Florida Circuit Chief Judge Jack Tuter said there is no evidence of wrongdoing in Broward County, where some Republicans — including President Trump and Gov. Rick Scott — have, without evidence, accused Democrats of committing voter fraud, reports AP.
The big picture: Tuter added that the rhetoric surrounding the ongoing recount in Florida's Senate and gubernatorial races must be toned down in order to assure citizens that the election's integrity is being protected. In addition, Sen. Bill Nelson, who currently trails Scott by about 0.14% in the Senate race, is suing the Florida Department of State in hopes of counting absentee ballots that were postmarked before Election Day but delivered late. Scott, meanwhile, will be traveling to Washington to participate in lawmaker orientation activities even as the recount continues, reports NBC News' Ali Vitali.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is holding a record-breaking average of 44,631 immigrants in its detention centers daily, the Daily Beast reports.
Why it matters: That's 4,000 more people than Congress has funded, and some immigrant rights groups want to know where the money is coming from, according to the Daily Beast. Earlier this year, it was reported that the Department of Homeland Security used $169 million of funds from other sub-agencies — including the Federal Emergency Management Agency — to help fund ICE's detention efforts.
Last month, President Trump hailed Turkey's release of American pastor Andrew Brunson as a “tremendous” step toward better relations between the two countries. The administration is betting that, after the crisis that rocked U.S.-Turkey relations over the summer, bilateral ties will normalize.
Reality check: With the exception of a brief moment after Trump was elected, the U.S.-Turkey relationship has been rife with tension, and the two countries’ interests still do not align. The U.S. and Turkey are divided over Syria, Ankara’s ties to Moscow, the fate of Fethullah Gulen — the alleged mastermind of the failed 2016 coup attempt — and the detention of Americans in Turkey.
After working to undermine the legitimacy of the press and the Mueller investigation, President Trump is now targeting the electoral process as insurance against possible Republican losses in too-close-to-call races in Florida and Arizona.
Why it matters: The president is doing more than any top official in memory to cast doubt on the outcomes of elections.
Ascendant House Democrats gearing up to aggressively probe the White House are facing pressure to pursue another target too: ExxonMobil.
Why it matters: Democrats are taking power for the first time since a wave of investigative reporting in 2015 about how much Exxon knew internally about global warming decades ago and its past funding of groups that publicly disputed the science.
Health care was a central part of Democrats' successful takeover of the House, and it will also be one of the first areas where they use that newfound power, the New York Times reports.
What we're watching: House Democrats will likely vote to participate in the legal defense of the Affordable Care Act, against a lawsuit aiming to get the law thrown out. Democrats also will likely use their new House majority to try to stabilize the ACA's insurance markets, according to the NYT, and to investigate the Trump administration's handling of the ACA.
House Democrats plan to probe every aspect of President Trump’s life and work, from family business dealings, the Space Force and his tax returns to possible "leverage" by Russia, top Democrats tell us.
What they're saying: One senior Democratic source said the new majority, which takes power in January, is preparing a "subpoena cannon," like an arena T-shirt cannon.
Now that they're set to assume control of the House, there are at least 85 topics that Democrats have said they'd target — or are expected to target — in the forthcoming torrent of investigations and subpoenas to be directed at the Trump White House, according to Axios' reporting and analysis of members' public comments.
Between the lines: Don‘t expect everything all at once. Incoming House Intel Committee Chair Adam Schiff told "Axios on HBO" that each committee plans to prioritize what they view as the most pressing topics, which he says range from Trump's potential business dealings with Russia to where things currently stand with North Korea.
Women running for Congress during the 2018 midterm elections tried a new tactic — focusing their campaigns on their personal experiences — and, as a result, at least 123 women won their races, as illustrated in this clip from "Axios on HBO."
Political campaigns and super PACs spent at least $3.2 million at properties owned or licensed by The Trump Organization in this year’s midterm election cycle, according to CNN’s analysis of Federal Election Commission records, adding that post-election financial documents could further increase that number.
Details: The Republican National Committee spent at least $1.2 million since 2017, the most of any single group, and Trump's own presidential re-election campaign spent more than $950,000 since the start of 2017. This revelation comes as Democrats, who will take control of the House next year, seek to make good on their pledge to use oversight powers to probe Trump's businesses amid concerns about potential violations.
House Republicans and Democrats will soon elect their leaders to take them through the 2020 elections. Here’s a read of the field, from well-placed Republican and Democratic sources.
What's happening: Republicans go first, holding their leadership elections on Wednesday.
Legislation designed to reduce federal prison sentences for some non-violent crimes and to help prisoners prepare for freedom is inching its way toward the Senate floor. And it just got a big boost from an unlikely ally: rank-and-file police.
What's happening: The Fraternal Order of Police — the largest law enforcement labor organization in the U.S. — announced Friday its support of a bipartisan Senate criminal justice reform bill, which would lower certain mandatory sentences, incentivize prison rehabilitation programs, provide sanitary products to women and potentially release around 4,000 people.
