Clinton Campaign Joins Jill Stein's Recount Efforts

Jill Stein's recount efforts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania just got a major new supporter: the Clinton campaign. NBC News reports the campaign announced Saturday it will participate in the recount in Wisconsin and possible recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania to make sure the process is "fair" for everyone. "We certainly understand the heartbreak felt by so many who worked so hard to elect Hillary Clinton, and it is a fundamental principle of our democracy to ensure that every vote is properly counted," campaign lawyer Marc Elias says in a post on Medium. The campaign was spurred to get involved in the recount partly based on reports that Russians hacked the DNC, tried to hack voter registration databases, and spread fake news about the election, according to the Washington Post.

But that doesn't mean the Clinton campaign expects anything to change. Elias says they've had experts combing over the results for weeks and haven't found any "evidence of manipulation." And he notes that even in the closest of the three states, Michigan, Trump's lead "well exceeds the largest margin ever overcome in a recount." He adds that the Clinton campaign didn't initiate the recount efforts itself and had absolutely no plans to do so but now must monitor them "on principle." Clinton spokesperson Brian Fallon denies that Elias' post means the campaign isn't accepting the results of the election. "We see no evidence of tampering so far," he tells the Post. "Not sure what you could point to to suggest there is anything here that calls the results into question." (More recount stories.)