theories. This behavior is dangerous and it’s disqualifying.”
A narrator from a McAuliffe ad released over the summer also claimed that "for Youngkin, the most important issue isn’t jobs, it’s repeating Donald Trump’s lies."
McAuliffe has brought up Trump so much, in fact, that, as Matt reported, even CNN's Erin Burnett pushed him back on it during an interview last week. McAuliffe raised his voice to her while pushing back, and then unceremoniously and awkwardly lost the connection. "Come on," he kept raging, denying her point after Burnett asked "are you wrong to be calling him wannabe Trump," pointing out that "I mean, he is going against Trump on -- on election and certification."
McAuliffe has touted the backing of fellow election denier, Stacey Abrams. Townhall covered such involvement over the summer, and their cozy involvement continues to this day. McAuliffe was all too happy to tweet an ad in which "Stacey Abrams Takes on Glenn Youngkin's Big Lie."
Her comments came from a discussion she had with MSNBC's Chris Hayes on Wednesday.
McAuliffe tweeted along with the ad that "Folks, couldn’t have said it better myself," specifically that "Glenn Youngkin is 'willfully participating in the subversion of our democracy.'"