Democrat candidate Terry McAuliffe has officially gone into panic mode ahead of next week’s election.

According to new reports from Fox News, McAuliffe’s campaign spent $53,680 with Elias Law Group less than a month before the election. However, it was when Fox News reached out to McAuliffe campaign for comment was when the story got bizarre. Spokesperson Christina Freundlich responded to the email meant for colleagues.

“Can we try to kill this,” Freundlich wrote.

Fox News reports:

“To dispute the challenges of the election,” she clarified, ostensibly responding to an email that did not go through to Fox News.

Elias had formerly worked as a partner at the law firm Perkins Coie, which the Hillary Clinton campaign hired in 2016 in order to conduct opposition research on Donald Trump – research that included the infamous Christopher Steele dossier. Republicans have accused Elias of lying to hide the Clinton campaign’s role in funding the dossier.

Elias has represented Democrats in efforts to contest elections. Going into the 2020 election, he represented Democrats challenging a Texas law barring “straight-ticket voting.”

House Republicans accused Elias of having a “serious conflict of interest” when he represented Iowa Democratic candidate Rita Hart in her effort to overturn the results of her extremely narrow loss to Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks. GOP members House Administration Committee said that Elias had a conflict because he and Perkins Coie – where he still worked at the time – also represented half of the Democratic committee members who would be deciding the case.

George Washington University Law professors Johnathan Turley remarked how shocking McAuliffe’s move was.

“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,” Turley said.