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Electoral College Members Demand Intel On Russian Hacking Before Voting

By Tito Ojo-Medubi
Published on: 00:16 PST, Dec 13, 2016

Ten members of the electoral college are asking for proof on whether Moscow meddled with the U.S. elections before casting their votes, New York Daily News is reporting.

The bipartisan group of electors comprising of nine Democrats and one Republican in an open letter to the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, are asking for confirmation on whether Russia influenced the elections to favor Mr. Trump.

“We further require a briefing on all investigative findings, as these matters directly impact the core factors in our deliberations of whether Mr. Trump is fit to serve as President of the United States.

The electors from six states, including Washington, D.C., are asking for this to be done before votes are cast, December 19. They are also asking for “conclusive evidence” from the president-elect that “he and his staff and advisers did not accept Russian interference or otherwise collaborate during the campaign, and conclusive disavowal and repudiation of such collaboration and interference going forward.”

The Clintons and their top advisers have remained silent on the issue. However, this latest action has been endorsed by Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair, John Podesta. Podesta had lambasted the lackadaisical attitude of the press despite overwhelming evidence that Russia was interfering with the Democratic Party campaign in the buildup to the elections.

“Our campaign decried the interference of Russia and its evident goal of hurting our campaign to aid Donald Trump. Despite our protestations, this matter did not receive the attention it deserved by the media.”

Podesta said the insinuations raised serious questions about American security and that it had every right to be challenged under the Constitution.

“The bipartisan electors’ letter raises very grave issues involving our national security. Electors have a solemn responsibility under the Constitution and we support their efforts to have their questions addressed.”

The hacks were devastating to the Clinton campaign. Podesta believes that it was orchestrated by Moscow, but funneled to the public through Wikileaks. Wikileaks, week after week, released emails that showed disputes within the ranks of the Clinton Foundation, how humanitarian money was allegedly diverted to personal use, and how Bernie Sanders was sabotaged within his own party just to name a few.

President-elect Trump and his team have written off the findings of the CIA, according to the Independent. They are questioning the competence of the intelligence agency, “the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.”

If the 538-member strong Electoral College is to strip Mr. Trump of his presidency, they would need to deny him the 270-vote majority he needs. In other words, 37 electors would need to abstain or vote against him. Anti-Trump forces hope they can get the aforementioned number of electors mainly from the Republican Party, coercing the House of Representatives to make a final decision of who should be president.

The Democrats playing a huge role in the latest move to thwart Mr. Trump’s presidency said it was dangerous to just rubber-stamp the election results and not ” investigate, discuss and deliberate” with their colleagues. They added that Trump and his camp dismissing the CIA claims without any proof of their own was equally as dangerous.

According to the Inquisitr, Republican Senator John McCain has also called for an investigation into CIA claims that Russia infiltrated U.S. systems and swayed elections in Trump’s favor. The open letter from 10 electors is the latest effort to stop the Manhattan billionaire from being sworn in as president in January.

A slew of electors have already made up their minds that they would not vote for the 70-year-old politician in December. In addition, a petition has garnered over five million signatures asking the College to stop Trump from entering the White House and put his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in his stead.

[Featured Image by Michael Conroy/AP Images]

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