Newspaper Page Text
8A Monday, November 12, 2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
WASHINGTON/POLITICS
Dems pressure Whitaker to back off Mueller probe
ANDREW HARNIKI Associated Press
Acting United States Attorney General Matt Whitaker, center, and
Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, second from right, attend a wreath laying
ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during a ceremony at
Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day, Sunday, Nov. 11, in
Arlington, Va.
BY HOPE YEN AND
MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Stepping
up Democratic efforts to shield
the Russia investigation, Senate
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
said Sunday he would seek to tie a
measure protecting special coun
sel Robert Mueller to must-pass
legislation if acting attorney gen
eral Matthew Whitaker does not
recuse himself from oversight of
the probe.
Schumer pointed to Whitaker’s
“history of hostile statements”
toward the Mueller investigation.
“If he stays there, he will create
a constitutional crisis by inhibit
ing Mueller or firing Mueller. So
Congress has to act,” Schumer told
CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“We Democrats, House and
Senate, will attempt to add to
must-pass legislation, in this case
the spending bill, legislation that
would prevent Mr. Whitaker
from interfering with the Mueller
investigation.”
Schumer sent a letter to the
Justice Department on Sunday
along with House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi and other top Demo
crats that calls for Lee Lofthus, an
assistant attorney general and the
department’s chief ethics officer,
to disclose whether he had advised
Whitaker to recuse himself from
oversight of the probe. The Demo
crats cited Whitaker’s past public
statements, which have included
an op-ed article in which he said
Mueller would be straying outside
his mandate if he investigated
President Donald Trump’s family
finances and a talk radio interview
in which he maintained there was
no evidence of collusion between
the Russia and the Trump cam
paign during the 2016 election.
The letter asked Lofthus to
explain his reasoning for any
recommendation he made to
Whitaker regarding recusal and
to provide all ethics guidance
provided to the acting attorney
general.
Whitaker, a Republican Party
loyalist and chief of staff to just-
ousted Attorney General Jeff Ses
sions, was elevated Wednesday
after Trump forced Sessions out.
Whitaker has faced pressure
from Democrats to recuse himself
from overseeing Mueller based
on the comments, which were
made before he joined the Justice
Department last year. He has also
tweeted an ex-prosecutor’s opin
ion piece that described a “Muel
ler lynch mob,” which he said was
“worth a read.”
The Mueller protection bill
would give any special counsel a
10-day window to seek review of a
firing and ensure that the person
was fired for good cause.
It’s unclear if Republicans would
agree to add the bill to the spend
ing legislation. Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.,
has said there is no need for it, but
other Republicans, like Arizona
Sen. Jeff Flake and Maine Sen.
Susan Collins, have called for the
bill since Whitaker was appointed.
Schumer declined to say whether
Democrats would be willing to
force a government shutdown if
Congress did not pass a measure
protecting Mueller, suggesting it
wouldn’t come to that because of
bipartisan support. “There’s no rea
son we shouldn’t add this and avoid
a constitutional crisis,” he said. “If
that doesn’t happen, we will see
what happens down the road.”
The bipartisan Mueller legisla
tion was approved by the Senate
Judiciary Committee in April and
was co-sponsored by Republican
Sens. Lindsey Graham of South
Carolina and Thom Tillis of North
Carolina.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., the
incoming chairman of the House
Judiciary Committee, described
Trump’s appointment of Whita
ker as “an attack” on the Mueller
investigation and said protecting
that probe will be his committee’s
top priority. Nadler told ABC’s
“This Week” if Whitaker is still act
ing attorney general when Nadler
becomes Judiciary chairman next
year, “one of our first orders of
business will be to invite him, and
if necessary to subpoena him, to
appear before the committee.”
Tensions rise as Florida election recount gets underway
BY KELLI KENNEDY AND
TERRY SPENCER
Associated Press
FORT LAUDERDALE,
Fla. — After some early
bumps, more than half of
Florida’s 67 counties began
recounting votes Sunday in
the razor-thin Senate and
gubernatorial races, bring
ing back memories of the
2000 presidential fiasco.
In Democratic-leaning
Broward County, the sched
uled start of the recount was
delayed Sunday because of
a problem with one of the
tabulation machines. The
Republican Party attacked
Broward’s supervisor of
elections, Brenda Snipes, of
“incompetence and gross
mismanagement” follow
ing the delay, which was
resolved within two hours.
The county, the state’s
second-most populous, is
emerging as the epicen
ter of controversy in the
recount. Broward offi
cials said they mistakenly
counted 22 absentee bal
lots that had been rejected,
mostly because the signa
ture on the return enve
lope did not match the one
on file. It is a problem that
appears impossible to fix
because the ballots were
mixed in with 205 legal bal
lots. Snipes said it would be
unfair to throw out all the
ballots.
