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.

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

Trump's Staff Secretary Lyons to Leave White House This Month  — Top aide joins communications director in early departure  — Lyons has worked in White House since Trump took office  —  One of President Donald Trump's closest aides, staff secretary Derek Lyons, will leave his job before the end of the year.

'There's now one pro-democracy political party': Steve Schmidt announces he's a Democrat  —  On becoming a Democrat, former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt says “At the end of the day, there's now one pro-democracy political party in the United States of America and that's the Democratic Party.

Prosecuting Donald Trump: the question that will roil Biden's first year  —  The US president could face investigation on a number of fronts when he leaves office  —  When Joe Biden is sworn in as president on January 20, his in-tray will include a pandemic that continues to kill thousands …

Trump Is Considering Clemency for Silk Road Founder  —  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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Why Representative Mike Johnson Thinks That the Election Isn't Over  —  Last week, the Republican attorney general of Texas, with support from Republican attorneys general in eighteen other states, filed briefs urging the Supreme Court to overturn the results of the election in four swing states that favored Joe Biden.

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.

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 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.

Right-Wing Embrace Of Conspiracy Is ‘Mass Radicalization,’ Experts Warn  —  The widespread embrace of conspiracy and disinformation amounts to a “mass radicalization” of Americans, and increases the risk of right-wing violence, veteran security officials and terrorism researchers warn.

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.