Hillary for America Supports Bipartisan Electors' Request for Facts on Russian Interference in the U.S. Election

Campaign chair, John Podesta, released this statement in support of the letter from electors requesting facts on Russian interference in the presidential election.

The open letter to James Clapper was penned by Christine Pelosi.

Christine Pelosi

CA Presidential Elector from 12th CD. CA Democratic Party Women’s Caucus Chair. Served as prosecutor in SF and previously a chief of staff on Capitol Hill.

Bipartisan Electors Ask James Clapper: Release Facts on Outside Interference in U.S. Election

Open Letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper:

We are Electors who were selected by the voters of our states to represent them in the Electoral College on December 19, 2016. We intend to discharge our duties as Electors by ensuring that we select a candidate for president who, as our Founding Fathers envisioned, would be “endowed with the requisite qualifications.” As Electors, we also believe that deliberation is at the heart of democracy itself, not an empty or formalistic task. We do not understand our sole function to be to convene in mid-December, several weeks after Election Day, and summarily cast our votes. To the contrary, the Constitution envisions the Electoral College as a deliberative body that plays a critical role in our system of government — ensuring that the American people elect a president who is constitutionally qualified and fit to serve. Accordingly, to fulfill our role as Electors, we seek an informed and unrestrained opportunity to fulfill our constitutional role leading up to December 19th — that is, the ability to investigate, discuss, and deliberate with our colleagues about whom to vote for in the Electoral College.

We further emphasize Alexander Hamilton’s assertion in Federalist Paper #68 that a core purpose of the Electoral College was to prevent a “desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils.” The United States intelligence community has now concluded with “high confidence” that a foreign power, namely Russia, acted covertly to interfere in the presidential campaign with the intent of promoting Donald Trump’s candidacy. During the campaign Russia actively attempted to influence the election outcome through cyber attacks on our political institutions and a comprehensive propaganda campaign coordinated through Wikileaks and other outlets.

Allegations that Donald Trump was receiving assistance from a hostile foreign power to win the election began months before Election Day. When presented with information that the Russian government was interfering in the election through the course of the campaign, both in private briefings and public assessment, Donald Trump rejected it, refused to condemn it, and continued to accept their help. Donald Trump even made a direct plea to the Russian government to interfere further in the election in a press conference on July 27, saying, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”

According to reports in the Washington Post, New York Times, and other outlets, the United States intelligence community has now concluded definitively that the Russian interference was performed to help Donald Trump get elected, yet even today Mr. Trump is refusing to accept that finding. In response to the reports, the Trump transition office instead released a statement which called into question the validity of United States intelligence findings, and declared the election over despite the Electoral College not yet casting its votes. Trump’s 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.

Separate from Mr. Trump’s own denials of Russian involvement in the election, the confirmed communication between Trump’s aides and those associated with the Russian election interference activity raise serious concerns that must be addressed before we cast our votes. Trump-confidant Roger Stone confirmed during the campaign that he was engaged in back-channel communications with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, responsible for releasing much of the Russian-hacked Democratic communications, and indicated that he was aware of the hacked content prior to its release. Trump foreign policy advisor Carter Page reportedly visited Moscow in July of this year, just prior to the release of hacked DNC communications, during which it was believed he met with the Putin aide in charge of Russian intelligence on the U.S. election. Page returned to Moscow this week where he claimed to be meeting with Russian business and thought leaders.

In addition to Donald Trump and his aides’ conduct, revelations about their further involvement with the Russian government over the course of the campaign demand further investigation, as well as full disclosure of findings from any ongoing or closed investigative efforts:

• Russian government officials revealed that they had maintained contact with the Trump campaign during the election, and stated that they were familiar with most of the individuals associated with Mr. Trump.
• Media inquiries into whether the FBI was investigating Donald Trump’s July plea for Russian interference in the election resulted in a “Glomar response” neither confirming nor denying the existence of an investigation, rather than the more typical response of denying the request outright.
• U.S. intelligence officials reportedly probed Trump foreign policy advisor Carter Page in regard to travel to his Moscow during the campaign.
• The FBI reportedly began an inquiry into Trump associates following reports of a multi-million dollar business relationship with pro-Putin figures in Ukraine and Russia, and reports of an effort to sway American public opinion in favor of Ukraine’s pro-Putin government.
• Michael Flynn, Trump campaign aide and the announced incoming National Security Advisor, traveled to Russia in December of 2015 for a gala event celebrating RT, a state-controlled propaganda network, at which he was seated next to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Electors require to know from the intelligence community 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. We 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.

