Electors Demand Delay Of Vote Until Report On Trumps Dealings With Russia Provided

Suddenly the likelihood that 37 Republican electors will reject Donald Trump on Monday has increased dramatically.

Thats because a Friday ruling by the 10th Circuit Federal Appellate court in Colorado found that faithless elector state laws would be unconstitutionally applied if they forced the replacement of an electors vote (see p.12 of ruling here) . The jurisdictional region covered by this decision includes the anti-Trump Mormon dominated state of Utah (with 6 electors) as well as Kansas, Oklahoma and Wyoming.

The ruling adds 22 more Republican electors to the list of 164 who are free to vote their conscience on Monday without fear that their votes will be reversed. It means that only about one in five Republican electors, instead of one in four before the court ruling, will be needed to prevent Trump from getting the necessary 270 votes to become the next President.

Since this was the first federal appellate ruling to ever directly address the issue of replacement voters, the ruling could be interpreted as allowing all of the 538 Electoral College electors to prioritize their pledge to serve their country over their pledge to vote with their Party.

According to a source who has had recent conversations with top level Utah politicians,

a coalition of Mormons and ethical Christians, joined by a growing number of conservative Republican electors concerned about Russias potential subversion of the election, want to delay the vote for two weeks until they have been briefed on the Russian intelligence report.

Federal officials have thus far refused a reques t by a group of electors to provide the CIA intelligence for their review.

If they are provided with two more weeks to review the CIA report, electors might also win access to the relevant portions of Trumps secret tax returns. David Cay Johnston, the nations top tax journalist, explained that , Trumps complete tax returns would show us to what extent Russians are a source of capital for projects with the Trump name on them and whether money was invested directly or funneled through others.Donald Trump Jr. said in 2008 that in terms of high-end product influx into the U.S., Russians make up a disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.

During the next few weeks, federal prosecutors investigating Russian interference in the election could subpoena the IRS for Trumps returns, and make relevant portions of the returns available to the electors, as well as to investigatory Congressional committees.

If states refuse to honor elector requests for extension dates, 37 or more of the 306 Republican electors will have an understandable reason to reject Trump. This would pass the vote for President to the House of Representatives, who would have ample time to review the CIA report and relevant sections of Trumps tax returns before they would meet to vote on January 5. According to a new poll conducted by YouGov , a majority of American voters favor delaying the Electoral College vote until electors can be fully briefed on Russian interference in the election,

I described this process in detail on Friday in my column titled, If 37 Republican Electors Reject Trump, House of Representatives Could Make Romney President . I calculated that it would take fewer than 10% of the House Republicans for Romney to win the House vote and become our next President.

A vote by scores of electors to reject their partys winner would be unprecedented, but it would also be entirely legal. The very same Electoral College system that made it possible for Trump to be declared the winner with 30% more Electoral College votes after losing the national election by 4% of the popular vote, also provides the legal authority for every elector to cast an independent vote.

After all, if our Founding Fathers had wanted a rubber stamp Electoral College process, they would have prescribed an automatic count in our Constitution.

There would have been no need for the electors to exist, or to appear in their state capitols in mid-December to vote in person.

If the state governments refuse to postpone the vote on Monday, then the electors will be forced to disregard their constitutional duty to safeguard our nation from what Alexander Hamilton warned, in the Federalist Papers #68 , to be the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils.

It will take a lot for Republican electors to place the security of the Untied States over their loyalty to the Republican Party , and their concern for being seen as unfaithful. In numerous Facebook comment sections that I monitored last night, there were explicit threats of insurrection and even a few that threatened harm to Republican electors that dared to defy Donald Trump.

It is a deeply troubling sign of the times that the main reason Republican electors do not feel empowered to vote independently is a fear of being attacked for their choice. Threatening the safety of dissenting voters is eerily similar to the tactics that dictators like Vladimir Putin, and Stalin before him, have used to smother democracy and stifle dissent.

Earlier today, John McCain, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told CNN Theres no doubt they (Russia) were interfering, and no doubt there was a cyberattack. . . We need to get to the bottom of this, and we need to find out exactly what was done and what the implications of the attacks were, especially if they had an effect on our election. Later in the day, CNN reported, Sen. John McCain said Russian election-related hacks threaten to destroy democracy and faulted the American response as totally paralyzed.

Some of Arizonas 11 Republican electors might insist on reading the intelligence that gets to the bottom of Russian electoral interference before casting their vote. And they may have a lot of company.

According to a high-level Utah insider with close contact to Romney and top Church officials, the Mormon leadership would welcome a chance to have the electors replace Donald Trump, a serial liar and adulterer with troubling ties to Russia.

They feel that Mitt Romney, a reliably ethical conservative has proven appeal to Republicans. As candidate for President four years ago, Romney received a higher percentage of the popular vote (47.2%) that Trump just received (46.2%).

On October 9, the New York Times reported, that almost the entire congressional delegation of Utah had vowed not to vote for Trump in November. The article quoted Chris Karpowitz, a director of Brigham Young Universitys Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, who said, The Republican establishment in the state of Utah is in all-out revolt against the Trump candidacy. I dont think weve ever seen that before.

Tonight the Utah insider I spoke with reflected that many conservative electors are going to want to know to what degree the nominee for President may be beholden to a foreign power before voting, including understanding what is likely to be hundreds of millions of dollars in secret Russian loans. When you add these conservative Republicans to the already disenchanted Mormons and ethical Christians, you might get as many as half of the free Republican electors rejecting Trump on Monday, with a good likelihood there will be 37, or the one in five needed to push the vote to the House.

Late Sunday night, Hamilton Electors co-founder Bret Chiafalo reflected, I certainly wish the leaders of the Democratic Party had been more vocal of their support in getting us the full Russia intelligence report. Chiafalo, a Democratic elector from the blue state of Colorado, says that he is now very seriously considering casting my vote for Mitt Romney tomorrow.

Chaifalo, spent much of the night before the Monday vote speaking to other electors He thinks there is likely that there will likely be as many Democrats as Republicans voting for someone other than their partys nominee.

Mitt Romney has thus far said nothing. The clearest Republican expression of support for a compromise elector vote came on December 5 from Michael Cannon, a top analyst at the conservative Cato Institute. In this Washington Post column, Cannon wrote: Finding 38 Republican electors to vote for Romney instead of Trump might then be easier than Democrats thinkThere are 35 Republican electors from states where Romney got more votes than Trump (Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Utah, Wisconsin), and at least 120 others from states where Romney won a larger share of the vote. Thats more than half of Republican electors.

No Republican leader has provided as moralistic an objection to Donald Trump as Mitt Romney. Last June, on CNN, he warned about the secrets hidden in Trumps tax returns, Hes calculated that he could get support even if he shot someone, but if he released his taxes, hed lose support.

So, Romney warned his Republican audience, theres something in those taxes thats even worse than shooting someone on Fifth Avenue.

In a speech about the danger of a Trump presidency last March , Romney, who has referred to Trump as a con man, observed that Trump, creates scapegoats of Muslims and Mexican immigrants. He calls for the use of torture. He calls for killing the innocent children and family members of terrorists. He cheers assaults on protesters. He applauds the prospect of twisting the Constitution to limit First Amendment freedom of the press. This is the very brand of anger that has led other nations into the abyss. If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished,

The magnificent United States Constitution had the foresight to provide citizens with the powerful safeguard of a fully independent elector system. Its clearly expressed purpose is to protect our democracy against demagogues, despots, corruption and the influence of foreign governments.

The future of our democracy may depend upon the willingness of 37 Republican electors to exercise this power, and this obligation, by voting on December 19 for their county, and not their party, against Donald Trump.