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A Republican member of the Electoral College from Texas has promised to vote against Donald Trump during the college’s meeting Dec. 19, saying the president-elect “shows daily he is not qualified for office.”

In an op-ed published Monday in The New York Times, Christopher Suprun, a paramedic and first responder to the Pentagon on Sept. 11, laid out a lengthy list of concerns about Trump. He called on fellow electors to “do their job” and unify around an “honorable and qualified” alternative such as Ohio. Gov. John Kasich of Ohio.

The Federalist Papers, Suprun wrote, argue that the Electoral College is tasked with ensuring candidates are “qualified, not engaged in demagogy, and independent from foreign influence.” Trump, he said, does not meet these standards, and should therefore be rejected from the White House.

“Mr. Trump,” Suprun wrote, “lacks the foreign policy experience and demeanor needed to be commander in chief ... Mr. Trump urged violence against protesters at his rallies during the campaign. He speaks of retribution against his critics.”

Suprun added that he has “poured countless hours” into serving his party, and will continue to do so. “But I owe no debt to a party,” he wrote. “I owe a debt to my children to leave them a nation they can trust.”

With his promise, Suprun becomes the Republican party’s first potential “faithless elector” this presidential election, The Guardian reports. Previously, seven of the nation’s 538 electors ― all Democrats in states won by Hillary Clinton ― had voiced their intent to break their pledge.

To support anti-Trump Electoral College members, Harvard University law professor Larry Lessig announced on Monday he will launch “The Electors Trust,” which will provide free counsel to those seeking to oppose Trump in states where doing so may be illegal, Politico reports. The platform is also intended to help electors gauge whether there’s enough support to prevent Trump from becoming president.

“It makes no sense to be elector number five who comes out against Trump. But it might make sense to be elector 38,” Lessig told Politico.

Since 1796, there have been 157 “faithless electors,” most recently in 2004.

Last week, Art Sisneros, also a Republican elector from Texas, announced he planned to resign from the Electoral College rather than vote for Trump. He said casting his vote for Trump would “bring dishonor to God.”

Trump is expected to receive 306 electoral votes when the college votes on Dec. 19. That means that in addition to Suprun, 36 GOP electors would have to jump ship to drop Trump below the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.

It may be a long shot, but it’s exactly what Suprun is pushing for.

“The election of the next president is not yet a done deal,” he wrote. “Electors of conscience can still do the right thing for the good of the country. Presidential electors have the legal right and a constitutional duty to vote their conscience.”

“Fifteen years ago, I swore an oath to defend my country and Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” Suprun added. “On Dec. 19, I will do it again.”

Read Suprun’s full NYT op-ed here.

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President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team are firing back at the White House over the suggestion that he knew Russia’s meddling in the U.S. presidential election was being done in an effort to throttle his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.


“If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act?” Trump tweeted on Thursday. “Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?”


In the weeks leading up to the November election, WikiLeaks published a series of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and others. In October, 17 U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA, officially concluded that Russia was behind the hack.

The White House has faced criticism for its apparent reluctance to respond forcefully to the cyberintrusion. The Washington Post reported last week that Obama administration officials were “concerned about escalating tensions with Moscow and being accused of trying to boost Clinton’s campaign” and ultimately advised against a public counterattack.

But in an interview that aired on “The Daily Show” earlier this week, President Obama said there was no doubt Russia’s interference in the election was done in an effort to help Trump win.

“I don’t think there was any doubt among anybody in the media or among members of Congress as to who was being advantaged or disadvantaged by the political gossip that was being put out in drip, drip, drip fashion up to the election,” Obama said.


Earnest: Trump called on Russia to hack Hillary Clinton
Rich Edson reports from White House
On Wednesday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Trump was “obviously aware” of Russia’s intentions, considering that Trump publicly encouraged Russia to locate Clinton’s emails from the personal server she used while she was secretary of state. “I will tell you this, Russia: If you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said at a news conference in July.

“There was ample evidence that was known long before the election, and in most cases long before October, about the Trump campaign in Russia, everything from the Republican nominee himself calling on Russia to hack his opponent,” Earnest said. “It might be an indication that he was obviously aware.”

Kellyanne Conway, senior adviser to the Trump transition, condemned Earnest’s comments.

“That is just breathtaking,” Conway said in an appearance on “Fox and Friends” Thursday. “I guess he’s auditioning to be a political pundit.”


“That is incredibly disappointing to hear from the podium of the White House,” she continued. “He essentially stated that the president-elect had knowledge of this, maybe even fanned the flames. It’s incredibly irresponsible, and I wonder if his boss, President Obama, agrees.”

In his “Daily Show” interview, Obama seized on Trump’s Russian outreach too.

“The president-elect, in some of his political events, specifically said to the Russians, ‘Hack Hillary’s emails so that we can finally find out what’s going on and confirm our conspiracy theories,’” Obama said. “You had what was very clear relationships between members of the president-elect’s campaign team and Russians, and a professed shared view on a bunch of issues.”

On Friday, the Washington Post reported that the CIA “concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency.”

Trump trashed the reported assessment, calling it “just another excuse” pushed by the Democrats to undercut his stunning victory.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” Trump said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I don’t believe it.”

On Monday, Trump doubled down.

“Can you imagine if the election results were the opposite and WE tried to play the Russia/CIA card,” Trump tweeted. “It would be called conspiracy theory!”

Copy_Ninja

Dec 17 2016, 03:24 PM

Except it was brought up before the election. Like, quite a lot. It's pretty ridiculous to claim that it wasn't, heck it was used against Trump by his opponents. We're used to politicians deflecting questions and dodging the truth but the amount that Trump just straight up lies is staggering.

Sam

Dec 18 2016, 04:54 AM

Copy_Ninja

Dec 17 2016, 03:24 PM

Except it was brought up before the election. Like, quite a lot. It's pretty ridiculous to claim that it wasn't, heck it was used against Trump by his opponents. We're used to politicians deflecting questions and dodging the truth but the amount that Trump just straight up lies is staggering.

It was brought up a lot, the FBI just didn't come out and say it because of the potential political ramifications. Probably a huge mistake. No matter how many faithless electors there are, nothing is going to happen to Trump's Presidency.