Additionally, the Electors will separately require from Donald Trump conclusive evidence that he and his staff and advisors did not accept Russian interference, or otherwise collaborate during the campaign, and conclusive disavowal and repudiation of such collaboration and interference going forward.

We hope that the information and actions described in this letter will be provided in an expeditious manner, so that we can fulfill our constitutional duty as Electors.

Signed,

Christine Pelosi (CA)

Micheal Baca (CO)

Anita Bonds (DC)

Courtney Watson (MD)

Dudley Dudley (NH)

Bev Hollingworth (NH)

Terie Norelli (NH)

Carol Shea-Porter (NH)

Clay Pell (RI)

Chris Suprun (TX)

Presidential electors interested in adding their names to this letter should contact ElectoralCollege16@gmail.com.

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Joint bipartisan statement from senators calling for an investigation.

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Nancy Pelosi has also issued the call for a bipartisan investigation.

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Want to encourage your state electors and elected officials to sign on?  Here are some contact links. 

Contact Your Elected Officials

Contact the Elector

Hillary for America Reacts to Citizens United Prez Joining the Trump Campaign

Your head may still be reeling from Trump's appointment of Steve Bannon as CEO of his campaign. On the heels of that comes this.

John Podesta Statement on Trump Campaign’s Hiring of Citizens United President David Bossie

Today, Hillary for America Chair John Podesta released the following statement:
“David Bossie is so craven and maniacal that in the heyday of the overreaching, Gingrich-era Congress, the top Whitewater conspiracy theorist in the House had to fire him for doctoring evidence. He has devoted his career ever since to trying to tear down Hillary Clinton. For months now, Citizens United has been acting as an arm of the Trump campaign, and this hiring of Bossie now makes it official. This is just the latest sign that Donald Trump has put the most extreme elements of the right-wing fringe in the driver’s seat of his campaign.”

ICYMI, Bannon and Kellyanne Conway purportedly belong to a secret group.

Trump Staff in Secret Conservative Group

The Southern Poverty Law Center acquired a membership directory for the Council of National Policy, an ultra-secret conservative group, and Donald Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway and his campaign CEO Steve Bannon were listed as members. The directory is for 2014 and indicates that Conway was a member of the executive committee that year and Bannon was listed as a regular member. Neither official responded to a request for comment from The Daily Beast.

 The secretive organization was described as wanting to be the conservative version of the Council on Foreign Relations and it is home to a number of individuals with fringe beliefs, including World Net Daily  writer Jerome Corsi, a popular figure in the Obama “birther” movement.
Read more >>>>

Yes, Jerome Corsi is there, of course.   If you read further, Joseph Farah's name also comes up.  To no one's shock, Trump is doing a terrific job of recruiting all the usual suspects. Wondering when we will see Orly Taitz popping up somewhere.


Rachel Maddow did a masterful job of delving into the historical roots of nativist movements.




Things are sure to get bloody. We cannot afford to be complacent or overconfident. We want Hillary. We are going to have to fight for her.

 

Meet Hillary Clinton's Transition Team!

Ken Salazar, former Senator and Secretary of the Interior, will chair the transition team with Tom Donilon and Jennifer Granholm.

U.S. President Barack Obama participates in a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, August 3, 2011. With Obama are Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar (L) and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS)

From left to right, Secretaty of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, watch from the back of the room during President Barack Obama's meeting, with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the NATO Summit in Chicago, Sunday, May 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Clinton-Kaine Transition Project Announces Senior Leadership Team

