memeorandum: In an anti-recount filing, Trump's lawyers say the election was ‘not tainted by fraud or mistake’ (Philip Bump/Washington Post)

2:30 PM ET, December 5, 2016

Top Items:

Governor McCrory statement on 2016 election results

Discussion: The Atlantic, ABC News, NPR, Political Wire, Business Insider, Daily Kos, TheBlaze and Diane Ravitch's blog

Tegna / WCNC-TV:

Cooper extends lead over McCrory in recount … DURHAM, N.C. - Democratic challenger Roy Cooper's lead over incumbent Governor Pat McCrory has grown, according to partial recount results released by the Durham County Board of Elections. — After recounting 52,833 ballots …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Talking Points Memo, governor.nc.gov and RedState

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

McCrory concedes in North Carolina — North Carolina GOP Gov. Pat McCrory has conceded the governor's race to Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper, after a prolonged canvassing of votes that stretched almost a full month after Election Day. — “Despite continued questions …

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Pat McCrory Concedes In North Carolina Governor's Race

Discussion: Raleigh News & Observer and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Evan McMullin / New York Times:

Trump's Threat to the Constitution — WASHINGTON — On July 7, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, met privately with House Republicans near the Capitol. I was present as chief policy director of the House Republican Conference.

Discussion: RedState, Raw Story, Politico and Patterico's Pontifications

Charles M. Blow / New York Times:

Trump's Agents of Idiocracy — Last week when Donald Trump began his so-called Thank You Tour in Cincinnati, he had yet another opportunity to be magnanimous and conciliatory, to step beyond the division and acrimony of his campaign and into the unity and healing necessary to be president of a strained nation.

Discussion: Raw Story

Elana Schor / Politico:

Democrats to give Trump Cabinet picks the Garland treatment — Senate Democrats are preparing to put Donald Trump's Cabinet picks through a grinding confirmation process, weighing delay tactics that could eat up weeks of the Senate calendar and hamper his first 100 days in office.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, RedState, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Political Wire, Daily Kos, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Resurgent, The Week and rubber hose

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

In an anti-recount filing, Trump's lawyers say the election was ‘not tainted by fraud or mistake’ — Three leading Republicans were asked over the weekend whether or not they agreed with Donald Trump's tweeted assertion that millions of voters had cast illegal ballots (part of Trump's effort to rebut his popular vote loss).

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, Politico, Hot Air, Law News, CBS News and The Guardian

Associated Press:
The Latest: Stein Explains Recount Push Outside Trump Tower

Discussion: Politico

Detroit Free Press:
Judge orders immediate start of Michigan recount

Discussion: Occupy Democrats and Hot Air

Theo Keith / FOX6Now.com:
Presidential recount: Counting complete in 6 counties; results have barely changed

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and The American Mirror

Detroit News:
Judge orders Mich. presidential recount to begin Monday

Discussion: RedState, The Gateway Pundit, BizPac Review and The Daily Caller

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Michael Flynn's tweet wasn't actually about #PizzaGate, but his son is now defending the baseless conspiracy theory — This post has been updated. — There are so many fake tales floating around about the 2016 election that they appear to be getting confused for one another.

Discussion: CNN, ThinkProgress, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, Foreign Policy, New York Times, Business Insider, The Gateway Pundit, Vox, The Daily Caller, Raw Story and Al Jazeera English, more at Mediagazer »

Eric Lipton / New York Times:
Man Motivated by ‘Pizzagate’ Conspiracy Theory Arrested in Washington Gunfire

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Mashable, Althouse, Raw Story, Washingtonian, The Hill and RedState, more at Mediagazer »

Politico:
Incoming national security adviser's son spreads fake news about D.C. pizza shop

Discussion: The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, USA Today, Mediaite, Right Wing Watch, Occupy Democrats, Hit & Run, Media Matters for America, New York Times, NPR, Washingtonian, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mashable, Washington Post, New York Magazine and Rewire

David Wright / CNN:

