Mark also asked me to put together gift packages for Cobb County election officials and workers, each stuffed full of expensive White House memorabilia that he and the president had selected to send. It might have been a good-faith gesture intended to show our appreciation for their hard work, but both the press and skeptical people could see it as an attempted quid pro quo for a favorable count. It took me a few days, but I managed to talk Mark out of sending them. To prove he hadn’t stopped trying to keep the president in office, Mark stepped up his efforts. “I’ll be the best chief of staff
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