My Call With Ron Johnson: He Knows Biden Won But Won't Admit It  —  The Wisconsin senator says it would be “political suicide.”  —  November 14, 8:37 a.m. my phone rings.  I do a double take on my caller ID and realize who is calling.  I take a deep breath and answer the phone.

2,596 Trades in One Term: Inside Senator Perdue's Stock Portfolio  —  The Georgia Republican's stock trades have far outpaced those of his Senate colleagues and have included a range of companies within his Senate committees' oversight, an analysis shows.  —  As a member of the Senate's …

Biden: 'We're Going to Fight Like Hell by Investing in America First'  —  My talk with Joe Biden on his first few months, and his next four years.  —  President-elect Joe Biden was in a good mood as we talked on the phone Tuesday evening for an hour — he in Delaware and me in Bethesda, Md. He apologized, though, for being late.

Austin mayor stressed residents ‘need to stay home.’ He was vacationing in Cabo at the time  —  In early November, as health officials warned of a impending COVID-19 spike, Austin Mayor Steve Adler hosted an outdoor wedding and reception with 20 guests for his daughter at a trendy hotel near downtown.

Release of PPP loan recipients data reveals troubling patterns  —  Following months of litigation between the Small Business Administration and news organizations seeking data about who benefited from pandemic relief programs, the agency on Tuesday night released a sweeping dataset …

Kayleigh McEnany highlights ‘Democrat hypocrisy’ with COVID video montage  —  White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany played a video of Covid “hypocrites” during a briefing on Wednesday, accusing leading Democrats such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and California Governor Gavin Newsom of ignoring their own coronavirus restrictions.

Trump likely to announce 2024 bid, but GOP rivals say power will fade post-White House  —  President Trump is likely to announce he'll run again in 2024, perhaps before this term even ends, sources tell Axios.  —  Why it matters: Trump has already set in motion two important strategies …

Congress shoots down Trump's threat to veto defense bill  —  Congress is moving forward on a must-pass defense policy bill without repealing a legal shield for social media companies, rejecting a last-minute veto threat from President Donald Trump.  —  The final version of the National …

Confessions of a Clintonworld Exile  —  Doug Band worked alongside Bill Clinton every day for nearly two decades, first as a body man and then as one of the primary architects of his lucrative and often-fraught post-presidency.  Then came a seismic falling out with accusations of self-dealing and soap-opera-level psychodrama.

Michael Flynn's Call for ‘Martial Law’ Comes Amid Violent Threats Over Trump Election Defeat  —  Former national security adviser Michael Flynn—controversially pardoned by President Donald Trump last week—on Tuesday retweeted a call for the White House to declare martial law and re-run last month's presidential election.

Raimondo emerges as frontrunner for HHS secretary  —  Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo is now a top contender to be President-elect Joe Biden's pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, according to two people close to the transition.  —  Raimondo's rise comes as New Mexico …

The GOP's electoral mischief  —  MO PROBLEMS — Scooplet: Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) has been telling colleagues and allies that he plans to challenge the Electoral College votes when Congress officially certifies Joe Biden's victory on Jan. 6, as long as a Senate Republican joins him in the long-shot effort, sources tell your Huddle host.

Hey Obama... Some People Actually Do Want to Defund the Police  —  During an interview on the Snapchat political show “Good Luck America” (because apparently that's a thing?), former President Barack Obama decided to stick his foot in his mouth once again by telling host Peter Hamby …

CDC says coronavirus quarantines can be shortened from 14 days  —  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday said its recommended quarantine time after someone is exposed to the coronavirus can be shortened to seven days with a negative test result, and 10 days without a test, if they do not have symptoms.

