McConnell warns Senate Republicans against challenging election results  —  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned Republican senators Tuesday during a private caucus call not to object to the election results on Jan. 6, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

DeVos urges career staff to ‘be the resistance’ as Biden takes over  —  Education Secretary Betsy DeVos urged career employees at the Education Department on Tuesday to “be the resistance” when the Biden administration comes into power next month, according to a recording of her remarks obtained by POLITICO.

Why Biden thinks the GOP fever could break (really)  —  Welcome to POLITICO's 2020 Transition Playbook, your guide to one of the most consequential transfers of power in American history.  —  JOE BIDEN thinks he'll succeed where President BARACK OBAMA failed — at least when it comes to Republicans in Congress.

MacKenzie Scott Gives Away $4.2 Billion in Four Months  — World's 18th-richest person announced contributions on Medium  — Scott's total gifts this year are close to $6 billion  —  MacKenzie Scott is giving away her fortune at an unprecedented pace, donating more than $4 billion …

Alleged crusade to stop voter fraud lands former HPD captain in handcuffs  —  HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A former Houston Police Department Captain was arrested and charged for running a man off the road and pointing a gun at his head in an attempt to prove claims of a massive voter fraud scheme …

Trump asking about special prosecutor for Hunter Biden  —  Washington (AP) — President Donald Trump is considering pushing to have a special counsel appointed to advance a federal tax investigation into the son of President-elect Joe Biden, setting up a potential showdown with incoming acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen.

San Francisco to rename Abraham Lincoln High School because former president did not demonstrate that ‘black lives mattered to him’ - as woke renaming committee also takes aim at Democrat senator Dianne Feinstein and Teddy Roosevelt  — San Francisco Unified School District's renaming …

Trump Organization must turn over documents to NY attorney general, judge rules  —  (CNN)A state judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump Organization must turn over documents related to a property whose tax abatements were being investigated by New York Attorney General Letitia James' office.

Mar-a-Lago neighbors to Trump: Spend your post-presidency elsewhere  —  Next-door neighbors of Mar-a-Lago, President Trump's private club in Palm Beach, Fla., that he has called his Winter White House, have a message for the outgoing commander in chief: We don't want you to be our neighbor.

Biden picks former EPA chief Gina McCarthy as White House climate czar  —  McCarthy heads the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has sued the Trump administration more than 100 times.  —  President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Gina McCarthy, who ran the Environmental Protection Agency …

Jenna Ellis, President Trump's lawyer, was fired from Weld County DA's office for “mistakes,” records show  —  Jenna Ellis, the attorney from Colorado representing President Donald Trump in his bid to overturn his 2020 election loss, was fired from her job as a Weld County prosecutor in 2013 …

Everyone Trump Touches Dies: The List  —  He revealed people for what they really were.  —  Bill Barr?  He gone.  —  Barr began the Year of Our Lord 2016 as a well respected member of the conservative legal establishment.  He concludes 2020 with his reputation destroyed …

So Jeffrey Toobin Had a Zoom Incident.  What Now?  —  How a leading man of legal journalism lost his sweetest gig.  —  Until Jeffrey Toobin's fateful appointment with Zoom on Oct. 15, his quarantine was going better than most people's.  —  In August, his eighth book, “True Crimes and Misdemeanors …

‘You Have the Wrong Place:’ Body Camera Video Shows Moments Police Handcuff Innocent, Naked Woman During Wrong Raid  —  CHICAGO (CBS) — For the first time, police body camera video reveals what an innocent woman said happened to her nearly two years ago: police officers wrongly entered …

How did a Proud Boys leader with a felony record get into the White House?  —  Enrique Tarrio claims he visited the White House on Saturday, hours before a major pro-Trump rally  —  The chairman of the white nationalist Proud Boys group, a convicted felon, posted photos from inside …

Trump Is Considering Clemency for Silk Road ‘Kingpin’  —  Two sources tell The Daily Beast that the president has expressed sympathy for the situation of Ross Ulbricht, who is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. … In his final weeks in office before Joe Biden's inauguration …

Trump antagonizes Republicans with Georgia fundraising ploy  —  President Donald Trump couldn't make it any clearer: He needs his supporters to fork over cash for the all-important Georgia Senate runoff elections.  —  “We MUST defend Georgia from the Dems!” he wrote in one recent text message.

Mayor Warshaw resigns effective immediately  —  On Tuesday, Dec. 15, Dodge City Mayor Joyce Warshaw officially resigned from her position effective immediately.  —  “I understand people are under a lot of pressure from various things that are happening around society like the pandemic …

Fashion Mogul Peter Nygard Indicted on Sex-Trafficking Charges  —  Mr. Nygard was arrested in Canada at the request of the U.S. attorney's office in New York City, which accused him of recruiting dozens of women for sex.  —  Peter Nygard, the Canadian fashion retailer …

Hundreds of invitees skip Mike Pompeo's indoor holiday party at State Department  —  Only a tiny fraction of the more than 900 guests invited to an indoor holiday party hosted by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife Susan showed up on Tuesday following an outcry from public health officials …

Facebook Is a Doomsday Machine  —  The Doomsday Machine was never supposed to exist.  It was meant to be a thought experiment that went like this: Imagine a device built with the sole purpose of destroying all human life.  Now suppose that machine is buried deep underground …

Well-Employed in Pandemic Times: Landscaping Goats  —  The animals are hired to clear land because of their insatiable hunger for weeds.  And they don't have to honor lockdowns.  —  TEXT  —  43 RESPONSES  —  Candace Thompson, manager of the Stuyvesant Cove Park in lower Manhattan …

Defund the crime beat  —  “Let's be honest: Crime coverage is terrible.  It's racist, classist, fear-based clickbait masking as journalism.”  —  Let's be honest: Crime coverage is terrible.  —  It's racist, classist, fear-based clickbait masking as journalism.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Authorizes Antigen Test as First Over-the-Counter Fully At-Home Diagnostic Test for COVID-19  —  Test is authorized for individuals two years of age or older, including those not showing symptoms  —  For Immediate Release:

Hack may have exposed deep US secrets; damage yet unknown  —  BOSTON (AP) — Some of America's most deeply held secrets may have been stolen in a disciplined, monthslong operation being blamed on elite Russian government hackers.  The possibilities of what might have been purloined are mind-boggling.

Republican contender for Va. governor says Trump should declare martial law  —  RICHMOND — State Sen. Amanda F. Chase, a brash Republican gubernatorial contender who bills herself as “Trump in heels,” called on President Trump on Tuesday to declare martial law to prevent his removal from office.

They Bet Big on Trump.  Now They Claim Fraud.  —  “To be honest, the more likely it looked like fraud, the more I bet,” one bettor who drank up Rudy Giuliani nonsense said of losing over $170,000.  —  Despite betting money on President Donald Trump's re-election, Helen was unflapped when Joe Biden was declared the victor.

Biden close to naming Michael Regan as EPA administrator  —  Michael Regan, the top environmental regulator in North Carolina, has emerged as a leading candidate to head the Environmental Protection Agency, according to people familiar with the matter.  —  Why it matters: If nominated and confirmed …

Trump claims new fraud evidence as Michigan officials push back on disputed report  —  President Trump on Tuesday argued that voting machines in Michigan had substantial errors, citing a statistic from a report released Monday that has since been disputed by top state election officials.