Intelligence figures fear Trump reprisals over assessment of Russia election role  —  Legislators overseeing the CIA and other intelligence agencies have told the Guardian they will be vigilant about reprisals from Donald Trump over an internal assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to ensure Trump's victory.

Palin: ‘I can keep an eye’ on Russia  —  Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin tweeted Sunday about a secret CIA report that determined Russia intervened in the U.S. presidential election to help Donald Trump  —  win.  —  “Russia's getting out of hand?  So says the defeated,” Palin tweeted, appearing to question the CIA report.

Israel's prime minister welcomes Trump presidency  —  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells 60 Minutes Israel has never been in a better place; part of his optimism relates to the election of Trump  —  The following is a script from “Benjamin Netanyahu,” which aired on Dec. 11, 2016.

In Donald McGahn, Donald Trump Gets a Combative White House Counsel  —  WASHINGTON — In a town filled with button-down lawyers, Donald F. McGahn II has always been an iconoclast bent on shaking things up.  —  Mr. McGahn, Donald J. Trump's pick for White House counsel …

Democrats fear another Trump trouncing  —  As Donald Trump's inauguration draws near, Democrats fear they remain woefully unprepared to fight the new president's agenda.  —  The party loses its standard-bearer once President Barack Obama leaves office, and the Democratic National Committee …

Bolton questions if Russian hacks were ‘false flag’  —  's State Department, questioned reports of Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.  —  “It is not at all clear to me, just viewing this from the outside, that this hacking into the DNC and the RNC was not a false flag operation …

Bernstein says Trump's lies worse than Nixon's  —  Carl Bernstein, whose reporting broke open the Watergate scandal that led to former President Nixon's resignation, said Sunday that Nixon's lies were nothing compared to Donald Trump  —  “Trump lives and thrives in a fact-free environment.

Christie turned down several jobs in Trump administration, sources say  —  TRENTON — President-elect Donald Trump offered Gov. Chris Christie numerous positions in his incoming administration, but the New Jersey governor turned them down, two sources with knowledge of Trump's transition efforts told NJ Advance Media.

Winning the transition  —  BOARDMAN, Ohio — As if to drive home the point, a Trump campaign sign defiantly reminds passersby he won the presidency last month in this Mahoning Valley suburb of Youngstown, a once-dominant manufacturing town in the famed Steel Valley.

Trump says ‘nobody really knows’ if climate change is real  —  President-elect Donald Trump said Sunday that “nobody really knows” whether climate change is real and that he is “studying” whether the United States should withdraw from the global warming agreement struck in Paris a year ago.