Trump Backs Rick Scott, Claims ‘Big Corruption’ In Broward, Palm Beach

President Donald Trump on Thursday said a “big corruption scandal” was unfolding in Broward and Palm Beach counties, Florida, regarding election results, backing a state investigation announced earlier by Republican Gov. Rick Scott, a candidate for Senate.

Even after two days after the polls closed, Broward County was still having problems with counting ballots. Broward is a Democratic stronghold which played a pivotal role in the 2000 presidential election recount.

On Thursday, Scott filed a suit seeking an investigation into the ongoing ballot counts. He accused it as a partisan attempt by "unethical liberals" to steal the state's Senate election.

Scott ran against incumbent Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson for the seat. He accused Broward County and Palm Beach County election supervisors of indulging in "rampant fraud." He requested the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate into the new ballot counts, which narrowed his election night lead.

"Every day since the election the left-wing activists in Broward County have been coming up with more and more ballots out of nowhere," Scott said, according to a report in NBC News.

The Senate race in Florida was too close to call on Tuesday night. Scott’s earlier lead fell below 0.5 percent as more votes were processed, which could trigger an automatic machine recount. Currently, his lead is 0.2 percent, which is less than 22,000 votes. Reports said a final vote count was expected by Saturday noon.

"I will not sit idly by while unethical liberals try and steal this election from the great people of Florida," Scott said Thursday in a press conference outside the governor's mansion.

"Late Tuesday night, our win was projected to be around 57,000 votes," he said. "By Wednesday morning, that lead dropped to 38,000. By Wednesday evening, it was around 30,000. This morning, it was around 21,000. Now, it is 15,000."

"So, it has been over 48 hours since the polls closed and Broward and Palm Beach Counties are still finding and counting ballots – and the Supervisors – Brenda Snipes and Susan Bucher – cannot seem to say how many ballots still exist or where these ballots came from, or where they have been," he added.

A report in Fox News alleged Snipes had a troubled past with ballot counting.

"A U.S. Senate seat & a statewide cabinet officer are now potentially in the hands of an elections supervisor with a history of incompetence & of blatant violations of state & federal laws," Marco Rubio, Florida senator said.

Scott was joined by the National Republicans Senatorial Committee (NRSC) on Thursday to file the suit. The Republican Senate candidate said the supervisors violated federal and state laws by failing to provide information to officials.

A report in the Washington Examiner said more than 24,700 votes counted in the Broward County ballots were for a governor candidate, but not for any Senate candidate. Democrats immediately claimed this as an indication that a large number of votes for Nelson was missing.

Nelson hired a lawyer after election night, and Scott said he did it to "try to steal the election and try to thwart the will of the voters of Florida." He responded to Scott's comments by tweeting that the Republicans' actions appeared to be “politically motivated and borne out of desperation.”