U.S. election authorities counted and recounted vote totals in several too-close-to-call elections Monday, nearly a week after voting ended in national congressional contests.

Much of the attention centered on the southeastern state of Florida, where the outcome was in doubt in two races where Republicans hold narrow edges.

In a U.S. Senate election, Florida Governor Rick Scott is maintaining a 12,500-vote lead over the incumbent Democrat, Senator Bill Nelson, while in the governor’s race to succeed Scott, Congressman Ron DeSantis leads the Democrat, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, by nearly 34,000 votes.

Trump weighs in

U.S. President Donald Trump, who campaigned several times for Scott and DeSantis, contended on Twitter that the Florida recount of the two contests is fraudulent and ought to be called off, with the two Republicans declared the winners because they were ahead as the first results were announced last Tuesday.

“The Florida Election should be called in favor of Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged,” Trump claimed. “An honest vote count is no longer possible-ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night!”

Later, Trump blamed Monday’s 1-percentage point drop in stock market indexes on Democrats, saying, “The prospect of Presidential Harassment by the Dems is causing the Stock Market big headaches!”

As a result of the elections, starting in January, Democrats will retake control of the House of Representatives from Trump’s Republican colleagues and have vowed to launch investigations of Trump and his administration’s policies.

Gillum responds to Trump

Gillum, with his own tweet, rebuffed Trump about the Florida elections, telling the U.S. leader, “You sound nervous.”

Gillum, looking to become the state’s first African-American governor, had initially conceded the election to DeSantis, but over the weekend said, “I am replacing my earlier concession with an unapologetic and uncompromised call to count every vote.”

The contentious recount in both Florida races is statewide, but the Republican allegations of fraud center on two counties — Broward and Palm Beach — along the Atlantic Ocean shoreline. In both jurisdictions, Democratic voters are in the distinct majority. As absentee votes there have been counted in recent days, Scott and DeSantis election night leads have diminished.  

Scott warns ‘liberals’

Scott told Fox News on Sunday, “No ragtag group of liberal activists or lawyers from [Washington] will be allowed to steal this election.” Scott has filed three lawsuits contesting various aspects of the recount of his contest against Nelson, but the Florida state agency that oversees elections and is controlled by Scott has said it has not found evidence of fraud.

Florida Democrats compared Scott to a strongman striking out at foes.

“Rick Scott is doing his best to impersonate Latin American dictators who have overthrown Democracies in Venezuela and Cuba,” the state party said in a statement. “The Governor is using his position to consolidate power by cutting at the very core of our Democracy.”

Arizona, Georgia

Election officials are also still counting votes in several other undecided contests elsewhere in the U.S., including several close elections for seats in the House of Representatives, as well for a Senate seat in the southwestern state of Arizona and the governorship of the southern state of Georgia.

In the Arizona race, Democratic Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema has pulled ahead of Republican Martha McSally, another congresswoman, by 32,000 votes with tens of thousands of mail ballots yet to count.

In Georgia, the Republican candidate, former secretary of state Brian Kemp, is holding a 58,000-vote edge over his Democratic challenger, Stacey Abrams, a state lawmaker who is trying to become Georgia’s first African-American governor. Abrams filed a federal lawsuit Sunday asking a judge to delay vote certifications in Georgia.
…

Mishaps, protests and litigation are overshadowing the vote recount in Florida’s pivotal races for governor and Senate, reviving memories of the 2000 presidential fiasco in the premier political battleground state.

All 67 counties are facing a state-ordered deadline of Thursday to complete their recounts, and half had already begun. Many other counties were expected to begin the work Monday after a weekend of recount drama in Broward and Palm Beach counties, home to large concentrations of Democratic voters.

The developments make this a tumultuous political moment in Florida. This recount process is unprecedented even in a state notorious for settling elections by razor-thin margins. State officials said they weren’t aware of any other time a race for governor or U.S. Senate required a recount, let alone both in the same election.

In Broward County, the recount was delayed for hours Sunday because of a problem with one of the tabulation machines. That prompted the Republican Party to accuse Broward’s supervisor of elections, Brenda Snipes, of “incompetence and gross mismanagement.”

Broward officials faced further headaches after acknowledging the county mistakenly counted 22 absentee ballots that had been rejected. The problem seemed impossible to fix because dismissed ballots were mixed in with 205 legal ballots and Snipes said it would be unfair to throw out all the votes.