Wisconsin Federal Judge Picks Apart Sidney Powell and Lin Wood's Lawsuit in ‘Brutal’ Order  —  The federal judge presiding over Sidney Powell and L. Lin Wood's lawsuit challenging Wisconsin's election results issued a ruling on Wednesday that reads like a laundry list of embarrassing procedural failures …

The Kelly Loeffler, Raphael Warnock runoff crosses a line  —  One of Kelly Loeffler's first public appearances as a U.S. senator came last January at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.  —  “I am so humbled to be here with you today in this sacred place …

RNC blasts Politico over Michigan election story  —  Politico chief political correspondent Tim Alberta packed a lot into his sizzling Nov. 24 feature, “The Inside Story of Michigan's Fake Voter Fraud Scandal.”  There's a tight narration of the Trump campaign's destructive effort to undo the Michigan vote …

Walter Williams, R.I.P.  —  The great economist and freedom fighter Walter Williams has died.  This is an incredibly sad news.  Walter was a great communicator of ideas and a prolific, provocative and uncompromising writer.  He was the John M. Olin distinguished professor of economics at George Mason University.

MAGA-ite in Manhattan?:  Ivanka Trump's political ambitions seek new home after the White House  —  Friends and former associates say they expect the first daughter to think about running for office, or at least get involved in some way in Republican politics.

It's time to admit it: Remote education is a failure  —  Whenever someone expressed concerns about the quality of remote education back in the early days of covid-19, they were all but shamed into silence.  No, the spring did not go well, but that was done on the fly, with next to no preparation.

Parler's got a porn problem: Adult businesses target pro-Trump social network  —  Hashtags like #keepamericasexy proliferate alongside conspiracy theories and conservative politics  —  Anyone following the #sexytrumpgirl hashtag on Parler, a social media site increasingly popular with conservatives …

Dianne Feinstein Backs Alex Padilla To Replace Kamala Harris In The Senate  —  The California secretary of state has emerged as the front-runner to replace Vice President-elect Harris in the Senate.  —  Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is supporting California Secretary of State Alex Padilla …

Fact check: Politicians on both sides of the aisle have flouted COVID-19 guidelines  —  The claim: Several Democratic politicians urge social distancing and issuing stay-at-home advisories but host or attend gatherings  —  As coronavirus cases surge across the USA, which reported …

For the Trump-haters, everything is a crime  —  For many years, I thought the most dishonest headline I had ever seen in a reputable newspaper was in the New York Times in 1985, reporting on President Reagan's address at a military cemetery in Bitburg, Germany: “President Equates Nazi War Dead to Holocaust Victims.”

Iowa Democrat will challenge election results with House  —  A Democratic candidate who fell six votes short of holding an open battleground congressional district in Iowa is planning to challenge those results directly with the House, placing the chamber in the highly unusual position of potentially determining the outcome of the race.

Mitch McConnell chokes up during goodbye floor speech to longtime friend Lamar Alexander  —  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell gave a tearful farewell to his colleague and friend Sen. Lamar Alexander as the Tennessee Republican prepares for retirement.  —  McConnell and Alexander's …

Covid-19: Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine judged safe for use in UK from next week  —  The UK has become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for mass vaccination.  —  Britain's medicines regulator, the MHRA, says the jab …

1 In Every 800 North Dakota Residents Now Dead From Covid  —  Just two weeks after joining the growing list of states where at least one in every 1,000 residents has died from coronavirus-linked causes, North Dakota's grim statistic has escalated: as of Tuesday, one in every 800 North Dakotans has been claimed by Covid-19.

Biden Discusses Virus-Weakened Economy Amid Stalemate Over Aid  —  President-elect Joe Biden is meeting with businesses and workers hurt by the pandemic.  Lawmakers continue negotiations on virus relief.  Here's the latest.  —  Live  —  Trump Has Discussed Pardons for 3 Children, Kushner and Giuliani

No-kill, lab-grown meat to go on sale for first time  —  Singapore's approval of chicken cells grown in bioreactors is seen as landmark moment across industry  —  Cultured meat, produced in bioreactors without the slaughter of an animal, has been approved for sale by a regulatory authority for the first time.