U.S. Officials: Putin Personally Involved in U.S. Election Hack  —  U.S. intelligence officials now believe with “a high level of confidence” that Russian President Vladimir Putin became personally involved in the covert Russian campaign to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News.

Source: Twitter cut out of Trump tech meeting over failed emoji deal  —  Twitter was told it was “bounced” from Wednesday's meeting between tech executives and President-elect Donald Trump in retribution for refusing during the campaign to allow an emoji version of the hashtag #CrookedHillary …

Woman Made Up Tale of Anti-Muslim Attack by Men Shouting ‘Trump’: Sources  —  MANHATTAN — An 18-year-old Muslim college student who claimed three men screaming “Donald Trump!” attacked her on a Manhattan subway platform is being charged with filing a false report after admitting she made up the incident, sources told DNAinfo New York.

Did Donald Trump need an apology from Mitt Romney?  —  Source: Trump told Romney he won't be nominee  —  (CNN)As President-elect Donald Trump considered Mitt Romney for secretary of state, Trump wanted one thing Romney wouldn't give him: an apology.  —  Trump was willing to move past Romney's bitter campaign-trail criticism of him.

Colorado elections chief: Rogue electors could face perjury charge  —  Colorado's election chief is warning that presidential electors who vote for someone other than Hillary Clinton — the state's popular vote winner — could face a perjury charge.  —  The warning from Secretary of State Wayne Williams …

G.O.P. Resistance Builds to John Bolton as State Dept. Deputy  —  WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump's extended deliberations over assembling a team to run the State Department are reviving some of the same debates that consumed the years of war and strife in the administration of George W. Bush.

Shenanigans Alert: NC GOP-Led Legislature Calls 2d Special Session, Considers Bill to Change Power over Election Rules  —  While many people were worried about whether there would be a court-packing plan for the NC Supreme Court (about to have a majority of Democratic members) …

Trump team disavows survey seeking names of climate workers  —  President-elect Donald Trump's transition team on Wednesday disavowed a survey sent to the U.S. Department of Energy that requested the names of people working on climate change in the agency.  —  “The questionnaire was not authorized …

Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle is contender for Trump press secretary  —  Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle has emerged as a contender to be Donald Trump's White House press secretary, and is expected to have a third meeting with his transition team this week, according to two sources familiar with the meetings.

Donald Trump's Nominees Are Likely to Face Heavy Senate Vetting  —  Cabinet picks have been named without extensive reviews of their background and financial records, people familiar with the process say  —  WASHINGTON—President-elect Donald Trump has rapidly assembled a dozen picks for his cabinet …

Obama Bars States From Denying Federal Money to Planned Parenthood  —  WASHINGTON — Mindful of the clock ticking down to a Trump presidency, the Obama administration issued a final rule on Wednesday to bar states from withholding federal family-planning funds from Planned Parenthood affiliates …

Ivanka Trump to get office in WH space reserved for first lady: report  —  A spokesperson for President-elect Donald Trump  —  is pushing back on a report that Ivanka Trump will get an office in the space typically reserved for the first lady.  —  “This is false.

San Francisco, your Self-Driving Uber is arriving now  —  In September, we introduced the world's first Self-Driving Ubers to the Steel City.  Three months later, we're bringing Volvo XC90s to San Francisco.  We're incredibly excited to work with Volvo to pair our state-of-the-art self-driving technology …

President-Elect Donald J. Trump Announces Travis Kalanick of Uber, Elon Musk of SpaceX and Tesla, and Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo to Join President's Strategic and Policy Forum  —  (New York, NY)—President-elect Donald J. Trump today announced that three additional members will join …

How Clinton lost Michigan — and blew the election  —  Everybody could see Hillary Clinton was cooked in Iowa.  So when, a week-and-a-half out, the Service Employees International Union started hearing anxiety out of Michigan, union officials decided to reroute their volunteers …

For release at 2:00 p.m. EST  —  Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in November indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen and that economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace since mid-year.  Job gains have been solid in recent months and the unemployment rate has declined.