Former Interior Secretary Salazar To Serve as Chair; Donilon, Granholm, Tanden and Williams To Serve as Co-Chairs
Two weeks after paperwork was filed to formally establish the Clinton-Kaine Transition Project, John Podesta – the Chair of Hillary for America and the President of the Transition project – announced several top officials who will lead the transition planning over the coming months. This senior leadership team will oversee a Washington-based operation that is dedicated to preparing for a potential Clinton-Kaine administration, enabling the Brooklyn-based campaign organization to stay exclusively focused on the task of electing Hillary Clinton as the nation’s 45th President of the United States. Ken Salazar, former Secretary of the Interior and United States senator from Colorado, will serve as Chair of the Clinton-Kaine Transition Project.
Salazar will serve alongside four co-chairs – former National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, President of the Center for American Progress Neera Tanden, and Maggie Williams, Director of the Institute of Politics, Harvard University. Ed Meier and Ann O’Leary, two top campaign policy advisers, will shift full-time to the Transition team to serve as co-executive directors and manage the project’s day-to-day operations. Heather Boushey, the Executive Director of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, will serve as Chief Economist.
“We are extremely pleased that such an accomplished group of public servants has agreed to lead the transition planning for a potential Clinton-Kaine administration,” Podesta said. “While our campaign remains focused on the task at hand of winning in November, Hillary Clinton wants to be able to get to work right away as President-elect on building an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. These individuals, who bring a deep level of experience in the work of presidential transitions, will help us build a team that is ready to govern after the general election.”
“Once Hillary Clinton makes history by being elected as the nation’s first woman President, we want to have a turnkey operation in place so she can hit the ground running right away,” Salazar said. “A Clinton-Kaine administration will build on the progress we’ve made under President Obama, and tackle a new set of challenges both at home and abroad. This transition team will undertake the preparations necessary to ensure our next President has the resources and staff to carry out this all-important work.”
The Clinton-Kaine Transition Project is a 501(c)(4) organization. It was officially established through the filing of paperwork two weeks ago in the District of Columbia, with Podesta named as the entity’s President and Hillary for America senior adviser Minyon Moore as Secretary.
A 2010 law, known as the Pre-Election Transition Act, formalized the process for the transfer of powers from one administration to the next, and provided new resources to both party nominees so they each could take steps ahead of the general election to ensure a seamless transition. In keeping with the law, the Obama administration will host initial, transition planning meetings with representatives of both the Trump and Clinton campaigns. After the two parties’ conventions, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough phoned both campaigns to indicate that, among other steps, workspace administered by the General Services Administration in Washington, D.C., was officially available to both campaigns to use for their respective transition planning.
Biographies for the leadership of the Clinton-Kaine Transition Project appear below.
Ken Salazar, Chair of the Clinton-Kaine Transition Project, served under President Obama as the 50th Secretary of the Interior from 2009-2013. Prior to that, he was U.S. Senator from Colorado from 2005-2009. From 1999 until his election to the U.S. Senate, Salazar served as Attorney General for Colorado. He currently works as a partner at the international law firm WilmerHale.
Tom Donilon, Co-Chair of the Clinton-Kaine Transition Project, served as National Security Advisor to President Obama from 2010-2013. Donilon had leadership roles in the State Department and NSC transitions in 2008. He served as Deputy National Security Advisor before becoming President Obama’s top national security aide. Donilon served during the Clinton Administration as Chief of Staff at the Department of State. Donilon is currently Vice Chair at the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers. Jennifer Granholm, Co-Chair of the Clinton-Kaine Transition Project, was the 47th Governor of the State of Michigan. Prior to her two terms as Governor, she served as Michigan’s Attorney General from 1999-2003. She was the first woman in state history to be elected to either position. During her tenure as Governor, she led Michigan through a severe economic downturn by diversifying the state’s economy, strengthening its automotive industry and investing in new sectors such as clean energy. After leaving office, Granholm served as an advisor to Pew Charitable Trusts’ Clean Energy Program. She is also a Senior Research Fellow with the Berkeley Energy and Climate Institute.
Neera Tanden, Co-Chair of the Clinton-Kaine Transition Project, currently serves as President of the Center for American Progress. Prior to that, she served as a senior adviser for health reform at the Department of Health and Human Services, working to help enact President Obama’s landmark health reform law. During the 2008 campaign, Tanden served as policy director for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, then became the director of domestic policy for the Obama-Biden campaign during the general election. Earlier in her career, she was Legislative Director for Clinton in her Senate office, and deputy campaign manager on Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign.
Maggie Williams, Co-Chair of the Clinton-Kaine Transition Project, is the Director of the Institute of Politics (IOP) at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She is the former Communications Director for the Children’s Defense Fund; served as the 1992 transition director for First Lady Hillary Clinton, and as Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to First Lady Hillary Clinton. Maggie is founding partner of management consulting firm, Griffin Williams CPM, from which she took a leave of absence in 2008 to manage the presidential primary campaign of then-Senator Clinton. Maggie is Vice Chair of the Trustee Board of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and serves on the Board of the Scholastic Corporation.
Ed Meier, Co-Executive Director of the Clinton-Kaine Transition Project, most recently served as the Director of Policy Outreach at Hillary for America. Prior to his work on the campaign, Meier served as Senior Adviser to the Deputy Secretary of State during Clinton’s tenure at the State Department. In addition to his service in government, Meier has worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and served as Chief Operating Officer at Big Thought, an education nonprofit in Dallas.
Ann O’Leary, Co-Executive Director of the Clinton-Kaine Transition Project, most recently served as Senior Policy Adviser at Hillary for America, handling issues including college affordability, health care and family economic security.  Prior to joining the campaign, O’Leary was senior vice president and director of the Children and Families Program at Next Generation. O’Leary was also founding executive director of the University of California, Berkeley, Law School’s Center on Health, Economic & Family Security, and a Deputy City Attorney for the City of San Francisco. She held a number of roles during the Clinton administration, including policy adviser to the First Lady and assistant to the President on the Domestic Policy Council. She was also Legislative Director in Clinton’s Senate office from 2001-2003.
Heather Boushey, Chief Economist of the Clinton-Kaine Transition Project, is the Executive Director and Chief Economist at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth and a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. Dr. Boushy previously served as as an economist for the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and the Economic Policy Institute. She is a leading researcher on the issue of income inequality and author of “Finding Time: The Economics of Work-Life Conflict” from Harvard University Press.