The recount in most
other major population
centers, including Miami-
Dade and Pinellas and
Hillsborough counties in
the Tampa Bay area, was
ongoing without incident on
Sunday. Smaller counties
are expected to begin their
reviews Monday, Tuesday
or Wednesday. All counties
face a Thursday afternoon
deadline to complete the
recount.
The reviews are an
unprecedented step in
Florida, a state that’s noto
rious for election results
decided by the thinnest of
margins. State officials said
they weren’t aware of any
other time either a race for
governor or U.S. Senate in
Florida required a recount,
let alone both in the same
election.
Unofficial results show
that Republican former
U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis led
Democratic Tallahassee
Mayor Andrew Gillum by
0.41 percentage points in
the election for governor. In
BRYNN ANDERSON I Associated Press
Elections staff prepare for a recount at the Broward County Supervisor of Elections office on
Sunday, Nov. 11, in Lauderhill, Fla.
the Senate race, Republican
Gov. Rick Scott’s lead over
Democratic incumbent Bill
Nelson is 0.14 percentage
points.
State law requires a
machine recount in races
where the margin is less
than 0.5 percentage points.
Once completed, if the dif
ferences in any of the races
are 0.25 percentage points
or below, a hand recount
will be ordered.
As the recount unfolded,
Republicans urged their
Democratic opponents
to give up and allow the
state to move on. Scott said
Sunday that Nelson wants
fraudulent ballots and those
cast by noncitizens to count,
pointing to a Nelson lawyer
objecting to Palm Beach
County’s rejection of one
provisional ballot because it
was cast by a noncitizen.
“He is trying to commit
fraud to win this election,”
Scott told Fox News. “Bill
Nelson’s a sore loser. He’s
been in politics way too
long.”
Nelson’s campaign issued
a statement Sunday say
ing their lawyer wasn’t
authorized to object to the
ballot’s rejection as “Non
citizens cannot vote in US
elections.”
Gillum and Nelson have
argued each vote should
be counted and the process
allowed to take its course.
Both the state elections divi
sion, which Scott runs, and
the Florida Department
of Law Enforcement have
said they have found no evi
dence of voter fraud.
That didn’t stop pro
tests outside Snipes’ office,
where a crowd of mostly
Republicans gathered Sun
day, holding signs, listening
to country music and occa
sionally chanting “lock her
up,” referring to Snipes.
A massive Trump 2020
flag flew over the parking
lot and many members of
a Bikers For Trump group
wore matching shirts
and carried flags, min
gling among a crowd that
included a protester wear
ing a Hillary Clinton mask.
Registered independent
Russell Liddick, a 38-year-
old retail worker from
Pompano Beach carried a
sign reading, “I’m not here
for Trump! I’m here for
fair elections! Fire Snipes!”
He said the office’s prob
lems “don’t make me feel
very much like my vote
counted.”
Florida is also conducting
a recount in a third state
wide race. Democrat Nikki
Fried had a 0.07 percentage
point lead over Republican
state Rep. Matt Caldwell
in the race for agriculture
commissioner, one of Flori
da’s three Cabinet seats.
From a distant glance,
the recounts might dredge
up memories of the 2000
presidential recount, when
it took more than five
weeks for Florida to declare
George W. Bush the victor
over Vice President A1 Gore
by 537 votes, thus giving
Bush the presidency.
But much has changed
since then. In 2000, each
county had its own voting
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system. Many used punch
cards — voters poked out
chads, leaving tiny holes in
their ballots representing
their candidates. Some vot
ers, however, didn’t fully
punch out the presidential
chad or gave it just a little
push.
Those hanging and dim
pled chads had to be exam
ined by the canvassing
boards, a lengthy, tiresome
and often subjective process
that became fodder for late-
night comedians.
Now the state requires
that all Florida counties use
ballots where voters use a
pen to mark their candi
date’s name, much like a
student does when taking a
multiple-choice test. It also
now clearly mandates how
the recount will proceed.
Those ballots are now
being run through scanning
machines in each county
for a second time under the
watchful eye of representa
tives of both parties and the
campaigns. Any ballot that
cannot be read for any of
the recounted races will be
put aside.
If a race’s statewide
margin falls below 0.25
percentage points after the
machine count, the state
will order a manual recount
in each county. At that point,
only the rejected ballots
for that race will be exam
ined by counting teams to
determine if the voters’
intentions were obvious.
For example, some voters
circle the candidate’s name
instead of filling in the bal
lot properly and some cross
out their vote and then
mark another candidate.
If either side objects to a
counting team’s decision or
the team can’t make one,
the ballot will be forwarded
to the county’s canvass
ing board, with the three
members voting on the final
decision. The members are
usually the county super
visor of elections, a judge
and the chair of the county
commissioners.
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