Pfizer's Vaccine Offers Strong Protection After First Dose  —  The Food and Drug Administration's first analysis of the clinical trial data also found that the coronavirus vaccine worked well regardless of a volunteer's race, weight or age.  —  WASHINGTON — The coronavirus vaccine …

Agents raid home of fired Florida data scientist who built COVID-19 dashboard  —  DeSantis “sent the Gestapo”: Video shows FDLE agents with guns drawn at home of woman fired over COVID-19 data.  —  View Comments  —  State police brandishing firearms Monday raided the Tallahassee home of Rebekah Jones …

Ted Cruz Wants to Toss Out 7 Million People's Votes.  Appalling.  —  The ‘constitutionalist’ senator volunteers to help make the case at the Supreme Court.  —  Ladies and gentleman, Fox News just learned—this is “breaking,” mind you—that the junior senator from Texas, Ted Cruz …

Biden picks retired general Lloyd Austin to run Pentagon  —  President-elect Joe Biden has selected Retired Gen. Lloyd Austin to serve as secretary of defense, according to three people with knowledge of the decision.  If confirmed, Austin would be the first Black person to lead the Pentagon.

Scoop: Trump plots mass pardons, even to people not asking  —  President Trump isn't just accepting pardon requests but blindly discussing them “like Christmas gifts” to people who haven't even asked, sources with direct knowledge of the conversations told Axios.

Trump asks Pennsylvania House speaker for help overturning election results, personally intervening in a third state  —  President Trump called the speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives twice during the past week to make the extraordinary request for help reversing his loss in the state …

Trump blows a hole in the GOP on his way out  —  Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the presidential election have met with defeat in every swing state and in nearly every court where his cases have been heard.  But Trump's campaign to pressure GOP elected officials to support his baseless claims …

Exclusive: Suspected Chinese spy targeted California politicians  —  A suspected Chinese intelligence operative developed extensive ties with local and national politicians, including a U.S. congressman, in what U.S. officials believe was a political intelligence operation run …

Chuck Yeager, Test Pilot Who Broke the Sound Barrier, Is Dead at 97  —  A World War II fighter ace and Air Force general, he was, according to Tom Wolfe, “the most righteous of all the possessors of the right stuff.”  —  Chuck Yeager, the most famous test pilot of his generation …

Ivanka and Jared buy $30M lot on high-security Miami island  —  Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have splurged on a $30 million-plus lot of land on Miami's uber-swanky and high-security Indian Creek Island — known as the “Billionaire's Bunker” — Page Six can exclusively reveal.

The Marines And The Racist Porn Actor Who Tried To Start A ‘Modern Day SS’  —  Four neo-Nazis arrested on gun charges wanted to spark a race war, prosecutors said, and their potential targets included Black Lives Matter protesters.  —  In 2016, Liam Collins, then just a teenager living in New Jersey …

Is This a Coup?  Introducing The Counter  —  I present my own essay on the dangers of the moment and a strong counterargument against it  —  One of the best ways to think through and sharpen—or abandon—an argument is to confront the best case against it.  So I'm launching a feature of this newsletter: “The Counter.”

Armed Mexicans Were Smuggled In to Guard Border Wall, Whistle-Blowers Say  —  In a complaint unsealed on Friday, whistle-blowers working on President Trump's wall said that contractors were illegally bringing in Mexican guards to protect construction sites.  —  WASHINGTON — Two whistle-blowers …

Former Israeli space security chief says aliens exist, humanity not ready  —  This “Galactic Federation” has supposedly been in contact with Israel and the US for years, but are keeping themselves a secret to prevent hysteria until humanity is ready.  —  Has the State of Israel made contact with aliens?

Howard Stern: Trump's COVID-19 handling is ‘treasonous’  —  Shock jock Howard Stern notched up his war of words on President Trump — a former regular on his show — by accusing the lame duck leader of criminal behavior against his country.  —  The charge came Monday when a man identifying himself …

Stimulus stuck as Covid rages  —  Editor's Note: Morning Money is a free version of POLITICO Pro Financial Services' morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 6 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day's biggest stories.

No, President Trump can't pardon himself  —  In June 2018, in the throes of the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible obstruction of justice by President Trump, the president claimed “the absolute right to PARDON myself,” citing “numerous legal scholars.”

Tribes Want Deb Haaland For Interior Secretary.  Some Biden Advisers Are Trying To Thwart Her.  —  Anonymous Biden allies are telling news outlets the Indigenous congresswoman is not qualified.  “Of course it's offensive,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.).

Trump Admin to Rename Two Bases for Space Force Over Military Objections  —  The Air Force had quietly agreed with Congress not to change anything until the NDAA settles a way forward on Confederate base names.  —  The U.S. Air Force plans to change the names of two Florida military bases heavily involved …

Former Alabama senator dies of Covid at age 78, and in his last words warns, ‘We messed up’ … A former Alabama state senator died of Covid-19 last week at age 78, officials said.  —  Former Sen. Larry Dixon, a Republican who also served as the executive director of the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners …

Biden's pick for healthcare boss is an unacceptable extremist  —  Joe Biden, after promising to unite the country as a centrist president, has taken a radical turn by tapping California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to oversee the vast Department of Health and Human Services.

Reasons We've Loved New York A send-off to the many places, big and small, that closed in 2020. … If you live in New York long enough — and it doesn't have to be very long — it gradually becomes unrecognizable.  And maybe, you begin to realize, it's for someone else entirely …

Biden Administration Will Create Position to Reach Conservatives  — Cedric Richmond, a Louisiana congressman, will lead the effort  — Richmond wants to connect with 'people who didn't vote for us'  —  The Biden administration plans to create a position to find common ground with conservatives …

Police Reports Shed Light on Warnock's 2002 Arrest for Obstruction: ‘Extremely Uncooperative and Disruptive’  —  Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock repeatedly disrupted a 2002 police investigation into child abuse at a church-affiliated summer camp, interfering with interviews …