Electoral College Members Ask For Intelligence Briefing

This week, ten members of the Electoral College sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper demanding an intelligence briefing on Russia’s association with Donald Trump and their interference in the 2016 election. A group of electors – nine Democrats and one Republican – are asking U.S. officials to give them all the information they have about Russian involvement before they cast their votes on December 19.

“The Electors require to know from the intelligence community whether there are ongoing investigations into ties between Donald Trump, his campaign or associates, and Russian government interference in the election, the scope of those investigations, how far those investigations may have reached, and who was involved in those investigations,” they wrote. “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.”

Among the signatories is Christine Pelosi, the daughter of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, so you can judge for yourself if this is anything more than a partisan attempt to take Trump down. The sole Republican elector signed to the letter is Chris Suprun from Texas, who made waves last week when he said he would not cast his vote for the billionaire. So far, no other Republican electors have made any attempt to thwart the will of the people.

The younger Pelosi said the electors needed classified information to make the best decision possible next Tuesday.

“Yes, we the Electors should have temporary security clearance to perform our constitutional duty in reviewing the facts regarding outside interference in the US election and the intelligence agencies should declassify as much data as possible while protecting sources and methods so that the American people can learn the truth about our election,” said Pelosi.

If the electors are to overthrow the results, they’ll have to talk at least 36 more Republicans into betraying their mission statement. So far, that looks like a losing cause. Democrats are hoping, apparently, that there’s something so explosive in the intelligence community’s findings that it would leave Republicans with no other choice but to jump over to Hillary Clinton.

There’s very little chance that President Obama will suddenly grant all 538 electors security clearance, so this is just the Democrats shaking the tree to see what falls out.

They might want to be careful about that.