Monday surprises

This is being reported by multiple sources.

President Trump to pardon Julian Assange.

It looks as if a lot of secrets are about to be revealed, starting today. 

UPDATE: PA Republicans select an alternate set of electors:

At the request of the Trump campaign, the Republican presidential electors met today in Harrisburg to cast a conditional vote for Donald Trump and Mike Pence for President and Vice President respectively.

“We took this procedural vote to preserve any legal claims that may be presented going forward” said Bernie Comfort, Pennsylvania Chair of the Trump campaign. “This was in no way an effort to usurp or contest the will of the Pennsylvania voters.”

Today’s move by Republican party electors is fashioned after the 1960 Presidential election, in which President Nixon was declared the winner in Hawaii. While Democrat legal challenges were pending, Democratic presidential electors met to cast a conditional vote for John F. Kennedy to preserve their intent in the event of future favorable legal outcomes.

The conditional resolution states that electors certify their vote for the President and Vice President “on the understanding that if, as a result of a final non-appealable Court Order or other proceeding prescribed by law, [they] are ultimately recognized as being the duly elected and qualified Electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America from the State of Pennsylvania…”

UPDATE: Georgia has also selected a rival set of electors:

Because the President’s lawsuit contesting the Georgia election is still pending, the Republican nominees for Presidential Elector met today at noon at the State Capitol today and cast their votes for President and Vice President. 

Keep in mind that if a state submits two sets of electors, the President of the Senate decides which group of electors to hear, as per the precedent set when Rutherford B. Hayes was elected. The President of the Senate is the Vice-President, Mike Pence. He also has the option of leaving the state out of the count.