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Michael Moore vows to pay fines of Republican electoral college members who vote against Donald Trump

The electoral college is expected to officially elect Donald Trump on Monday

Olivia Blair
Monday 19 December 2016 11:05 GMT
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Michael Moore
Michael Moore (Getty)

Michael Moore has vowed to pay the fines of any Republican electoral college members who refuse to vote for Donald Trump.

The outspoken Trump critic and documentary maker has issued a further rallying cry to the electoral college members days after calling for protests and civil disobedience ahead of the college meeting.

The electoral college, which has 538 members with a number allocated to each state, will hold meetings on Monday to officially elect the next president of the United States.

Michael Moore suggests Trump still might not become President

The electoral college is often seen as a rubber stamp procedure for members to vote for whoever won the most votes in their state and never before has the college blocked the result of the public vote.

However, in case some members are thinking of rebelling, some states have measures in place which mean they could be subject to fines should they go against the public vote in their state.

Moore, who has enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence in the wake of the election after correctly predicting Mr Trump would be elected despite all polls and official forecasts, sought to address this issue in a lengthy pleading post on Facebook on Sunday.

“Here’s my offer to you: I obviously can’t and won’t give you money to vote tomorrow, but if you do vote your conscience and you are punished for it, I will personally step up [and] pay you fine which is my legal right to do so," the 62-year-old wrote.

In the open letter to Republican electors, Moore pleaded with them not to vote for Mr Trump citing the accusation that Russian hackers interfered with the presidential election and leaked emails of the Democratic Party (which the Kremlin denies) and the declaration from the President-elect that he has not been attending daily security briefings.

Moore also suggested Mr Trump will not last the four years of the presidency – he has previously claimed he will be impeached – saying: “Why risk the volatile presence of Donald Trump in the White House – and help to guarantee another generation of Democrats in the Oval office?”

“Republican electors, you have a chance tomorrow to fix this, to make it right, for yourselves as Republicans and for the country. Please find the courage to seize this historic moment where you put country over party,” he wrote.

Moore is not the only high-profile person to attempt to put pressure on members of the electoral college. In a video released by Unite for America, Martin Sheen, Debra Messing and Bob Odenkirk were among celebrities urging the electoral college delegates not to vote for Mr Trump.

A Harvard University law professor, Larry Lessig, has suggested as many as 30 Republican members of the college are willing to break their pledge and vote against Mr Trump. However, so far only one Republican elector, Chris Suprun of Texas, has publicly said he will vote against the real estate mogul.

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