Gov. Rick Scott, the Republican candidate for Senate, filed suit against Snipes. He’s seeking a court order for law enforcement agents to impound all voting machines, tallying devices and ballots “when not in use until such time as any recounts.” The suit accused Snipes of repeatedly failing to account for the number of ballots left to be counted and failing to report results regularly as required by law.

The court didn’t immediately respond, though the outcry from Democrats was immediate.

Juan Penalosa, executive director of the Florida Democratic Party, accused Scott of “using his position to consolidate power by cutting at the very core of our democracy.”

Meanwhile, in Palm Beach County, the supervisor of elections said she didn’t think her department could meet Thursday’s deadline to complete that recount, throwing into question what would happen to votes there.

The recount in other major population centers, including Miami-Dade and Pinellas and Hillsborough counties in the Tampa Bay area, has been continuing without incident. Smaller counties were expected to begin reviews between Monday and Wednesday.

Unofficial results showed Republican former U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis ahead of Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by 0.41 percentage points in the governor’s contest. In the Senate race, Scott’s lead over Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson was 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 differences in any of the races are 0.25 percentage points or below, a hand recount will be ordered.

Republicans urged their Democratic opponents to give up and let the state to move on.

Gillum and Nelson insist that each vote should be counted and the process should take its course.

Scott said Sunday that Nelson wants fraudulent ballots and those cast by noncitizens to count, pointing to a Nelson lawyer’s objection of 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 later saying their lawyer wasn’t authorized to object to the ballot’s rejection, as “Non-citizens cannot vote in U.S. elections.”

Gillum appeared Sunday evening at a predominantly African-American church in Fort Lauderdale, declaring that voter disenfranchisement isn’t just about being blocked from the polling booth. He said it also includes absentee ballots not being counted and ballots with mismatched signatures that “a volunteer may have the option of … deciding that vote is null and void.”

Both the state elections division, which Scott runs, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have said they have found no evidence of voter fraud.

That didn’t stop protests outside Snipes’ office, where a mostly Republican crowd gathered, holding signs, listening to country music and occasionally chanting “lock her up,” referring to Snipes. A massive Trump 2020 flag flew over the parking lot and a Bikers For Trump group wore matching shirts. One protester wore a Hillary Clinton mask.

Registered independent Russell Liddick, a 38-year-old Pompano Beach retail worker, carried a sign reading, “I’m not here for Trump! I’m here for fair elections! Fire Snipes!” He said the office’s problems “don’t make me feel very much like my vote counted.”

Florida also is conducting a recount in a third statewide race. Democrat Nikki Fried had a 0.07 percentage point lead over Republican state Rep. Matt Caldwell for agriculture commissioner, one of Florida’s three Cabinet seats.

For some, the recounts bring back 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 Al Gore by 537 votes, thus giving Bush the presidency.

Much has changed since then.

In 2000, each county had its own voting system. Many used punch cards – voters poked out chads, leaving tiny holes in their ballots representing their candidates. Some voters, however, didn’t fully punch out the presidential chad or gave it just a little push. Those hanging and dimpled chads had to be examined by the canvassing boards, a lengthy, tiresome and often subjective process that became fodder for late-night comedians.

Now the state requires all Florida counties to use ballots where voters use a pen to mark their candidate’s name, much like a student taking a multiple-choice test, and the process for recounts is clearly spelled out.
…

President Donald Trump, back in Washington Monday after commemorating the centenary of the end of World War I in Paris, immediately assailed Europe for its defense spending and trade surplus over the United States.

Trump, in a string of Twitter comments, said “much was accomplished” in his meetings with other world leaders. But he said it was “never easy bringing up the fact that the U.S. must be treated fairly, which it hasn’t, on both Military and Trade.”

The U.S. leader contended, “We pay for LARGE portions of other countries military protection, hundreds of billions of dollars, for the great privilege of losing hundreds of billions of dollars with these same countries on trade.”

Trump added, “I told them that this situation cannot continue – It is, and always has been, ridiculously unfair to the United States. Massive amounts of money spent on protecting other countries, and we get nothing but Trade Deficits and Losses. It is time that these very rich countries either pay the United States for its great military protection, or protect themselves… and Trade must be made FREE and FAIR!”

