Trump blames Florida recount on ‘woman’ with a ‘horrible history’
President Trump on Friday blamed Florida’s potential recount in its gubernatorial and Senate races on a “woman” with a “horrible history ” — as he slammed the Sunshine State’s Election Day debacle as a “disgrace.”
“If you look at Broward and Palm Beach [counties] to a lesser extent … they have had a horrible history,” the president told reporters outside the White House before hopping on a plane for his trip to Paris. “And if you look at the person, in this case a woman, involved — she has had a horrible history and all of a sudden they’re finding votes out of nowhere.”
It’s unclear exactly which woman he was referring to.
But Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who is vying for a seat in the Senate, has ripped the female election supervisors in the state’s two largest counties as “unethical liberals.”
On Thursday, Scott, who won by a slim margin over Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson, filed a lawsuit against Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes and her counterpart in Palm Beach, Susan Bucher. Scott accused the officials of “rampant fraud.”
Trump said Scott “won by a comfortable margin,” though he noted that “every couple of hours, it goes down a little bit.”
The president also hinted at voter fraud Friday, placing the blame squarely on Democrats.
“You mean they are just now finding votes in Florida and Georgia — but the Election was on Tuesday?” he wrote. He continued, sarcastically: “Let’s blame the Russians and demand an immediate apology from President Putin!”
At the impromptu press conference, Trump was asked if he had evidence of voter fraud.
“I don’t know, you tell me,” he snapped at a reporter.
Then he referred to Fusion GPS, the research firm hired by lawyers for the Democratic Party and Clinton campaign to investigate his possible connection to Russia.
“It’s always the Democrats. It’s always GPS Fusion. It’s always crooked stuff,” Trump said.
In Florida, an automatic recount will be triggered if the difference in vote totals between two candidates is 0.5 percent or less.
One could also be issued in the tight gubernatorial race between the winner, GOP Rep. Ron DeSantis, and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, a Democrat.
Ballots in both races are still being counted.
As of Friday morning, Scott held a lead of 0.18 percent over Nelson, while DeSantis had a .44 percent edge over Gillum, according to the Miami Herald.