“The problem is not with President [Donald] Trump’s rhetoric. The problem is with the incompetence and the mischief at Broward County,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on “Face the Nation” on CBS Sunday morning.
The senator was responding to questions from host Margaret Brennan.
She had pointed to recent tweets by President Trump in which he suggested election officials in some embattled Florida counties may be committing voter fraud.
“Trying to STEAL two big elections in Florida!” the president tweeted Saturday.
“We are watching closely!”
Trying to STEAL two big elections in Florida! We are watching closely!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10, 2018
In a series of tweets on Friday, the president decried “The Broward Effect.”
He called the controversial situation in the southern Florida county “an embarrassment to our Country and Democracy.”
Mayor Gillum conceded on Election Day and now Broward County has put him “back into play.” Bill Nelson conceded Election – now he’s back in play!? This is an embarrassment to our Country and to Democracy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 9, 2018
“[Broward County election officials] … are in violation of the law,” Graham added, noting officials’ failure to report results within 30 minutes of the closing of the polls and the fact that 80,000 votes were counted days after the polls closed.
“[Bill Nelson] is clearly trying to commit fraud to win this election,” said outgoing Florida Gov. Rick Scott on “Fox News Sunday” on Sunday morning, adding his contention that incumbent Bill Nelson is a “sore loser.”
Scott ran for a Senate seat in the Sunshine State.
The Miami Herald had Scott’s lead at 30,162 on Wednesday morning — with 8.1 million votes cast.
His lead has now shrunk to 12,562, and a recount is in progress.
Newly re-elected Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who has been in close contact with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), told Brennan on “Face the Nation” that he believes that both incompetence and malfeasance could be in play in counties such as Broward and Palm Beach, where significant delays in reporting have brought a great deal of suspicion.
“Any time you have a recount, you have an invitation for people to violate the law and try to advance their partisans,” said Cruz on “Face the Nation.”
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who may well become speaker of the House (again) in January, took a radically different view on the Florida elections.
In essence, she said she believes President Trump’s suspicions, as expressed in his tweets, in actuality point to his own desires to obstruct and suppress the vote.
Her curious psychological analysis led her to conclude that no election fraud exists in Broward County.
Broward County, of course, has a lengthy history of legal problems in elections and its elections supervisor, Brenda Snipes, appears to be a central figure in creating those problems.
“This year alone, Snipes has been reprimanded by the courts twice: once, in May, for illegally destroying ballots during the 2016 Democratic primary, in violation of both state and federal law; and again, in August, for illegally opening mail-in ballots in secret,” according to the National Review.
On Friday, the court found that Snipes had violated Florida’s laws and state constitution in its failure to provide timely, mandatory and public updates on vote counts.
“Any time [President Trump] charges somebody with something, he’s just projecting what he might have done himself,” said Pelosi on “Face the Nation” in a Friday interview that aired Sunday morning, clarifying that she was referring to obstruction and suppression of voting.
On Friday, the court found that Snipes had violated Florida’s laws and state constitution in its failure to provide timely, mandatory and public updates on vote counts.
“No. There is no election fraud. What there is is an honest count of the vote,” Pelosi added on her appraisal of the performance of Broward County officials.
For his part, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D.N.Y.) said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, “President Trump and Rick Scott are so afraid of every vote being counted because they think Scott will lose if that happens, that they’re interfering.”
“My guess,” he added, is that “Trump and particularly Scott will try to interfere in that recount because they don’t want the votes counted.”
Schumer then called for Gov. Scott to immediately recuse himself. “He has a self-interest in jaundicing this election. He should be out of it altogether,” said Schumer.
And check out this video:
Michele Blood is a Flemington, New Jersey-based freelance writer and regular contributor to LifeZette.
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