Trump has declared himself a “nationalist,” with an America First outlook on international relations. But in Paris on Sunday at the commemoration of the end of World War I, French President Emmanuel Macron, with Trump listening nearby, deplored rising nationalism throughout the world, declaring it a “betrayal of patriotism.”

Trump throughout his nearly two-year presidency has often complained that numerous European allies have yet to meet NATO’s 2024 goal of spending 2 percent of the size of their national economies on defense, chiefly funding for military weapons and armed forces.

Eight of the 29 members of the West’s main defense alliance, forged at the end of World War II, are expected to meet the target this year — the U.S., Britain, Greece, Estonia, Romania, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

China is the biggest individual national trading partner with the U.S., but U.S. trade is collectively larger with the 28-nation European Union.

Trump has expressed his ire that Europe has a trade surplus with the U.S. — $101 billion in 2017 — meaning that the EU ships more goods and services worth that much to the U.S. than it imports from America.

In recent months, Trump has imposed higher tariffs on European steel and aluminum imports, while the EU responded with higher levies on iconic U.S. exports, such as blue jeans, motorcycles, orange juice and bourbon.

 
…

Washington is adjusting to an impending power shift after Democrats won control of the U.S. House of Representatives in last week’s elections. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, Democrats are promising to hold President Donald Trump accountable and protect the Justice Department’s Russia probe, but also stressing the need to deliver tangible results that address the American people’s everyday concerns.
…

Key U.S. Democratic lawmakers vowed Sunday they would try to protect the investigation of President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign’s links to Russia from interference by his new acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, who often attacked the probe before Trump named him to oversee it.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he would attempt to attach legislation to a must-pass government spending bill next month to keep the government from a partial shutdown to require that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation be permitted to be completed unimpeded.

“There’s no reason that legislation shouldn’t pass,” Schumer told news network CNN. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has opposed stand-alone legislation to protect Mueller, saying he has no reason to believe Trump will fire Mueller, even though the U.S. leader has often assailed the investigation as a “witch hunt,” a view echoed by Whitaker.

Schumer added, “I believe there are enough Republicans who will support us” in adding the Mueller protection measure to the budget legislation. Schumer said the Mueller legislation was needed because “there is every reason to believe there will be interference” by Whitaker, whom he called an “extreme partisan.”

Democratic Congressman Jerrold Nadler, set to become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee when Democrats assume control of the House of Representatives in January, said the panel’s first mission then would be to call Whitaker to testify at a hearing, via a subpoena if necessary, about his “expressed hostility to the investigation.”

Nadler called Whitaker “a complete political lackey” and said Trump appointed a “totally unqualified hatchet man to destroy the investigation.”

But Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway dismissed concerns about Whitaker’s past comments about the Mueller probe, saying “there’s no evidence to me” that he “knows anything about the ongoing Mueller investigation.”

Her husband, lawyer George Conway, wrote in a newspaper column last week that Whitaker had been illegally named, claiming that Whitaker needed Senate confirmation as does the head of any Cabinet agency. But Kellyanne Conway brushed off her husband’s contention, saying that “spouses disagree everyday.” Trump accused George Conway of trying to get “publicity for himself.”

The latest Democratic concerns about protecting Mueller arose last week when Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions, after criticizing him for more than a year for recusing himself from oversight of the Mueller probe. Trump then named Whitaker, Sessions’s chief of staff, to replace him, at least for the moment, as the country’s top law enforcement official.

Before joining the Justice Department last year, Whitaker said in commentary on CNN he could envision a scenario in which Trump might fire Sessions and replace him with a temporary attorney general, which is now what has happened. Whitaker, in the television remarks, suggested the replacement could then cut funding for Mueller’s investigation and his “investigation grinds almost to a halt.”

Whitaker suggested Mueller’s probe amounted to a “fishing expedition.”

But he has given no indication he plans to recuse himself from oversight of Mueller, saying he was “committed to leading a fair [Justice] Department with the highest ethical standards, that upholds the rule of law, and seeks justice for all Americans.” Sessions had handed Mueller oversight to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, recusing himself because of his support for Trump in the 2016 election and contacts he had with Russia’s then ambassador to Washington during the run-up to the voting two years ago.

Mueller has secured guilty pleas or convictions of several Trump campaign officials, but there is no deadline set for his conclusion of the investigation.

