Few answers on extent of Russian hackers influence in Fla. elections

The FBI recently met with Gov. Ron DeSantis and then with U.S. Sen. Rick Scott to brief them on the election office breaches mentioned in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report. They reportedly were told which two Florida counties were successfully targeted and then instructed not to share the classified information.

The 27-member Florida congressional delegation also met with the FBI to demand answers but did not get many. The two U.S. senators at the time of the hacking — Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio — had already been briefed.

In fact, in August 2018, just before early voting started, Nelson, troubled by the knowledge of Russian hacking in Florida’s election system two years earlier, tried to warn Floridians. His challenger, then-Gov. Rick Scott, accused Nelson of making it up and insisted he provide proof. Scott even accused Nelson of being mentally unstable and produced a lengthy campaign video mocking Nelson for his election hacking comments.

The news media piled on to the Scott narrative and demanded proof. Eight months later, we learn that Nelson’s comments about Russian interference were not only accurate but that the FBI and Rubio knew them to be true but did not back up Nelson’s claim.

In a race so close that a recount was required, Scott eked out a win by twotenths of a percentage point. With over 8 million ballots counted, Scott won by 10,033 votes. Did Scott’s offensive, the news media pouncing and the silence by the FBI and Rubio make a difference in the razor-thin loss for Nelson?

Nelson is owed an apology from those who dismissed his concern for the integrity of our elections. Rubio made excuses for why he allowed Scott’s false narrative to stand. Scott, to no one’s surprise, has no intention of apologizing or admitting he was wrong.

With the FBI keeping details secret as a matter of “national security,” we have very few answers and a lot of questions. Did the Russians extend their 2016 disruption campaign into 2018? Did they create havoc and suspicion around the election to build a case for a challenge if their preferred candidates came up a little short?

Knowing what we now know, it makes the activities surrounding the 2018 election recount a little more questionable.

Why was U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who represents northern counties in the Florida Panhandle, agitating in Broward County, hundreds of miles from his district? Why was he organizing a protest with dirty trickster and recently indicted Roger Stone? Why was Gaetz up on the bed of a rented truck with a bullhorn, making incendiary accusations and coordinating a message with other far-right conspiracy theorists?

Then-Gov. Scott and Gaetz created the impression that 80,000 ballots were fraudulently found after Election Day. Gaetz went so far as to provide visuals with the rental truck supposedly filled with reams of paper. He also produced a shaky video that he claimed showed people loading stuff in and out of the Broward Elections office. Gaetz called for Florida’s secretary of state to put the Broward County Elections office into receivership — enlisting President Donald Trump’s famous phrase — “until we can figure out what the hell is going on.”

Scott and Gaetz — joined by Rubio — accused Democrats of trying to “steal the election.”

Scott went on the offensive, too. He appeared on Fox News and accused Nelson of committing fraud, but even the Fox host questioned that assertion. Scott wanted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes, but it declined. Scott tried to impound the voting equipment, but a judge denied Scott’s request. Scott refused to recuse himself from the recount process even though he was a candidate involved in the recount.

Scott removed Snipes from office, even though she had announced her resignation, effective January 4, and installed his go-to guy, Peter Antonacci, who had zero experience. Why?

Why the coordinated effort to attack the election and Snipes, and the Broward office in particular? Who paid for and organized the Gaetz/Stone “Broward County Election Theft Demonstration”?

Was this a normal handling of an election recount or was something more nefarious going on here?

Paula Dockery