Putin congratulates Trump on his election victory in his first public comments on the US vote

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday congratulated Donald Trump on his election victory in his first public comment on the U.S. vote, and he praised the president-elect's courage during the July assassination attempt.

“His behavior at the moment of an attempt on his life left an impression on me. He turned out to be a brave man," Putin said at an international forum following a speech in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

"He manifested himself in the very correct way, bravely as a man,” he added.

Putin also said that what Trump has said “about the desire to restore relations with Russia, to help end the Ukrainian crisis, in my opinion, deserves attention at least.”

The Kremlin earlier welcomed Trump’s claim that he could negotiate an end to the conflict in Ukraine “in 24 hours” but emphasized that it will wait for concrete policy steps.

″I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate him on his election as president of the United States of America,” Putin said in a question-and-answer session at the conference.

As to what he expects from a second Trump administration, Putin said, “I don’t know what will happen now. I have no idea.”

"For him, this is still his last presidential term. What he will do is his matter,” added Putin, who this year began a fifth term that will keep him in power until 2030 and could seek six more years in office after that.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday the Kremlin is not ruling out the possibility of contact between Putin and Trump before the inauguration, given that Trump “said he would call Putin before the inauguration.”

Peskov has emphasized that Moscow views the U.S. as an “unfriendly” country that is directly involved in the Ukrainian conflict. He dismissed arguments that Putin’s failure to reach out quickly to Trump could hurt future ties, saying that Moscow's relations with Washington already are at the “lowest point in history” and arguing that it will be up to the new U.S. leadership to change the situation.

The Kremlin’s cautious stand reflected its view of the U.S. vote as a choice between two unappealing possibilities. While Trump is known for his admiration of Putin, the Russian leader has repeatedly noted that during Trump’s first term, there were “so many restrictions and sanctions against Russia like no other president has ever introduced before him.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to a question during a meeting with foreign policy experts at the Valdai Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Maxim Shipenkov/Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting with foreign policy experts at the Valdai Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Maxim Shipenkov/Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives to speak at a meeting with foreign policy experts at the Valdai Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Maxim Shipenkov/Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin points during a meeting with foreign policy experts at the Valdai Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Maxim Shipenkov/Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he answers to a question during a meeting with foreign policy experts at the Valdai Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Maxim Shipenkov/Pool Photo via AP)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Nearly 200 absentee ballots somehow went uncounted in Wisconsin's liberal capital after the Nov. 5 election, prompting state election officials to launch an investigation Thursday into whether the city clerk broke the law.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted unanimously to investigate whether Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl failed to comply with state law or abused her discretion. Commission members said they were concerned the clerk's office didn't inform them of the problem until late December, almost a month and a half after the election. Commission Chair Ann Jacobs certified Wisconsin's election results on Nov. 29.

Witzel-Behl's office said in a statement that the number of uncounted votes didn't affect the outcome of any race or referendum on the ballots. But Jacobs said the oversight was “so egregious” that the commission must determine what happened and how it can be prevented as spring elections approach.

“We are the final canvassers," Jacobs said. “We are the final arbiters of votes in the state of Wisconsin and we need to know why those ballots weren't included anywhere.”

Witzel-Behl said in an email to The Associated Press that her office looks forward to working with the commission to determine what happened and how to prevent the same issues in future elections.

It’s another misstep for Witzel-Behl, who announced in September that her office mistakenly sent out up to 2,000 duplicate absentee ballots. She blamed it on a data processing error.

According to election commission documents, the commission learned of the uncounted ballots on Dec. 18, when Witzel-Behl's staff told the commission that they recorded more absentee ballots as received than ballots counted in three city wards.

The commission asked Witzel-Behl to provide a detailed statement, which she did two days later. The memo stated that on Nov. 12, the clerk’s office discovered 67 unprocessed ballots for Ward 65 and one unprocessed ballot for Ward 68 in a courier bag found in a vote tabulating machine.

The memo also stated that her office was reconciling ballots for Ward 56 on Dec. 3 when 125 unprocessed ballots were discovered in a sealed courier bag. Reconciliation is a post-election process in which officials account for every ballot created. That work begins immediately after an election. Clerks have 45 days to complete it.

The memo does not offer any explanation, saying only that the clerk's office planned “to debrief these incidents and implement better processes.”

The clerk's office issued a statement on Dec. 26 saying it had informed the elections commission and would send an apology letter to each affected voter.

Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway released her own statement the same day saying the clerk's office didn't tell her staff about the problem until Dec. 20. She said her office plans to review the city's election procedures.

“While the discovery of these unprocessed absentee ballots did not impact the results of any election or referendum, a discrepancy of this magnitude is unacceptable,” the mayor said in the statement.

Wisconsin is a perennial battleground state in presidential elections. Republican Donald Trump won the state this past November on his way to reclaiming the White House, beating Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris by about 29,000 votes.

Madison and surrounding Dane County are well-known liberal strongholds. Harris won 75% of the vote in the county in November.

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl's last name.

FILE - Election workers process ballots for the 2024 General Election, Nov. 5, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)