We Are Better Than This!

It's a sad day when, saving an article related to the campaign, I discover I have no appropriate sub-folder for it and have to create a new one called "Threats."  Threats have no place in American politics. It is bad enough that character assassination has become de rigeur and [to Swift Boat] has entered the language as a political tactic.

Violence and threats of violence this cycle have escalated under Donald Trump's campaign banner.  He has fostered an atmosphere of distrust and hatred, and nurtured confrontation. When he encouraged rally-goers to rough up protesters, he gave permission.  When a governor, in a major party's convention speech, encouraged chants of "Lock her up" from spectators, a line was crossed.  When elected officials call for the execution of a political candidate, something in this country has been lost.  This not who we are and not what we do.

Updated: Secret Service investigates Baldasaro for saying Clinton should face firing squad

Londonderry lawmaker, Trump vets co-chair, doubles down on controversial remarks in WMUR interview

Jul 20, 2016MANCHESTER, N.H. —(Wednesday evening, July 20 update.)
The fallout from Republican state Rep. Al Baldasaro’s remarks that Hillary Clinton should be “put in the firing line and shot for treason” came quickly on Wednesday, with the most serious reaction coming from the U.S. Secret Service.
Click to watch News 9's coverage.
“The U.S. Secret Service is aware of this matter and will conduct the appropriate investigation,” agency spokesman Robert K. Hoback told WMUR late Wednesday afternoon.
SNIP
Federal law makes it a crime, punishable by up to five years imprisonment, for “whoever knowingly and willfully threatens to kill, kidnap or inflict bodily harm” on a former president, the immediate family of the president, president-elect, vice president or vice president-elect, or on “a major candidate for the office of President or Vice President, or a member of the immediate family of such candidate.”
Baldasaro did not directly threaten to kill or harm Clinton, but he did say that she “should be put in the firing line and shot for treason.”
Read more >>>>

CBS/AP July 22, 2016

Another politician says Hillary Clinton should be hanged

Hillary Clinton addressing General Conference of African Methodist Episcopal Church during its annual convention, at Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia on July 8, 2016

REUTERS/Charles Mostoller - RTSH0TR

NEWARK, Ohio -- A county official in Ohio is apologizing after a newspaper quoted him as saying presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton "should be hanging from a tree."
Licking County Commissioner Duane Flowers read a prepared apology during a meeting Thursday, after The (Newark) Advocate reported on the comment he made during a meeting earlier this week.
SNIP
Last week, a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates caused a stir after tweeting that Clinton should be "hung on the Mall in Washington, DC."
CBS Huntington, West Virginia affiliate WOWK-TV reports Michael Folk, a Republican legislator who's also a United Airlines pilot, posted a tweet last Friday night saying, "Hillary Clinton, you should be tried for treason, murder, and crimes against the US Constitution ... then hung on the Mall in Washington, DC."
Read more >>>>

It is reprehensible and outrageous.

Donald Trump told staffers and press this morning that last night the convention hall was filled with love and that there was no hate.  Really?  That is not what I saw or heard.

I heard a speech filled with doom, gloom, dire predictions in sustained loud decibels.  It was a mood speech, and the mood was sour, pessimistic.  There were promises, but no policy or plans.  Michael Beschloss commented that he did not know we were living in Gotham City. When I woke up this morning, the sun was shining, and the birds that were chirping were not mockingjays.  Trump should be ashamed!




