It wasn’t at all surprising that New Agenda president Amy Siskind was awfully excited to hear from Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) making claims that the Russians had hacked Florida’s voting system, and she wasn’t alone.
Nelson says Russians have penetrated Florida’s voter system. Meanwhile, Trump is busily distracting and doing nothing to keep our democracy safe :
“They have already penetrated certain counties in the state and they now have free rein to move about.” https://t.co/wX0JK2x44P— Amy Siskind ?️? (@Amy_Siskind) August 9, 2018
Sen. Bill Nelson: Russians have ‘already penetrated’ Florida election systems and have ‘free reign to move about’ https://t.co/yDIF08rDq8
— The Hummingbird ? (@SaysHummingbird) August 8, 2018
Gov. Rick Scott wanted answers, but Nelson quickly went silent.
This cannot be swept under the rug. Bill Nelson must come clean and provide a thorough explanation. Elections are not something to try to scare people about.
— Rick Scott (@ScottforFlorida) August 10, 2018
Senator Nelson is accusing the Administration of withholding important information on election meddling from Florida election officials that could protect our election process here in Florida. That is a very serious charge, for which Bill Nelson has provided no proof.
— Rick Scott (@ScottforFlorida) August 10, 2018
Bill Nelson is making serious claims about Florida’s election integrity. He needs to provide evidence. https://t.co/bLCtv8ZVHi
— Rick Scott (@ScottforFlorida) August 11, 2018
Now, a week later, Nelson has been caught on video walking back his claim and crying that his opponents have “politicized” what he said.
https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/1030221474190245888
https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/1030222416776257536
It’s not a good look for the Democrats. You see, what Nelson meant to say was that there was evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, so it was only right to warn people to be on the lookout for Russian interference in 2018.
Mairead McArdle reports at NRO:
“I want you to know why I said what I said,” the Florida Democrat was filmed telling supporters at the event in Lake City. “It would be foolish to think if the Russians were in our election apparatus in Florida in 2016 and that has now been twice documented . . . that they are not continuing.”
Nelson added that he was merely reiterating a warning about midterm-election hacking that he and fellow Florida senator Marco Rubio voiced in a July 2 letter to Florida secretary of state Ken Detzner.
Merely reiterating a warning, huh? By claiming that Russians had hacked Florida’s election system and had “free rein” to move about?
In the latest twist of this ongoing saga, Florida elections chief Ken Detzner has sent Sen. Bill Nelson a letter demanding details by tomorrow of Nelson’s “unsubstantiated” claim that Russians hacked state voter systems pic.twitter.com/aQhqdTdYwN
— Patricia Mazzei (@PatriciaMazzei) August 16, 2018
If you can stand it, here’s video of Nelson backtracking on his claim that Russians had hacked into Florida’s election system and blaming his political enemies for blowing his allegations out of proportion.
I love how Bill Nelson blames the pushback on his completely made up claim that Russia has already hacked Florida’s election system in 2018 as cynical politics. Dude never had a fastball, but now he’s skipping it to the plate.
— John Ekdahl (@JohnEkdahl) August 16, 2018
Related:
Busted: Miami Herald catches Sen. Bill Nelson crying wolf about 'assault weapons' https://t.co/nGbfVx3IUD
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 9, 2018
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