THE HILL:
A Republican elector in Ohio shared a video of himself burning heaps of letters urging him not to vote for President-elect Donald Trump after casting his Electoral College ballot Monday night.
Richard Jones, a sheriff in Butler County, Ohio, was one of the 18 Ohio electors who cast their votes for Trump on Monday.
“Got a lot of letters to burn,” he says in a video, puffing on a cigar as he throws letters into an outdoor fire pit. “Going to be burning letters all night.”
Jones posted pictures and videos of him burning the letters on his Twitter account Monday night. A CBS affiliate in Ohio first reported on Jones’s celebration, and said he has long been a Trump supporter.
— Richard K. Jones (@butlersheriff) December 19, 2016
The letters, he said, were from thousands of people across the country urging him not to vote for Trump. They burned in a fire pit while a Trump-Pence campaign sign sat on the grass the background.
“It’s over, we’ve got a new president,” Jones says in one video. “Thanks to America and thanks to Ohio for the electoral votes and gave me the chance to be an elector.”
— Richard K. Jones (@butlersheriff) December 19, 2016
Anti-Trump groups pressured Republican electors to vote for an alternative when they convened at state houses to vote on Monday. The effort fell flat when Trump sealed his victory with 304 electoral votes. Only two GOP electors — both from Texas — defected.
Five Democratic electors successfully chose other candidates than nominee Hillary Clinton.
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