The intent of the speech was unmistakable.  It was meant to instill fear ... fear of the other and fear of each other.  It was meant to set Donald Trump up as the only one - and those were his words - who can salvage this country from the dark, destructive forces in the mythical America he described.  See this for an historical perspective >>>>

As Trump doubles down, as he did this morning, on his toxic messages, the unrest he intends to incite can fester, grow, and infect our national psyche.  We cannot let that happen.

Here is a statement from John Podesta on Trump's address last night.

Hillary for America Chair John Podesta Statement on Donald Trump’s Acceptance Speech

Hillary for America Chair John Podesta released the following statement on Donald Trump’s acceptance speech:
“Tonight, Donald Trump painted a dark picture of an America in decline. And his answer – more fear, more division, more anger, more hate – was yet another reminder that he is temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be President of the United States.  He offered no real solutions to help working families get ahead or to keep our country safe, just more prejudice and paranoia. America is better than this.  America is better than Donald Trump.  Next week in Philadelphia, Democrats will focus on issues, not anger. We’ll offer a positive vision for the future based on lifting America up, not tearing Americans down.”

Some Thoughts on Earth Day from Hillary Clinton

To make a better future for our kids, we've got to protect the future of our planet. Happy Earth Day. pic.twitter.com/jRPtmo4Qzi

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 22, 2016

 Hillary Clinton ‏@HillaryClinton 

Proud the U.S. is signing the Paris climate deal. What better way to celebrate Earth Day than taking action to help save our planet? -H

The climate is changing.
Republican policies aren't.

RT if you agree we need to #ActOnClimate.https://t.co/8UUzG6RbVt

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 22, 2016

In ten years, we can generate enough renewable energy to power every home in America. #EarthDayhttps://t.co/k7EGD4G4dK

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 22, 2016

This picture is everything!  John Podesta shared this photo of Secretary Kerry at the UN signing of the Paris Accord.

Hillary Clinton: Cutting Through the Noise and Getting to the Facts

Thank you, Karen Finney, for sharing this!

Here’s How Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Will Cut Through the Noise and Get to the Facts

John Podesta on May 4

Hillary Clinton entered this race to fight for solutions that will help everyday Americans get ahead and stay ahead. Already, in the first days of her campaign, she hit the road to discuss these ideas with ordinary Americans. In Iowa, she described the need to get unlimited, anonymous money out of our politics — and promised to push for a constitutional amendment if that’s what it takes. In a speech last week in New York, she discussed her ideas for reforming our criminal justice system in order to repair the broken trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. And tomorrow, in a visit to Las Vegas, Hillary will discuss the need to enact comprehensive immigration reform to address an unsustainable system that leaves families living in fear and denies our economy the full benefit of their labor.

Republicans, meanwhile, are far less interested in discussing these important issues because they know their proposals are out of step with what most Americans need. Rather than focus on what truly matters in this campaign, Republicans seem to only want to distort Hillary Clinton’s record. It is clear that they have a two fisted strategy to try to undermine her, using unlimited dark money on the one hand and taxpayer funds on the other.

This strategy will not work, but that isn’t going to stop Republicans from trying. In recent weeks, the House Select Committee on Benghazi has signaled that it will allow proceedings drag into 2016, proving that they intend to turn what was once a legitimate inquiry into a partisan exercise. Now, within days of Hillary announcing her campaign for President, we are confronted with latest in a long list of partisan books attacking the Clintons.

Read more >>>>

Hillary Clinton at the National Clean Energy Summit

Hillary was at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas for the National Clean Energy Summit today.  We see her with John Podesta,  who moderated the conversation, and Harry Reid.

 

AP

Hillary at Harry Reid's Clean Energy Summit: Climate Change ‘The Most Consequential, Urgent Challenge We Face’

By: Laura Barron-Lopez (The Hill)
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday said action on climate change and renewable energy will send a signal that the "U.S. can still do big things".
The likely 2016 Democratic front-runner, drove a hard line on the need to pursue clean energy sources to help mitigate climate change and spur economic growth, asserting that the U.S. can become the "clean energy superpower our world needs."
"[Climate change] is the most consequential, urgent, sweeping collection of challenges we face as a nation and world," Clinton said at the National Clean Energy Summit 7.0 in Nevada on Thursday. "The data is unforgiving no matter what the deniers try to assert."
Read more >>>>