President Donald Trump on Friday joined the chorus of Republican critics complaining about the pace of vote counting in Broward, the Democratic bastion whose votes have narrowed the race for U.S. Senate.

He said there are “really bad things” going on in Broward and went after Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes, who is in charge of vote counting in the state’s largest Democratic stronghold.

“If you look at Broward County, they have had a horrible history,” Trump told reporters before boarding the presidential helicopter Marine One. “And if you look at the person, in this case a woman, involved, she has had a horrible history.”

Trump asserted something that Republican critics have claimed, but hasn’t been verified. “And all of a sudden they are finding votes out of nowhere.”

The president then continued to weave in multiple conspiracy theories, suggesting that there is somehow an attempt by Democrats to steal a Senate seat that he wants to go to Republican Gov. Rick Scott. As vote counting continued since Tuesday, Scott’s margin of victory has gotten smaller and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., has gotten closer.

“And Rick Scott who won by, it was close but he won by a comfortable margin, every couple hours it goes down a little bit. And then you see the people, and they were involved with the fraud of the fake dossier, the phony dossier, and I guess I hear they were somehow involved or worked with the GPS Fusion people, who have committed, I mean you look at what they’ve done, you look at the dishonesty, look, look, there’s bad things gone on in Broward County, really bad things.”

Trump’s comments amplified a theme that came from Republicans most of the day on Thursday – that something improper is going on with Broward vote counting, rather than simply a slow tallying of ballots.

Democrats urged patience, but Republicans attempted to sow doubt in the counting. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has aimed a fusillade of tweets at Snipes.

Scott reinforced that notion, saying Thursday night — at a campaign event held outside the official Governor’s Mansion in Tallahassee – that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement should investigate.

And two of the most popular prime time hosts on Fox News, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, took up the issue on their programs Thursday night, condemning Snipes and raising suspicions about what’s happening in Broward. Fox is the president’s favorite source of information, and Hannity is a major supporter who appeared with Trump at a campaign rally on Monday.

The League of Women Voters of Florida said Friday said that partisan critics should back off and give elections supervisors time to do their jobs.

The political rhetoric isn’t likely to cool soon.

The Florida Republican Party announced that U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Panhandle Republican known for his incendiary rhetoric during appearances on Fox News, would have an appearance late Friday morning outside the Broward Elections Office where vote counting has been taking place.

Staff writer Larry Barszewski contributed to this report.

aman@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4550 or Twitter @browardpolitics