 
…

The Democratic candidate for governor in the state of Florida has rescinded the concession he made Tuesday night after the Florida secretary of state announced the governor’s race, as well as the race for a seat in the U.S. Senate, will be subject to a recount.

Andrew Gillum spoke to media Saturday shortly after the recount announcement. He said, “I am replacing my words of concession with an uncompromised and unapologetic call that we count every single vote. I say this recognizing that my fate may or may not change.” 

Gillum said every Floridian who participated in the election deserves the comfort of knowing that every vote will be counted.

After Gillum’s concession speech on Tuesday, DeSantis has proceeded as if he is the victor, appointing a transition team in preparation for taking office in January.

The recount decision was announced earlier Saturday after unofficial tallies were submitted. Florida state law requires a statewide machine recount when the margin of victory is less than 0.5 percent, and a manual recount if the margin is less than 0.25 percent.

The governor’s race between Gillum, the Democratic mayor of Tallahassee, and Ron DeSantis, a Republican former congressman, showed DeSantis leading by 33,684 votes, or about 0.4 percent.

The contentious U.S. Senate race between Republican Governor Rick Scott and incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson had Scott ahead by just 15,562 votes, a lead of 0.15 percent.

​Unofficial vote counts from county canvassing boards were submitted by a midday Saturday deadline, enabling the Florida secretary of state and the Division of Elections to determine that the returns met the legal thresholds requiring recounts.

The uncertainty over the outcome of the races has deepened divisions in a state that is likely to play a key role in the 2020 presidential election. The recounts will determine if Nelson returns to Capitol Hill or if Republicans increase their lead in the Senate.

The fight for Nelson’s seat has been particularly acrimonious, with both sides filing lawsuits. Scott, President Donald Trump and other Republicans have accused Nelson of trying to steal the election, while Nelson has alleged Scott is trying to stop officials from counting every ballot. Trump called the situation “a disgrace.”

Scott had asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the election departments in South Florida’s Democratic-leaning Broward and Palm Beach counties after his lead narrowed as ballots continued to be counted throughout the week. A state election spokeswoman said Friday, however, an investigation would not be launched because there was no evidence of fraud.

Judges ruled in favor of Scott late Friday, ordering election supervisors in the two counties to release information on the ballot-counting.
…

Florida election officials are expected to announce soon whether hotly-contested midterm election races for the U.S. Senate and governor will be subject to recounts after unofficial tallies were submitted Saturday.

The contentious U.S. Senate race between Republican Governor Rick Scott and incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson has Scott ahead by about 15,000 votes, a lead of less than 0.25 percent.

The governor’s race between Republican former congressman Ron DeSantis and Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum has DeSantis leading by almost 36,000 votes, or about 0.4 percent.

Florida law requires a statewide machine recount when the margin of victory is less than 0.5 percent and a manual recount if the margin is less than 0.25 percent.

Unofficial vote counts from county canvassing boards were due to be submitted by midday Saturday. The Florida Secretary of State and the Division of Elections will then determine if the returns meet the legal thresholds requiring recounts.

The possibility of recounts has deepened divisions among voters in a state that is likely to play a key role in the 2020 presidential election. Recounts would determine if Nelson returns to Capitol Hill or if Republicans increase their lead in the Senate.

The fight for Nelson’s seat has been particularly acrimonious, with both sides filing lawsuits. Scott, President Donald Trump and other Republicans have accused Nelson of trying to steal the election, while Nelson has alleged Scott is trying to stop officials from counting every ballot. Trump called the situation “a disgrace.”

Scott has asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the election departments in South Florida’s Democratic-leaning Broward and Palm Beach counties after his lead narrowed as ballots continued to be counted throughout the week. A state election spokeswoman said Friday, however, an investigation would not be launched because there was no evidence of fraud.

Judges ruled in favor of Scott late Friday, ordering election supervisors in the two counties to release information on the ballot-counting.

Gillum conceded defeat Tuesday night but later said every vote should count after the results began to narrow. DeSantis has proceeded as if he is the victor, appointing a transition team in preparation for taking office in January.

