John
Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, says
her campaign supports the request of some Electoral College members for
an intelligence briefing about possible
Russian interference in the presidential election.
“Electors
have a solemn responsibility under the Constitution and we support
their efforts to have their questions addressed,” Podesta said in a
statement Monday.
He was responding to an open letter to Director of National
Intelligence James Clapper written by 10 electors (nine Democrats and
one Republican) and posted on
Medium.
The electors wrote about their concern about the U.S. intelligence
community’s assertion -- made with “high confidence”-- that Russia
“acted covertly to interfere in the presidential campaign with the
intent of promoting Donald Trump’s candidacy” and about Mr. Trump’s
rejection of the intelligence community’s judgment.
The
CIA’s judgment on Russian interference in the election “should distress
every American. Never before in the history of our Republic have we
seen such an effort to undermine the bedrock of our democracy,” Podesta
wrote.
Podesta also said that the Obama administration “owes it to
the American people to explain what it knows regarding the extent and
manner of Russia’s interference and this be done as soon as possible.”
In
their letter to Clapper, the electors wrote that they want information
from the intelligence community about “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.”
Moreover,
they say they “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 who signed the letter are to cast their votes on Dec. 19.
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