President Donald Trump tweeted today he’s sending lawyers to expose “fraud†in Broward County as ballots continue to be counted ahead of a noon Saturday deadline for canvassing boards to submit unofficial results from Tuesday’s election.
“As soon as Democrats sent their best Election stealing lawyer, Marc Elias, to Broward County they miraculously started finding Democrat votes,†Trump tweeted. “Don’t worry, Florida — I am sending much better lawyers to expose the FRAUD!â€
Elias is an attorney for the campaign of Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who as of mid-day Friday trailed Republican Gov. Rick Scott by about 15,000 votes in their race for Nelson’s seat. Nearly 8.2 million votes were cast.
Earlier Friday, Trump also ridiculed the ongoing review of ballots. Republican leads have narrowed since Tuesday in the U.S. Senate race and a race for governor, while Democrat Nikki Fried has taken a slight lead over Republican Matt Caldwell in the race for state agriculture commissioner. All three races are expected to require recounts.
“You mean they are just now finding votes in Florida and Georgia — but the Election was on Tuesday?†Trump tweeted. “Let’s blame the Russians and demand an immediate apology from President Putin!â€
On Thursday night, Scott announced that his campaign has filed lawsuits against Broward and Palm Beach elections supervisors and that he asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to conduct an investigation in the counties. Scott’s campaign announced Friday that the National Republican Senatorial Committee has retained the Gibson Dunn law firm on behalf of the campaign.
“They are a preeminent litigation powerhouse that are veterans of Bush v. Gore. Firm partners include former solicitor general Ted Olson who successfully argued Bush v. Gore,†Scott’s campaign tweeted. The hiring came after Scott derided Nelson for hiring Elias as “one of Hillary Clinton’s lawyers from D.C.â€
In a call with reporters on Friday, Elias jokingly thanked Scott for the free publicity.
State Sen. Greg Steube, a Sarasota Republican elected to Congress on Tuesday, urged the U.S. Justice Department to oversee the recounts.
“Some of our election officials have demonstrated that they are incapable of properly doing the job they were elected to do. Floridians have a right to be skeptical of the recount process if it is monitored by the very people responsible for this delay,” Steube said in a statement.
Matt Caldwell, who has seen his lead in the Agriculture Commissioner race vanish, unleashed criticism of Snipes yesterday.
“We have watched Brenda Snipes and the Broward supervisor of elections demonstrate gross incompetence and potential corruption election cycle after election cycle,†said Caldwell, who had declared victory Tuesday night. “Over the past two days, Snipes’ office has refused to give either an accurate count of outstanding ballots or where they come from, all while the Democratic candidates continue to pick up tens of thousands of new votes. Ms. Snipes’ office has a record of incompetence and illegal behavior.â€
The Tampa Bay Times has reported, “FDLE spokeswoman says the Department of State has not received any allegations of voter fraud, and that Gov. Rick Scott did not put his request in writing.â€
source: The News Service of Florida