 
…

While most of the votes have been counted from Tuesday’s U.S. congressional midterm elections, four major races remain undecided in key states. A recount may be in the offing in Florida for both the Senate and governor’s races where Republicans currently have narrow leads. And the governor’s race in Georgia and a Senate race in Arizona are also drawing scrutiny. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington.
…

U.S. President Donald Trump sought to distance himself from the acting attorney general that he appointed earlier this week. VOA’s Bill Gallo reports the president’s shift comes after questions have been raised about the legality of the appointment.
…

U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he doesn’t “know” his newly appointed acting U.S. attorney general just two days after he appointed him as the nation’s top enforcement officer.

Speaking with reporters outside the White House, the president said, “I don’t know Matt Whitaker,” but also said the 49-year-old former U.S. attorney from Iowa is “highly respected” among law enforcement officials.

William Gustoff, who co-founded a law firm with Whitaker and remains in contact with the acting attorney general, said Trump’s comment may simply mean that the two don’t know each other “intimately.”

Friends and associates of Whitaker, however, say the former Iowa college football star has forged a close working relationship with Trump since joining the Department of Justice (DOJ) last fall as chief of staff to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

WATCH: After Scrutiny, Trump Seems to Back Away from Acting Attorney General

​Sessions’​ chief of staff

The relationship developed as Whitaker began accompanying Sessions to White House meetings after Whitaker joined the DOJ from the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), a conservative ethics watchdog that has filed complaints against Democratic politicians.

Just how many times Whitaker and Trump have met remains unclear.

Charles Larson, a former chairman of the Iowa Republican Party, said Whitaker has briefed Trump and done “an impressive job.”

The president “thinks highly” of Whitaker, Larson said.

“My observation is that Matt has a very strong relationship with the president, and this comes with conversations I’ve had with friends and others that work in the administration,” added Larson, who also served as U.S. ambassador to Latvia under former President George W. Bush.

Trump’s choice of Whitaker to take the helm of the Justice Department and oversee special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election sparked a pushback from congressional Democrats and even some prominent Republicans.

On Friday, however, Trump seemed to distance himself from Whitaker, leaving the acting attorney general’s future in doubt.

‘I don’t know Matt Whitaker’

Speaking to reporters at the White House before departing for Paris, Trump said, “I don’t know Matt Whitaker. Matt Whitaker worked for Jeff Sessions and was always extremely highly thought of and he still is. But I didn’t know Matt Whitaker.”

The president’s assertion directly contradicts what he told Fox News last month, when he said, “I mean, I know Matt Whitaker” and that he is “a great guy.” CNN also reported that Whitaker has visited the White House a dozen or more times since becoming Sessions’ chief of staff and that he had a good relationship with the president.

The White House doesn’t release lists of visitors. A Justice Department spokeswoman did not respond to questions about the number of times Whitaker has met with and briefed Trump.

‘A very interim AG’

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell predicted Friday that a permanent replacement could be named soon for Whitaker, a conservative activist who has frequently voiced skepticism about Mueller’s probe and insisted there was no evidence of collusion between Trump’s campaign officials and the Russians.

“I think this will be a very interim AG (attorney general),” McConnell said.

Candidates for the position include Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, former New Jersey Governor and Trump adviser Chris Christie and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Whitaker’s appointment came Wednesday, shortly after Trump forced out Sessions after months of complaining about the attorney general’s decision, just weeks into taking office, to recuse himself from oversight of the Russia probe. Trump blamed the recusal for Mueller’s appointment.

Mueller investigation

Because Sessions had recused himself, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein supervised Mueller’s investigation. Now, the task has fallen to Whitaker, and Democrats are demanding that he, too, should recuse himself because of his past criticism of the Mueller investigation.

Whitaker was appointed under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, a 1998 law that allows the president to appoint any senior official as acting head of an agency for up to 210 days. But some constitutional scholars have questioned the legality of the appointment, citing a constitutional requirement that the attorney general must be approved by the Senate.

Brenna Bird, a county prosecutor in Iowa who worked at Whitaker’s former law firm, said Whitaker, along with Sessions, briefed the president “several times” and that Whitaker has gained Trump’s trust.

“Obviously, the president has a great deal of trust in him (Whitaker) to put him in charge at this time,” Bird said. “I don’t think President Trump would choose him for this job if he didn’t think he was up to it, and he is.”
…

U.S. President Donald Trump praised his interim replacement for ousted Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday, but aimed to distance himself from the controversial appointee by repeatedly saying he had only heard about Matthew Whitaker’s reputation.

