Hillary Clinton Wants This To Happen Before The Election Results Are Finalized

In one week, 538 Americans are set to meet to finalize the results of the 2016 presidential election. But before that happens, Hillary Clinton has a request. The Democratic nominee's campaign is backing an effort by members of the Electoral College to request an intelligence briefing on foreign interference in the presidential election. The Electoral College members, known as electors, are scheduled to meet on December 19 to cast their votes for president and vice-president. Typically, the electors follow the will of the people in their state. But this year, some are calling on their peers to join them as "faithless electors" and reject the candidacy of President-elect Donald Trump, regardless of how their state voted. Now, a week before the Electoral College convenes, a handful of electors are demanding an intelligence briefing on whether the government is investigating links between Trump's campaign and Russia. Ten electors, including a rogue Republican who says he won't vote for Trump, released an "open letter" to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper requesting information about ongoing investigations on the matter. The letter, posted on Medium, was written by Christine Pelosi, the daughter of top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California. Also signing the letter is Chris Suprun, a Texas Republican who says he won't vote for Trump, citing a Federalist paper by Alexander Hamilton that says electors must determine that the president is qualified and independent from foreign influence. John Podesta, a top aide to Clinton, said Monday that electors have "a solemn responsibility under the Constitution" and should have their questions answered. Weekend reports found that some in the intelligence community believe Russia released hacked emails to aid Trump. A bipartisan group in the Senate is calling for an investigation. Clinton's campaign is also calling on the Obama administration to declassify information around Russia's role in the election. Trump, meanwhile, has tried to cast new doubt on the allegations of interference. Trump said Sunday that a recent CIA assessment that Russian hacking had sought to help his candidacy was "ridiculous." And on Monday, he tweeted that "it's very hard to determine who was doing the hacking."