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner plan move to DC — Kushner is expected to play a significant role in the new Trump administration, while Ivanka Trump may take a lead role in managing her father's sprawling business interests — (CNN)Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, RedState, AOL, Hot Air, Washingtonian, The Week, The Daily Caller, CNBC, Political Wire and alan.com

Neetzan Zimmerman / The Hill:
Ivanka Trump to meet with Al Gore

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

Gabriel Debenedetti / Politico:

Rogue electors brief Clinton camp on anti-Trump plan — Advocates of the long-shot bid to turn the Electoral College against Donald Trump have been in contact with close allies of Hillary Clinton, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions, but the Clinton camp …

Discussion: Political Wire

Dante Chinni / NBC News:
Democrats' Popular Vote Advantage Is Growing But That May Not Equal Election Wins

Discussion: alicublog and Media Matters for America

Trip Gabriel / New York Times:

Trump Chooses Ben Carson to Lead HUD — Ben Carson, who took Donald J. Trump on a tour of blighted neighborhoods in Detroit during the presidential campaign, including his boyhood home, has been chosen by Mr. Trump to oversee one of the government's main efforts to lift American cities …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Business Insider, Rewire and twitchy.com

David Wright / CNN:
Trump taps Ben Carson for HUD secretary

Discussion: Media Matters for America, NPR, BizPac Review, The Root and Outside the Beltway

Louis Nelson / Politico:
Trump picks Ben Carson to be HUD secretary

Discussion: ABC News, Washington Post, Right Wing Watch, TheBlaze, Scared Monkeys and Business Insider

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
Ben Carson: From Trump friend to enemy to ally to outsider to Cabinet member

Discussion: New York Magazine, Washington Monthly, The Atlantic and The Guardian

Business Wire:

Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics Partners Respond to the Statement from the Department of the Army — DALLAS & NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. (NYSE: ETP) and Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. (NYSE: SXL) announced that the Administration's statement today …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Sacred Stone Camp, Occupy Democrats, Business Insider, The Guardian, The Verge, Truthout Stories, USA Today and The Root

Naomi Klein / The Nation:
The Lesson from Standing Rock: Organizing and Resistance Can Win

Discussion: The Daily Caller, ABC News and AOL

U.S. Army / army.mil:
Army will not grant easement for Dakota Access Pipeline crossing

Anne Gearan / Washington Post:

Trump's Taiwan phone call was long planned, say people who were involved — Donald Trump's protocol-breaking telephone call with Taiwan's leader was an intentionally provocative move that establishes the incoming president as a break with the past, according to interviews with people involved in the planning.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Politico, Power Line, Fox News, NBC News, Raw Story, Business Insider, TheBlaze, Daily Kos, The Resurgent, Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, The Daily Caller, New York Times, The Week and CHINAdaily

Walter Russell Mead / The American Interest: What the Taiwan Call Means

Michael Green / Foreign Policy:
How Bad Was Trump's Taiwan Phone Call?

Discussion: Hit & Run and reverbpress.com

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:

GOP wagers Americans don't care about Trump's conflicts — Republicans see the same ethically challenged complications lurking in Donald Trump's business portfolio that Democrats are squawking about. They just think Americans don't care about these entanglements anymore.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, New York Magazine and Daily Kos

James Hohmann / Washington Post:

The Daily 202: Trump's pollster says he ran a ‘post-ideological’ campaign — THE BIG IDEA: — CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Donald Trump won more because of strength than ideology. — The shouting match between top advisers to the president-elect and Hillary Clinton's senior staff overshadowed several …

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Tillerson, Stavridis join secretary of state field — President-elect Donald Trump is expected to meet this week with several new contenders for the secretary of state position, including ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson and retired Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis, according to a source close to the transition.

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Magazine, Business Insider, USA Today and ABC News

Wall Street Journal:
Exxon CEO Now a Contender for Donald Trump's Secretary of State

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Political Wire

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump is broadening …

Discussion: TheBlaze and The Daily Caller

New York Post:

The disclosure that could end Eric Schneiderman's career — State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's witch hunt against supposed “climate-science deniers” became an even more embarrassing debacle late last month — and just might wind up ending his career.