“I don’t know Matt Whitaker. Matt Whitaker worked for Jeff Sessions and he was always extremely highly thought of and he still is. But I didn’t know Matt Whitaker,” Trump told reporters on the south White House lawn before departing for an international gathering in Paris.

The Washington Post on Thursday, citing sources close to the acting attorney general, reported Whitaker has no intention of recusing himself from overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election because of comments he made about the investigation in his private capacity.

The sources also told the Post they do not believe Whitaker would approve any subpoena of Trump as part of that probe. Trump, however, did not rule out speaking with Mueller if a subpoena was issued.

“I haven’t even thought about it,” Trump said. “Right now, I’m thinking about the world. I’m not thinking about sit-downs and not sit-downs. There was no collusion. It’s a whole hoax. This was, I think, set up by the Democrats.”

Before the media briefing ended, CNN reporter Abby Phillip asked Trump if he wanted Whitaker to be involved in the Russia probe, to which Trump responded, “That’s up to him.” When Phillip asked if he wanted Whitaker to “rein in” Mueller, Trump snapped, “What a stupid question. But I watch you a lot. You ask a lot of stupid questions.”

The exchange was at least the second contentious encounter Trump had with a CNN reporter this week. After a testy exchange at the White House earlier this week, the administration took the unusual step of suspending the credentials of CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta. Trump warned that “there could be others” who lose their press credentials.

Trump has frequently criticized CNN and other news organizations, charging they disseminate “fake news” and labeling them as “the enemy of the people.”

U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer cast doubt on the legality of Whitaker’s appointment and sent Trump a list of questions about the move.

Schumer said Trump’s appointment of Whitaker without Senate confirmation “ignored the statutory line of succession and potentially violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution, which requires all principal officers of the government to be nominated by the president by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.”
…

Protesters gathered from New York to Los Angeles Thursday to warn the White House not to interfere with special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election. As Mike O’Sullivan reports, the rallies followed the firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions one day earlier.
…

In less than two months, Democrats will take control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who is the favorite to assume the party’s leadership role as Speaker of the House, has signaled her willingness to work with President Trump and Senate Republicans. But as VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports from Capitol Hill, the bi-partisan cooperation may be short-lived.
…

A federal appeals court is weighing whether special counsel Robert Mueller’s appointment to lead the Russia investigation was constitutional.

At issue Thursday was whether Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had the authority to appoint Mueller.

The special counsel’s office says yes. But lawyers for a former aide to longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone say no. The aide, Andrew Miller, brought the case because he doesn’t want to testify before a grand jury as part of Mueller’s investigation into whether Donald Trump’s Republican campaign coordinated with Russia in 2016. 

Mueller is focusing on Stone’s connection to WikiLeaks. American intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian agents were the source of damaging information on Democrat Hillary Clinton that WikiLeaks released during her 2016 presidential campaign against Trump.

Stone has denied any wrongdoing.
…

The Trump administration unveiled new rules on Thursday to sharply limit migrant asylum claims by barring individuals who cross the U.S. southern border illegally from seeking asylum. 

Immigrant advocates denounced the move, saying it violated existing U.S. law that allows people fleeing persecution and violence in their home countries to apply for asylum regardless of whether they enter illegally or not. 

The regulations released Thursday, in conjunction with an order expected to be signed by President Donald Trump, would effectively ban migrants who cross the U.S. border with Mexico illegally from qualifying for asylum.

Once the plan goes into full effect, migrants entering at the U.S. southern border would be eligible for asylum only if they report at official ports of entry, officials said. 

More resources, staffing

“What we are attempting to do is trying to funnel … asylum claims through the ports of entry where we are better resourced, have better capabilities and better manpower and staffing to actually handle those claims in an expeditious and efficient manner,” a senior administration official told reporters in a news briefing Thursday, on condition of anonymity. 

The Trump administration has already made it more difficult for migrants to qualify for asylum in the United States. 

Administration officials have said existing U.S. asylum rules encourage illegal immigration and bog down legitimate claims. 

In June, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued an appellate decision that sharply narrowed the circumstances under which immigrants can use violence at home as ground for U.S. asylum. 

Sessions, who resigned at Trump’s request this week, also instructed immigration judges and asylum officers to view illegal border-crossing as a “serious adverse factor” in deciding a case and to consider whether applicants could have escaped danger by relocating within their own countries. 

