Justice Department investigating potential presidential pardon bribery scheme, court records reveal  —  (CNN)The Justice Department is investigating a potential crime related to funneling money to the White House or related political committee in exchange for a presidential pardon …

Trump's Election-Fraud Business Is Booming  —  The president needn't risk his own money as long as others are willing to chip in.  —  The president of the United States, a self-described multi-billionaire, is still claiming the 2020 election was rigged — and he wants you to give him some of your money to help him sort that out.

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 …

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.

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.

U.K. Approves Pfizer Coronavirus Vaccine, a First in the West  —  The emergency approval, ahead of the United States and the European Union, clears the way for Britain to begin mass inoculations.  “Help is on its way,” one official said.  —  LONDON — Britain gave emergency authorization …

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 …

‘I gave every inch of my life to him’: Brad Parscale opens up about final days in Trump campaign  —  Brad Parscale wants to clear the air about his fall from the perches of the Trump campaign.  —  During an interview with Fox News' Martha MacCallum that aired Tuesday, President Donald Trump's …

S.F. Mayor London Breed had her own French Laundry party — the night after Gavin Newsom's  —  Gov. Gavin Newsom is in good company when it comes to politicians attending fancy birthday parties while encouraging others to avoid gathering.  —  It turns out San Francisco Mayor London Breed dined …

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.

Hong Kong jails 3 prominent young pro-democracy activists  —  Beijing — A trio of young, well-known, pro-democracy leaders in Hong Kong were sentenced to prison on Wednesday.  It was the latest nail in the coffin of the city's once-very-public opposition movement that saw millions of protesters …

Trump threatens to veto major defense bill unless Congress repeals Section 230, a legal shield for tech giants  —  President Trump on Tuesday threatened to veto an annual defense bill authorizing nearly $1 trillion in military spending unless Congress opens the door for Facebook …

Trump Lawyer's ‘Drawn and Quartered’ Threat Ripped From Neera Tanden Playbook  —  A Trump campaign lawyer's widely condemned remark that a former Department of Homeland Security official should be “drawn and quartered” appears to be lifted from the playbook of longtime Democratic operative Neera Tanden …

Roger Stone, Who Had His Ass Saved by Barr, Turns on ‘Deep State’ Attorney General  —  SNAKE PIT  —  Remember in February when Attorney General Bill Barr trashed his department's reputation to override the recommended prison term for Roger Stone and push for a much shorter sentence?

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.

United Nations commission votes to remove marijuana from list of most dangerous drugs  —  A United Nations panel has voted to remove medical cannabis from a list of dangerous drugs.  —  In the Wednesday vote, the Commission for Narcotic Drugs voted on several World Health Organization recommendations related to cannabis.

There Wasn't That Much Split-Ticket Voting In 2020  —  The narrative of the 2020 election is that Joe Biden did pretty well ... but down-ballot Democrats, not so much.  And while this is true if you look simply at the results — Republicans defended most of their vulnerable Senate seats …

Army Hits Back Against False Claim that Soldiers Died in CIA Op to Nab Election Servers  —  A retired Air Force three-star general reignited baseless conspiratorial claims about U.S. troops' involvement in clandestine missions in the wake of the presidential election — claims an Army official said are 100% false.

Anticipating Senate bottlenecks, Biden races to fill agency jobs  —  Now that he's chosen a big chunk of his Cabinet nominees, President-elect Joe Biden's transition team is focusing increasingly on selecting candidates for government positions that do not require Senate confirmation.

Lawsuit by Trump allies challenging Pennsylvania election results reaches Supreme Court  —  WASHINGTON - A long-shot effort to overturn the presidential election results in Pennsylvania made its way to the Supreme Court Tuesday.  —  Conservative Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa. …

Trump fired me for saying this, but I'll say it again: The election wasn't rigged  —  Christopher Krebs is the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.  On Wednesday at 11 a.m. on Washington Post Live, Post columnist David Ignatius will interview Christopher Krebs …