The Russian government hacked the files of the Democratic National Committee and released the information to the public.
No fewer than 17 U.S. Government security agencies agree to that fact.
The Russian government deliberately interfered with our nation’s key election. They did it. Everyone knows it.
Only Donald J. Trump refuses to acknowledge that it ever happened.
There is increasing evidence that the cyber attack by one of our oldest enemies was done specifically to help Trump win the election. The CIA feels certain that this was the case, while the FBI will only say that its a possibility.
Nevertheless, whether the cyber attack was done deliberately to benefit Trump or not, it most certainly casts doubt on the legitimacy of his win.
Today a group of electors, from both political parties, sent an open letter to James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence.
This is getting serious, folks.
These 10 electors are asking the Director for a security briefing before they cast their votes in the Electoral College on December 19th. They are urging more electors to join them.
The author of the letter is Christine Pelosi, the daughter of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. So there is obviously some political interest in the question of whether or not to cast votes for Trump.
But there is plenty of history, and plenty of Constitutional support, for the idea of electors thinking carefully before simply casting votes to match state election results.
The letter says, in part:
“We are Electors who were selected by the voters of our states to represent them in the Electoral College on December 19, 2016. We intend to discharge our duties as Electors by ensuring that we select a candidate for president who, as our Founding Fathers envisioned, would be ‘endowed with the requisite qualifications.’”
The letter goes on to describe the Founding Fathers’ intention to have the Electoral College act as a deliberative body, to discuss and debate before casting votes. These electors intend to do just that, and they want to have all of the information necessary fin order to have that discussion.
The electors also brought up the clause in the Constitution that references foreign interference in our election system. They wrote:
“We further emphasize Alexander Hamilton’s assertion in Federalist Paper #68 that a core purpose of the Electoral College was to prevent a “desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils.” The United States intelligence community has now concluded with “high confidence” that a foreign power, namely Russia, acted covertly to interfere in the presidential campaign with the intent of promoting Donald Trump’s candidacy.”
The electors might have been less assertive in pushing for this information if the Republicans in control of Congress were taking the allegations of election tampering more seriously.
But the President elect continues to call the information “ridiculous” and to dismiss its importance. And when Republican Senator John McCain of Ohio asked the Senate to set up a special panel to investigate the situation, Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said “no way.”
We are facing a very serious Constitutional Crisis at this moment. As evidence of Russian interference mounts, and the Trump camp insists on ignoring it, more electors may feel the pressure to get the facts before voting.
The next week will be fascinating, to say the least.
The following video shows that many electors have been under pressure to deny Trump the Presidency, even before the news of Russia’s interference was known.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9P3RC-aM74
Featured image by Donkey Hotey via Flickr. Available through CC BY-SA 2.0
