Elizabeth Warren's campaign treasurer Paul Egerman is a Jill Stein donor, according to federal election records.
Egerman's maxed-out $2,700 contribution to Stein, who has been blamed for costing Democrats the 2016 presidential election, came on Nov. 23, weeks after Hillary Clinton's defeat. His wife contributed an additional $1,500 the same day. Stein at the time was raising millions of dollars by pushing theories, without any evidence, that voting machines in key states were hacked, capitalizing on voters in disbelief over the election results who wanted a recount.
Neither Egerman nor the Warren campaign responded to requests for comment on the contribution.
Stein managed to raise more than $7 million for her recount, far more than she was able to raise during the entirety of her actual campaign. The recount effort came to an end less than a month later, however, long before Stein was able to spend the funds. Most of the money Stein raised ended up going toward her campaign's own expenses.
The fate of the recount fund was no surprise. Stein herself, in a fundraising message sent the day after Egerman's contribution, said she had no way to guarantee contributions would go toward a recount.
"We cannot guarantee a recount will happen in any of these states we are targeting," Stein wrote. "We can only pledge we will demand recounts in those states."
The Washington Post's Dave Weigel wrote that Stein's recount was based on "theories ranging from sketchy to debunked." Election officials in both Michigan and Wisconsin, two of the states Stein was targeting, insisted there was zero evidence of wrongdoing.
Stein initially estimated the cost of a recount push would be $2 million. Once the donations began flying in, she raised her fundraising goal to $7 million. According to Stein's campaign website, less than $1 million of the funds remain.
Egerman's contribution to Stein was one of many the longtime political financier dished out in 2016. Though Warren has run a campaign that vilifies big money in politics, her campaign treasurer has been said to embody it—the Center for Public Integrity recently described Egerman as a "rainmaker for Democratic political committees and liberal causes."
Both Egerman and his wife contributed $2,700 to Clinton in 2016, and an additional $160,000 to the Hillary Victory Fund. Overall, the couple made just under $2 million in political contributions during the 2016 cycle, including $650,000 to liberal super PAC American Bridge 21st Century, more than $400,000 to Planned Parenthood Votes, and large contributions to Democratic candidates and committees across the country.
Warren was among the Democrats who attacked Stein in 2016, arguing the latter's candidacy made a Trump victory more likely.
"Anything you do that helps Donald Trump get one inch closer to the White House is a danger to all of us," Warren said in August 2016. She further said a vote for Stein "moves Donald Trump closer to the White House."
Stein shot back at Warren, accusing her of "attacking real progressives on behalf of a Wall Street-financed campaign."
Clinton last month accused Stein of being a "Russian asset," and suggested the Green Party candidate may run again in 2020 on behalf of Russia.