Hillary Clinton’s campaign will participate in a recount of election votes in Wisconsin, a lawyer said.
The recount was initiated by Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who is also seeking recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania, citing “statistical anomalies”.
Election results would need to be overturned in all three states to alter the outcome of the election.
Donald Trump, who narrowly won Wisconsin, called the move a “scam”.
He said it was a way for Dr. Jill Stein – who is funding the recount through public donations – to “fill her coffers with money”.
“The results of this election should be respected instead of being challenged and abused,” the president-elect said.
Photo Getty Images
Hillary Clinton campaign’s general counsel, Marc Elias, said the Clinton team and outside experts had been “conducting an extensive review of election results, searching for any signs that the voting process had been tampered with”.
Marc Elias said there was no evidence to conclude the election was sabotaged, but “we have an obligation to the more than 64 million Americans who cast ballots for Hillary Clinton to participate in ongoing proceedings to ensure that an accurate vote count will be reported”.
He noted that the number of votes separating Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the closest of the three states - Michigan - ”well exceeds the largest margin ever overcome in a recount”.
However, Marc Elias said the campaign would join in “on principle” in the Midwestern states if Dr. Jill Stein follows through on her promise.
Jill Stein reportedly wants to be sure computer hackers did not skew the poll in favor of Donald Trump.
Concerns over possible Russian interference had been expressed in the run-up to the vote.
The US government has said Russian state actors were behind hacks on the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
In a statement on November 25, the Wisconsin Elections Commission said it had received two recount petitions from the Jill Stein campaign and from Rocky Roque De La Fuente, a businessman who ran unsuccessfully to be the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.
Administrator Michael Haas said the count would begin in the week after Jill Stein’s campaign paid the fee, which the commission was still calculating.
Jill Stein’s campaign needs to raise millions of dollars to cover the fees for the vote recount in all three states.
According to her website, over $5.8 million has already been raised toward a $7 million target. It says this is enough to fund the recounts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Voting rights lawyers John Bonifaz and J. Alex Halderman, who urged candidates to request recounts, have said the “physical evidence” that could signal a cyber-attack needs to be closely analyzed.
However, J. Alex Halderman said the fact that the results in the three states were different from what polls predicted was “probably not” down to hacking.
The deadline for the petition for the recount in Wisconsin was November 25, while Pennsylvania’s deadline is November 28, and Michigan’s is November 30.
Michigan is yet to declare its final results.
Wisconsin provides only 10 electors in the crucial electoral college that gave Donald Trump victory in November 8 election.
Wins there for Hillary Clinton, as well as in Michigan (16 electoral votes) and Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes), would have clinched the presidency for the Democrat.
The West Wing stars are to campaign for Hillary Clinton in Ohio this weekend.
Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, Dule Hill, Bradley Whitford, Joshua Malina, and Mary McCormack will reunite to help organize events across the state.
The stars of the former hit political TV drama will appear in towns including Cleveland, Sandusky and Toledo.
The West Wing, also starring Martin Sheen, ran on NBC from 1999 to 2006.
Martin Sheen played Democratic President Josiah Bartlet in the Golden Globe-winning drama, played out within the enclaves of the White House.
His former co-stars will go on the Clinton campaign trail to rally the public to vote, according to a campaign statement.
“The actors will discuss why they are supporting Clinton and urge Ohioans to register to vote ahead of the 11 October deadline and to get involved in organizing their communities ahead of November’s election,” the statement said.
Martin Sheen however won’t be joining his former West Wing colleagues, neither will Rob Lowe, one of the drama’s other main stars.
He has nonetheless previously stated his support for Hillary Clinton – and been damning of her Republican rival, Donald Trump.
Martin Sheen also appears in a new anti-Trump video called Save the Day made by the Avengers director Joss Whedon.
Over the course of its long run, The West Wing and its cast were honored several times by the Golden Globes and the Emmys.
A Hillary Clinton campaing rally at Clark Atlanta University has been interrupted by Black Lives Matter activists as she began a speech about reforming the criminal justice system.
The Democratic presidential contender spoke over the shouting, saying if elected she would carry on the work on President Barack Obama.
The group of 10 Black Lives Matter protesters were quickly escorted away.
They have interrupted campaign events to highlight police brutality, racism and mass incarceration.
The activists have mostly targeted Democrats – including Hillary Clinton and her chief rival Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have responded to the protests with policy proposals, meeting activists and talking about racial issues on the campaign trail.
The Black Lives Matter movement was originally formed after George Zimmerman, a Hispanic man in Florida, was acquitted of the shooting death of black teenager Trayvon Martin.
Photo EPA
It grew to greater prominence after a white police officer killed Michael Brown – an unarmed black teenager – in Ferguson, Missouri, last year.
The protest movement has continued to gain strength over the past year after several controversial police-involved deaths of black people including those of Freddie Gray and Sandra Bland.
Friday’s rally was entitled “African Americans for Hillary”. Guests included pop singer Usher and civil rights activist and Congressman John Lewis.
The crowd of about 2,000 chanted “Let her talk!” and John Lewis asked them to stop.
“I’m sorry they didn’t listen, because some of what they demanded I am offering and intend to fight for as president,” Hillary Clinton said.
“We have to come together as a nation.”
In 1994, Hillary Clinton lobbied for one of the largest crime bills in US history, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which provided billions for prisons. The law also introduced the “three strikes” policy, which called for mandatory life imprisonment without parole for federal offenders with three or more felony or drug trafficking convictions.
Hillary Clinton has changed her position since she has been on the campaign trail, calling for the end of mass incarceration and expressing her concern over police violence and black people.
On October 30, Hillary Clinton also proposed a legal ban on racial profiling by police.
The policy would forbid federal, state and local officers from “relying on a person’s race when conducting routine or spontaneous investigatory activities,” unless they have information linking a suspect to a crime.
Hillary Clinton also supported the “ban the box” movement, an effort to prevent job applicants from being disqualified because of their criminal history.
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