Trump legal team shuns Sidney Powell as insiders and national security officials see no evidence supporting her voting machine claims  —  With Trump-allied insiders distancing themselves from massive and unproven election fraud allegations being made by Sidney Powell, the president's legal team announced …

Goodbye To All That  —  Leaving the GOP.  —  1 hr ago  —  Welcome to Tim's bonus weekend Triad.  —  Join  —  1. TimoGOP 1995-2020  —  In 1992 as a puckish elementary school student I bet my lifelong Republican, FDR-hating, Washington Times subscribing grandmother $1 that Bill Clinton would beat George H.W. Bush.

In last-gasp maneuver, Trump campaign tries to invalidate thousands of votes as Wisconsin recount gets underway  —  President Trump's campaign is seeking to use a recount of the presidential election in Wisconsin to attempt to invalidate tens of thousands of votes in the state …

Republicans plot to sink potential anti-Trump nominees including Vindman, Yates  —  Republicans are making plans to torpedo some of President-elect Biden's prospective Cabinet, agency and judicial nominees if the GOP keeps its majority, aides involved in the discussions tell me.

Trump threatens to wreak havoc on GOP from beyond the White House  —  President Donald Trump has spent the three weeks since he lost the election savaging a pair of GOP governors for not backing his claims he was robbed.  —  Republicans are worried it's just the start of what's in store from the soon-to-be-former president.

POLITICO Playbook: Republicans serve Trump a heap of reality  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  HAPPY SUNDAY.  BREAKING: Incoming W.H. COS RON KLAIN on ABC's “THIS WEEK”: JOE BIDEN will announce his first Cabinet picks — plural — Tuesday.  BIDEN transition officials tell us Treasury could be one — Bloomberg's JEN EPSTEIN said the same.

Trump Exits Open Skies Treaty, Moves to Discard Observation Planes  —  Without specialized aircraft and equipment, Biden administration would have difficult time re-entering post-Cold War pact  —  The Trump administration formally shut the door on the Open Skies treaty Sunday …

How Trump Hopes to Use Party Machinery to Retain Control of the G.O.P.  —  Ronna McDaniel, a close ally of President Trump, wants to remain head of the Republican National Committee, worrying party members who believe the president will try to use the group to keep control of the G.O.P.

Utah hospitals have begun informal rationing of care, doctors say, as they cope with surge of COVID-19 patients  —  Editor's note: The Salt Lake Tribune is providing free access to critical stories about the coronavirus.  Sign up for our Top Stories newsletter, sent to your inbox every weekday morning.

Trump team requests recount of Georgia presidential vote  —  President Donald Trump's legal team said Saturday that his campaign has requested a recount of votes in the Georgia presidential race after results showed Democrat Joe Biden winning the state.  —  Republican Secretary …

Trump, GOP's ridiculous, flailing coup isn't a joke.  It's a crime.  There must be consequences  —  OK, so you haven't seen so many slam dunks since the USA “Dream Team” won the 1992 Olympics, as Team Trump's ace legal department actually embraces My Cousin Vinny while racking …

The disinformation system that Trump unleashed will outlast him.  Here's what reality-based journalists must do about it.  —  President Trump didn't create the media cesspool that he'll bequeath to a troubled nation.  He just made it exponentially worse — not only with his own constant lies …

Biden and his team are lowering expectations for their management of the pandemic  —  It's lucky for President-elect Joe Biden and team that no one in the national media has any critical questions for them because it's painfully obvious otherwise that they have no sure plan to beat back the coronavirus and quickly restore the economy.

Trump team making false argument about his 2016 transition  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — It's not just President-elect Joe Biden's transition that's under a microscope.  —  President Donald Trump and his allies are harking back to his own transition four years ago to make a false argument …

‘A huge catastrophe’: Democrats grapple with congressional and state election losses  —  But President-Elect Joe Biden's victory ended up looking more like the horror movie Alien, with the last bedraggled survivor kicking the monster out the airlock and then drifting off to an uncertain fate in deep dark space.

Newsmax, Once a Right-Wing Also-Ran, Is Rising, and Trump Approves  —  A once-niche conservative cable network, owned by a longtime friend of the president, lures audiences by refusing to declare an electoral winner.  —  Flanked by aides in the Oval Office on Wednesday …

U.S. Navy rear admiral makes unannounced visit to Taiwan: sources  —  TAIPEI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A two star Navy admiral overseeing U.S. military intelligence in the Asia-Pacific region has made an unannounced visit to Taiwan, two sources told Reuters on Sunday, in a high-level trip that could vex China.

Pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood to Steve Bannon: Trump supporters must do what “our Founding Fathers did in 1776”  —  Fox host: “Mandates crush your soul, they crush your spirit, they bring you down”  —  Fox host: “It is premature to declare that Joe Biden is the President-elect”

Biden Team, Pushing Quick Stimulus Deal, Prepares for Renewed Recession  —  Economists warn that lawmakers must pass aid now, as a renewed coronavirus surge chills consumer spending and business activity.  —  WASHINGTON — Advisers to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. are planning …

GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer: Transition should start “tomorrow morning”  —  Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said on “Meet the Press” on Sunday that it is “past time to cooperate with the transition” to President-elect Joe Biden, adding that he believes President Trump still has the right to continue fighting in court over election results.