Days after midterm voting, as ballots are still being counted, Republican lawmakers who are holding on to tight leads in midterm states are alleging foul play and voter fraud. The claims were amplified by President Trump, without evidence, on Friday morning.
“You mean they are just now finding votes in Florida and Georgia — but the Election was on Tuesday?” he wrote in a tweet. “Let’s blame the Russians and demand an immediate apology from President Putin!”
Prominent Republicans push baseless conspiracy theories about Florida Senate election
Scott is not taking this development well — and neither are other prominent Republicans, including President Donald Trump, who are blaming a vast conspiracy involving Hillary Clinton’s lawyer for the narrowing vote tally.
Thursday evening, Scott held a news conference calling for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate elections officials in Broward and Palm Beach counties, and announced he had filed a lawsuit against top election officials in each of them.
FDLE is not investigating Broward elections — because Gov. Scott didn’t order it
An alert calling reporters to a Thursday night announcement came from Scott’s Senate campaign, not his state office. The place: the official state residence, a taxpayer-funded site traditionally off-limits to all partisan political activity.
But it was clearly Governor Rick Scott who moments later asked the state law enforcement agency under his control to investigate Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes’ operation, though he did not offer additional specifics.