Trump-Russia inquiry: Whitaker’s role criticized by Democrats – live | US news

Florida’s chief legal officer has told election supervisors to prepare for the possibility of multiple recounts, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Both a Senate race between Sen. Bill Nelson and outgoing Gov. Rick Scott, and the governor’s race between Andrew Gillum and Ron DeSantis, are close enough that it’s possible a recount could be triggered. The Republicans lead in both races.

There were reports of high voter turnout around the country – and then there was this precinct in Providence, Rhode Island, where not a single voter showed up.

The Providence Journal reports that Precinct 2807 has just 11 registered voters – and none of them showed Tuesday, according to Deputy Director of Elections Miguel Nunez.

Four of the voters cast ballots in the 2016 presidential election, but none did in the last midterms in 2014.

The poll site is at the Cathedral of St. John, near the Rhode Island State House and other government offices.

New acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker does not intend to recuse himself from overseeing the Russia probe, the Washington Post reports.

The investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian election interference and possible collusion with Donald Trump’s campaign has been overseen by deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, because Jeff Sessions recused himself – a move that infuriated Trump.

Whitaker’s associates told the Post he will keep himself in charge of the investigation – and he’s unlikely to approve any request by Mueller to subpoena the presidents.

One source said Whitaker, who has been Sessions’ chief of staff, questioned why Rosenstein was allowing the investigation to go on so long.

Meanwhile, CNN reports that Mueller’s investigators have begun writing their final report.

Mueller asked Trump’s lawyers last month to hand over call and visitor logs from Trump Tower related to Roger Stone, a former Trump aide who has been in the cross hairs of the investigation, a source told CNN.

The protest last night outside Tucker Carlson’s home, which Carlson said included banging on and cracking his door, is drawing condemnation including from liberals.

Here’s “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert:

And Media Matters senior fellow Matthew Gertz:

House Democrats plan to restore a Congressional committee on climate change that Republicans had scrapped, the New York Times reports.

Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said she will urge her caucus to bring back the select committee to “prepare the way with evidence” for future legislation to tackle carbon emissions and climate change. It’s just a preliminary step since Democrats are unlikely to be able to pass such legislation with Republicans still in control of the Senate.

Republicans de-funded the panel when they took control of the House.

Christine Blasey Ford continues to receive threats after making sexual assault allegations against supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation process, her lawyers tell NPR.

“Justice Kavanaugh ascended to the Supreme Court, but the threats to Dr Ford continue,” said the lawyers, Debra Katz, Lisa Banks and Michael Bromwich.

Meanwhile, Kavanaugh was welcomed to the court with a ceremonial swearing in Thursday. Donald Trump and his new acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker attended, as did First Lady Melania Trump, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, retired Justice Anthony Kennedy and many of Kavanaugh’s former colleagues, according to the Associated Press.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, hospitalized with fractured ribs, was absent.

Democrat Andrew Gillum, who had conceded to Ron DeSantis in the Florida governor’s race, now says with results tightening there may be a recount.

Twitter has suspended the account of an anti-fascist group that protested outside Tucker Carlson’s Washington DC home Wednesday night, the Washington Examiner reported.

The group Smash Racism DC protested outside the Fox News host’s home, and Carlson said group members pounded on his front door, and one woman threw herself against the door and cracked it.

His wife locked herself in a pantry and called 911, he told the Washington Post.

“I called my wife,” Carlson told the paper. “She had been in the kitchen alone getting ready to go to dinner and she heard pounding on the front door and screaming … Someone started throwing himself against the front door and actually cracked the front door.”

In since-deleted tweets, the group threatened that Carson was “not safe”, according to the Washington Times.

“Every night you spread fear into our homes – fear of the other, fear of us, and fear of them. Each night you tell us we are not safe. Tonight you’re reminded that we have a voice. Tonight, we remind you that you are not safe either,” the tweet said.

“It wasn’t a protest. It was a threat,” Carlson told the Post. “They weren’t protesting anything specific that I had said. They weren’t asking me to change anything. They weren’t protesting a policy or advocating for legislation … They were threatening me and my family and telling me to leave my own neighborhood in the city that I grew up in.”

Senator Bernie Sanders said the results of some of Tuesday’s elections show that many white voters are still “uncomfortable” voting for black candidates.

Sanders was referring to governor’s races in Florida, where Democrat Andrew Gillum lost, and Georgia, where Stacey Abrams is trailing in the vote count though she has not conceded. A third candidate who would have been his state’s first black governor, Ben Jealous in Maryland, also lost.

“I think you know there are a lot of white folks out there who are not necessarily racist who felt uncomfortable for the first time in their lives about whether or not they wanted to vote for an African-American,” Sanders told The Daily Beast.

“I think next time around by the way it will be a lot easier for them to do that,” he said.

The Vermont senator and 2016 presidential candidate told the Daily Beast Abrams ran a “brilliant campaign” and Gillum is a “fantastic politician”. “He stuck to his guns in terms of a progressive agenda. I think he ran a great campaign. And he had to take on some of the most blatant and ugly racism that we have seen in many many years. And yet he came within a whisker of winning,” he said.

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie is being considered to replace Jeff Sessions as attorney general, CBS News reports.

Donald Trump has installed Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general , but a permanent replacement will have to be confirmed by the Senate.

Christie, after running for president in 2016 himself, endorsed Trump and ran his transition, but was ultimately pushed aside.

According to CBS, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, outgoing Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, and former attorney general William Barr are also in the running.