*By Christian Smith*
While President Trump and Florida Gov. Rick Scott continue to claim the recount in three tight Florida races is rampant with abuse, state law enforcement authorities say they have no concrete allegation of voter fraud to investigate.
"There is no allegation of fraud, and there's a legal definition that you have to meet in order for it to be voter fraud," Ana Ceballos, politics reporter for the USA Today Network in Florida, told Cheddar.
Scott, who is running for the U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson, has called on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate claims of voter fraud. The state's Attorney General, Republican Pam Bondi, echoed Scott's calls for an investigation, but FDLE has maintained that there are is no evidence to justify that step.
A mandatory machine recount was triggered in Florida's races for U.S. Senate, governor, and agriculture commissioner due to the razor-thin margins in those results.
According to unofficial results from Florida's counties on Saturday, Scott led Nelson in the senate race by about 12,500 votes, or about .15 percent of the total vote.
The race for governor isn't quite as close. Republican Ron DeSantis led Democrat Andrew Gillum by nearly 34,000 votes, or .41 percent.
The deadline for officials to complete the machine-recount is Thursday.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/usa-todays-ana-ceballos-discusses-the-controversies-surrounding-the-florida-recount).
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
President Donald Trump says “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a “massive increase” of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi’s moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is calculating is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
Most members of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate setting committee supported further reductions to its key interest rate this year, minutes from last month’s meeting showed.
From Wall Street trading floors to the Federal Reserve to economists sipping coffee in their home offices, the first Friday morning of the month typically brings a quiet hush around 8:30 a.m. eastern, as everyone awaits the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report.
The Supreme Court is allowing Lisa Cook to remain as a Federal Reserve governor for now.
Rep. John Moolenaar has requested an urgent briefing from the White House after Trump supported a deal giving Americans a majority stake in TikTok.
