MAGA turns on Mitch: Trump allies including Michael Flynn slam the GOP Senate majority leader for ‘caving to the mob and China’ for recognizing Biden as president-elect  — Trump loyalists were furious after McConnell congratulated Biden on Tuesday  — Top allies accused Senate majority leader of selling out the party's leader

Congressional leaders near deal on Covid relief  —  Congressional negotiators are on the brink of a coronavirus rescue package that would include a second round of direct payments, but would likely leave out state and local funding and a liability shield, according to multiple sources involved with and briefed on talks.

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 …

A mysterious gap in COVID-19 deaths appeared in Florida before the presidential election  —  An astonishing pattern has emerged in Florida's COVID death tally — one that suggests the state manipulated a backlog of unrecorded fatalities, presenting more favorable death counts in the days leading up to the 2020 presidential election.

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.

White House counsel's office warned Trump not to fire Chris Wray  —  WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has come so close to firing FBI Director Christopher Wray in recent months that the White House counsel's office has warned him not to do so because it could put him in potential legal jeopardy …

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 …

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.

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 …

‘I do not feel safe’: Kansas GOP mayor resigns after threats over backing mask mandate  —  A Republican mayor in western Kansas announced in a letter to city officials and on social media Tuesday that she is resigning, effective immediately, because of threats she has received after she publicly supported a mask mandate.

North Carolina GOP lawmaker urges Trump to suspend civil liberties to keep power: ‘Invoke the Insurrection Act’  —  On Facebook, North Carolina state Sen. Bob Steinburg (R) paraphrased a conservative commentator to make a radical suggestion: President Trump should declare a national emergency …

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.

‘Like a Hand Grasping’: Trump Appointees Describe the Crushing of the C.D.C.  —  Kyle McGowan, a former chief of staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and his deputy, Amanda Campbell, go public on the Trump administration's manipulation of the agency.

Value of Loeffler's Mansion Dropped $6M Overnight—and Nobody Can Explain Why  —  The estate went from a $10.5 million appraisal to $4.1 million, resulting in a much lower tax bill for the senator and her husband.  —  When Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher …

Fifty Years of Tax Cuts for Rich Didn't Trickle Down, Study Says  — Paper looks at fiscal policies in 18 countries over 50 years  — Governments shouldn't worry about taxes on rich, author says  —  Tax cuts for rich people breed inequality without providing much of a boon to anyone else …

AOC: Nancy Pelosi Needs to Go, but There's Nobody to Replace Her Yet … Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez believes the Democratic Party needs new leadership, telling The Intercept in an interview that it's time for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to go.

Nearly 8 million Americans have fallen into poverty since the summer  —  Nation's poverty rate has risen at the fastest pace ever this year after aid for the unemployed declined.  —  The U.S. poverty rate has surged over the past five months, with 7.8 million Americans falling into poverty …

UM Fires History Professor Who Criticizes ‘Powerful, Racist Donors’ and ‘Carceral State’  —  During a period of what University of Mississippi faculty are calling a time of increasing paranoia, the university is set to terminate a celebrated professor of history.

A notable death in 2020: American democracy |  Will Bunch Newsletter  —  As I wrote this, I was watching the Electoral College coverage on CNN and I have to say the whole thing seemed suspicious as hell.  Every hour or so, there was another “mysterious” dump of 20 or 30 more votes for Biden.

Biden considering Republicans for Commerce secretary  —  President-elect Joe Biden is considering some well-known Republicans — think Meg Whitman types — for Commerce secretary as a way to signal to red-state Americans he understands their concerns and plans to address them.

USPS Finally Releases Louis DeJoy's Calendar — And Everything's Redacted  —  The agency pretended to release the postmaster general's calendar in a lawsuit looking to get to the bottom of mail slowdowns ahead of the election.  —  After being hit with a lawsuit in federal court …

Giving Trump credit for the vaccine is the best way for Biden to unite the country  —  Joe Biden promised in his victory speech to “unite us here at home” and told Trump supporters that he wanted to “put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature [and] see each other again.”

Restaurants worry bipartisan coronavirus deal is cutting them out  —  The White House and congressional leaders are nearing the finish line on a bipartisan Covid-19 relief deal.  But they're running up against objections from a coalition of restaurants who argue the emerging plan will leave …

Framed and Guilty … Hunter Biden, son of the man who will be America's 46th president, tried to profit from his father's name abroad—as we learned anew from some of the contents of a computer hard drive that were leaked in the weeks before the election.  What is also true is that the tale …

17 theses on Pete Buttigieg and the Department of Transportation  —  Emergency blog post!  —  3 hr ago  —  Trying something new, an emergency out-of-schedule post on Pete Buttigieg and the Department of Transportation!  — I love transportation policy and know a fair amount about it.

Glennon Doyle and Biden Campaign Manager Jen O'Malley Dillon on Politics, Motherhood, and Doing Hard Things  —  Within an hour of the networks' at last declaring Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election, his campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon took to Twitter to celebrate.

Bill Barr and Other Hacks  —  We are halfway through the attempted coup - formerly known as the presidential transition process - and the United States has not completely collapsed (yet) so, yay?  This week we discuss the massive Russian cyberattack on American institutions and businesses …