Trump made his hard-line policies toward immigration a key issue ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections, sending thousands of U.S. troops to help secure the southern border and repeatedly drawing attention to caravans of Central American migrants trekking through Mexico toward the United States. 

Currently, U.S. asylum rules do not bar people who enter the country without authorization, and the Immigration and Nationality Act, which governs the U.S. immigration system, specifically allows people who arrive in the United States, whether or not they do so at a designated port of entry, to apply for asylum. 

Court challenge appears likely

The administration’s plan, which invokes the same authority Trump used to justify his travel ban on citizens of several Muslim-majority nations, is likely to be quickly challenged in court. 

The move would largely affect migrants from Central America’s Northern Triangle — Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador — who cross the U.S. border with Mexico to flee violence and poverty in their home countries. 

“The vast majority of aliens who enter illegally today come from the Northern Triangle countries,” the regulation’s text says. “Channeling those aliens to ports of entry would encourage these aliens to first avail themselves of offers of asylum from Mexico.” 

Immigrant advocates denounced the administration’s move as unlawful, and said the plan to funnel migrants to ports of entry was just a way to cut asylum claims overall. 

“Congress has directly spoken to this question as to whether individuals can be rendered ineligible for asylum if they cross between ports of entry and has specifically said people are eligible regardless of where they cross,” said Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. 

“Ports of entry … are overcrowded,” said Jonathan Ryan, executive director of RAICES, a Texas-based immigrant defense group. “Asylum-seekers have been left to camp out for days and weeks on bridges at the border, when they should be guaranteed a right to enter the country for a fair hearing.” 
…

The official website of the campaign supporting Amendment 6 in Florida featured a white-and-purple layout, filled with endorsements from local politicians and filmed testimonials from crime victims, who say their personal tragedies could have been prevented by the proposed legislation. The website was identical to others supporting Amendment 4 in Georgia, Question 1 in Nevada, and State Question 794 in Oklahoma.

The campaigns all linked back to the website for Marsy’s Law for All, a nonprofit organization driving what it calls the victims’ rights movement. It recruits and funds local efforts to incorporate Marsy’s Law, a controversial set of protections for crime victims, into state constitutions.

Six states had Marsy’s Law amendments on their ballots Tuesday, all of which passed. Five of these states now will alter their constitutions to include proposed changes that critics say are overly broad and harmful.

Marsy’s Law encompasses a number of provisions based on the idea that victims should have equal rights to those of the accused in criminal proceedings. This includes requiring victims to be notified of proceedings involving their case and the release or escape of the accused; to be heard at plea or sentencing hearings; to obtain reasonable protection from the accused, and to be guaranteed a meaningful role in the criminal justice system.

Critics say the protections hamper the justice system through their vague wording, while undermining due process by pitting defendants’ rights, which are meant to protect defendants from the state, against those of victims. Notably, the American Civil Liberties Union opposes Marsy’s Law, calling it “poorly drafted” and “a threat to existing constitutional rights.”

Marsy’s Law for All national communications adviser Henry Goodwin told VOA News he had never heard a good example of a victim’s rights undermining a defendant’s rights.

“The justice system is very adept at balancing rights within the system,” Goodwin said. “You know, the victim’s rights which Marsy’s Law advocates are complementary to defendant’s rights. We’re not seeking to undermine or take anything away from defendants. It’s not a zero-sum game.”

Marsy’s Law for All was formed in 2009 by Dr. Henry Nicholas, a former Broadcom CEO recently estimated by Forbes to be worth more than $3 billion. Marsy’s Law is named for his sister Marsalee, who was shot to death by her ex-boyfriend in 1983.

After successfully spearheading a 2008 campaign to bring Marsy’s Law to California, Nicholas decided to form a national organization with the goal of bringing the amendments to all 50 states, and eventually the U.S. Constitution. Since then, Marsy’s Law amendments have passed in Illinois, the Dakotas and Ohio.

The movement, on a state and national level, is funded by Nicholas’ personal wealth. The six campaigns backing Marsy’s Law this November all received the vast majority of their money either directly from Nicholas or from Marsy’s Law for All, which Goodwin confirmed to VOA News is entirely funded by Nicholas. In total, the six campaigns amassed a war chest of $60 million. Roughly $30 million was spent in Florida alone.
…