Why I Chose Lloyd Austin as Secretary of Defense  —  In late August of 2010, I traveled to Iraq for the fifth time as vice president.  While there, I participated in the change-of-command ceremony for United States Forces-Iraq.  President Barack Obama had charged me with overseeing the end …

Scoop: West Wing fears COVID spread after Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis attends WH party  —  President Trump's lawyer Jenna Ellis has informed associates she has coronavirus, multiple sources tell Axios, stirring West Wing fears after she attended a senior staff Christmas party on Friday.

In new lawsuit, Texas contests election results in Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania  —  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block the battleground states from casting “unlawful and constitutionally tainted votes” in the Electoral College.

Republican Sen. Pat Toomey calls Trump's campaign to overturn Pennsylvania election ‘completely unacceptable’  —  Sen. Pat Toomey said Tuesday that it's “completely unacceptable” for President Donald Trump to pressure state lawmakers to overturn Pennsylvania's election result …

Biden to tap Marcia Fudge to lead housing agency  —  President-elect Joe Biden has selected Rep. Marcia Fudge to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to two people with knowledge of the decision.  —  The offer to lead the roughly $50 billion housing agency comes …

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 …

FireEye, a Top Cybersecurity Firm, Says It Was Hacked by a Nation-State  —  The Silicon Valley company said hackers — almost certainly Russian — made off with tools that could be used to mount new attacks around the world.  —  WASHINGTON — For years, the cybersecurity firm FireEye …

Arizona GOP asks followers if they're willing to die in effort to overturn election results  —  The Arizona Republican Party has asked its followers if they are willing to die for the cause of overturning the presidential election results, eliciting alarm and criticism in response.

White House pushes Senate GOP to include $600 stimulus payment in relief package  —  Inclusion of these checks could grow the size of the bipartisan $900 billion package unless other elements are removed  —  White House officials are asking Senate Republican leadership to include stimulus checks worth $600 …

Michael Flynn judge says pardon doesn't mean ex-national security adviser is innocent  —  A federal judge dismissed Michael Flynn's prosecution Tuesday after President Trump's pardon, but said the act of clemency does not mean the former national security adviser is innocent of lying to FBI agents …

Christopher Krebs sues Trump campaign, lawyer Joe diGenova for defamation  —  The former top U.S. cybersecurity official responsible for securing November's presidential election sued the Trump campaign and one of its lawyers for defamation Tuesday, asserting that they conspired to falsely claim …

GOP leadership rejects resolution acknowledging Biden as President-elect  —  Georgia Lt. Gov says Biden won: ‘This is still America’  —  Washington (CNN)Congressional Republican leaders rejected a resolution that asserted that Joe Biden is president-elect, the latest effort by the Hill GOP …

Kellyanne Conway Signs Multi-Million Deal for White House Memoir: Report  —  CASHING OUT  —  Former Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway has signed a multi-million dollar deal to write a book about her time in the White House, the Daily Mail reports.  The exact price tag is unknown …

Sen. Kelly Loeffler's Husband Bought Stock In Sectors Set To Benefit From Then-Secret Bill  —  While Republicans privately drafted the CARES Act, Loeffler's husband was buying shares in corporations that would reap millions, a HuffPost investigation found.  —  In mid-March, with the American economy …

A new McConnell-aligned super PAC plans $43 million ad blitz to sway Georgia runoffs  —  Perdue skips debate, refuses to speak to CNN's Kyung Lah  —  (CNN)The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC affiliated with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is overseeing the Peachtree PAC …

Trump appointee who oversees Voice of America refuses to cooperate with Biden transition team  —  A Trump appointee with a short but controversial record of overseeing Voice of America and other federally funded news agencies has declined to cooperate with president-elect Joe Biden's representatives …

Bipartisan fix for ‘surprise’ medical bills hits roadblock with powerful chairman  —  A broad bipartisan effort to pass legislation protecting patients from massive “surprise” medical bills is now on life support as House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) digs in on a separate proposal.

He Pretended to Be Trump's Family.  Then Trump Fell for It.  —  For months, a 21-year-old Trump supporter impersonated Trump family members on Twitter, spreading conspiracy theories, asking for money and eventually drawing the attention of the president.  —  Last month, between tweets disputing …

Yang calling NYC elected officials to gauge mayoral run  —  NEW YORK — Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang is calling elected officials to gauge support for a possible bid to become New York City's next mayor, according to several people involved in the talks.

How the F— Am I the Sane One?  —  Just over a decade ago I was tweeting bad things about David Souter.  I had readers from RedState send so much rock salt to Olympia Snowe for siding with the Democrats in a committee vote on Obamacare that it made the Wall Street Journal.  I sent balls to Mitch McConnell.

“The caller was inside the house”: Former election security chief unloads on Trump “threat”  —  Christopher Krebs, the nation's former top election security official, tells “Axios on HBO” that President Trump is spreading disinformation, which he described as a form of domestic “threat” …