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Philip Elliott Hillary Clinton<\/a>\u2019s campaign chairman is joining calls to have U.S. intelligence officials<\/a> share with the Electoral College<\/a> electors just what they know about foreign governments\u2019 efforts to shape the presidential race<\/a>.<\/p>\n John Podesta<\/a> on Monday released a statement saying the electors, who will meet to formally elect the next President of the United States this month, should know what American spies know, including just how much Russia put its thumb on the scale to help Donald Trump win. Podesta\u2019s email account was among those hacked and its contents published on Wikileaks.<\/p>\n \u201cElectors have a solemn responsibility under the Constitution and we support their efforts to have their questions addressed,\u201d Podesta said.<\/p>\n So far, 10 electors have asked for an intelligence briefing before the Electoral College meets on Dec. 19. Trump won 306 electoral votes, clearing the 270 he needed to prevail. Some liberals are clinging to the hopes that the electors would choose to set aside the results of November\u2019s presidential race. Such a move has never been taken before in modern American history. Then again, an American election has never been a battlefield<\/a> for foreign governments, either.<\/p>\n \u201cTrump\u2019s willingness to disregard conclusions made by the intelligence community and his continuing defense of Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin demand close scrutiny and deliberation from the Electoral College,\u201d the electors wrote to the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Among them: the daughter of House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.<\/p>\n Trump and his team have maintained<\/a> that it\u2019s not clear Russia interfered<\/a> with the election. On Monday, former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina met with Trump at his Manhattan offices and told reporters after that they discussed both China and Russia as aggressors. Trump a day earlier said<\/a> no one really knows if it was Russia behind the hacks of Podesta and the Democratic National Committee, and his campaign glibly pointed out that U.S. intelligence officials also got wrong their assessment of Iraq\u2019s weapons program ahead of the American invasion.<\/p>\n But the intelligence professionals have been less than subtle in naming and shaming Russia for publishing embarrassing information about Democrats. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, told<\/a> reporters on Monday that \u201cthe Russians are not our friends\u201d as he announced his chamber\u2019s spy panel would investigate foreign hands in the ballot box.<\/p>\n If Clapper gives the electors a briefing on what the intelligence community knows\u2014and does not know\u2014about Russia\u2019s role in the election, it would trigger allegations that spies are trying to undermine an election already ripe with interference from government arms, most notably the FBI\u2019s decision to revisit Clinton\u2019s email practices just day before the election. With confidence in government already at bottom-of-the-barrel levels, starting Trump\u2019s presidency like this would only erode it further\u2014especially with so many of his supporters already doubting the intelligence community\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a>TIME<\/span><\/p>\n