Surprise! Electoral college 'rebels' who wanted to stop Trump WERE in touch with Clinton campaign (and now movement's leader is facing prosecution)
- Internal calls and emails reveal leaders of last-ditch effort to swing Electoral College from Donald Trump communicated with Clinton campaign officials
- The Clinton camp kept its distance publicly and didn't explicitly endorse efforts
- Campaign chair John Podesta called for electors to get a security briefing after reports on CIA conclusions about Russian-backed hacking
- Calls and emails with senior campaign aides Jennifer Palmieri and Jake Sullivan
- 'Look forward to being in touch'
Senior advisors to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign kept in touch by phone and email with a driver of the ill-fated, last-ditch effort to dump Donald Trump at the electoral college.
The advisors kept tabs on Colorado elector Micheal Baca, who was helping try to persuade Republican members of the Electoral College to vote against Trump. The effort ultimately flamed out, although a handful of Clinton electors ultimately ended up voting for other people.
Baca himself is facing prosecution for his decision to cast his vote for Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich rather than Clinton, notwithstanding a state law directing him to back Clinton and the oath he swore.
Some members of the group Hamilton Electors had spoken of trying to engineer a victory for Kasich as an alternative to Trump, arguing that Trump was unfit for office despite his winning 306 electoral votes. Clinton beat Trump in the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes.
Clinton campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri kept tabs on a leader of 'Hamilton Electors' through text messages that were revealed
In one email following up to a call with Clinton advisor Jake Sullivan, Baca apologized for being overly urgent, in one of multiple internal emails obtained by Politico.
'Not at all! We all share a sense of urgency,' Sullivan wrote Baca. 'Look forward to being in touch.'
Efforts to find a way to deny Trump his victory picked up after new reports about Russian hacking meant to boost Trump on December 12. Clinton campaign ahcirman John Podesta, the victim of a hack that put thousands of Clinton-related emails into the public domain, helped goad things on with a statement that said, 'Electors have a solemn responsibility under the Constitution and we support their efforts to have their questions addressed.'
Baca and Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri exchanged text messages that indicated Palmieri's interest in being informed about the effort.
Politico didn't reveal how it gained access to the emails, texts, and call logs.
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Electoral College electors (L-R) Sen. Polly Baca, Michael Baca (no relation) and Ann Knollman talk before taking the oath of office in the Governor's office at the State Capitol in Denver. Michael Baca is being prosecuting for violating his oath and casting his vote for Ohio Governor John Kasich
Clinton aide Jake Sullivan, also communicated with Baca, according to an email chain that was revealed
Clinton campaign chair John Podesta, who was the victim of a hacking effort the government believes came from the Russian government, called for electors to get a security briefing in advance of the vote
'I know I will have done everything I could to stop Trump but I am just a guy at the end of the day,' Baca wrote. 'Thank you so very much and I'll trust whatever happens was the right decision.'
Palmieri, who vented about the type of campaign Trump ran at a post-election panel at Harvard, responded: 'I hear you. Are you doing a press conference today?'
When Baca told her about an event he was planning on the matter, Palmieri asked him: ''What are you planning to say?' but didn't put in writing anything that revealed her own views.
Podesta refused to get pinned down supporting the effort to deny a win to Trump at the Electoral College in his public comments, although he may have provided signals of encouragement merely by running through the possibilities.
He told NBC's 'Meet the Press' the day before the vote: 'I assume that our electors are going to vote for Hillary Clinton. But the question is whether there are 37 Republican electors who think that either there are open questions or that Donald Trump, based on everything we know about him, is really unfit to be president of the United States. And if they do, then they'll throw it to the House of Representatives.'
The effort ultimately tanked – and more Democratic electors ended up voting against Hillary Clinton than Republicans bailed on Trump.
Just two Republican electors voted against Trump, while eight snubbed Clinton by voting for someone else.
Colorado officials replaced Baca when he attempted to vote for Kasich. There have been just 157 faithless electors in U.S. history.
Micheal Baca casts his vote for vice president on his pen box after he was replaced by Celeste Landry of Boulder (on is right) as a Colorado member of the Electoral College
Elector Rick Bennett shakes hands with a Trump supporter after casting his Electoral College ballot at the State House in Augusta, Maine
Another Democratic elector in Washington cast his ballot for an American Indian activist named Faith Spotted Eagle, known for protesting against the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota.
Hours later in Hawaii, another protesting Democrat voted for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Trump's two Texas mutinies produced votes for Kasich and former Rep. Ron Paul. Three faithless Clinton electors from Washington State cast votes for former secretary of state Colin Powell.
The Constitution doesn't bind electors, who are chosen by the voters, from voting for someone who didn't carry their state, although many states have passed legislation to bind them.
Colorado's secretary of state referred Baca's case to the state attorney general for prosecution. Baca backed Sanders in the primary but swore an oath to vote for the state winner in the electoral college.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4059162/Surprise-Electoral-college-rebels-wanted-stop-Trump-touch-Clinton-campaign-movement-s-leader-facing-prosecution.html#ixzz4TgZTsw78
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