Nuclear weapons agency breached amid massive cyber onslaught  —  The Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, have evidence that hackers accessed their networks as part of an extensive espionage operation that has affected …

Top Biden aide walks back expletive description of Republicans  —  Jen O'Malley Dillon, President-elect Joe Biden's campaign manager and incoming White House deputy chief of staff, walked back comments she made in a recent interview suggesting that congressional Republicans were “a bunch of f—ers.”

White House aides talked Trump out of last-minute demand for stimulus checks as big as $2,000  —  Chaotic chain of events at White House illustrates why stimulus bill remains in flux  —  White House aides intervened Thursday to prevent President Trump from issuing a statement calling …

States report confusion as feds reduce vaccine shipments, even as Pfizer says it has ‘millions’ of unclaimed doses  —  Officials in multiple states said they were alerted late Wednesday that their second shipments of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine next week had been reduced, sparking widespread confusion …

Democrats fret about Garland for attorney general  —  If Joe Biden picks Merrick Garland to be his attorney general, he could cost his party control of one of the most important judicial appointments in America — and many Democrats do not want the president-elect to take that chance.

Trump Bows to Reality, Asks Confidants: Should I Do ‘The Apprentice’ Again?  —  And the show's creator Mark Burnett is intrigued by the money-making potential of a post-presidency reboot, too. … As he begins his final weeks in office, amid a winter surge in coronavirus deaths …

ICU availability in Southern California at 0%, and it's going to get worse, officials warn  —  The availability of intensive care unit beds throughout Southern California reached critical mass Thursday with 0% open, and officials warned that conditions in hospitals are expected to erode further COVID-19 continues to spread unchecked.

An outraged Kemp blasts pro-Trump conspiracy theorists harassing his family  —  Gov. Brian Kemp is fed up with the unrelenting attacks from conspiracy theorists calling on him to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory in Georgia.  But he's even more enraged that some of those peddlers …

Biden picks Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) to be first Native American interior secretary  —  Tribal and progressive activists lobbied hard to put an indigenous leader in charge of a department that helps oversee Indian County  —  President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Democratic Rep. Deb Haaland …

Trump's New Brand Is Loser  —  His post-election tantrum is forcing conservatives to affirm, again and again, that he lost the election fair and square.  —  In the six weeks since the Presidential election, various theories—many of them persuasive—have been advanced to explain President Trump's refusal to accept Joe Biden's victory.

Kelly Loeffler Keeps Posing For Photos With White Supremacists And Other Extremists  —  The senator recently disavowed a photo of her with a former KKK leader, but she's repeatedly aligned herself with racists and far-right supporters.  —  Earlier this week a photo of Georgia GOP …

Trump's recognition of Western Sahara is a serious blow to diplomacy and international law  —  James Baker served as the 61st U.S. secretary of state from 1989 to 1992 and as the U.N. secretary-general's personal envoy for Western Sahara from 1997 to 2004.  —  President Trump's recent …

Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon dies of complications from COVID-19  —  Darcie Moran Omar Abdel-Baqui John WiselyDetroit Free Press  —  Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon, a man who dedicated decades to public service and became a household name to metro Detroiters …

Kathleen Rice beats out AOC for spot on coveted House committee  —  Rep. Kathleen Rice has captured a prized seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee after a contentious showdown with fellow New Yorker, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  —  Rice and Ocasio-Cortez have been battling behind …

Misinformation fatigue sets in  —  “Misinformation isn't going away, but it seems inevitable that people will stop caring.”  —  I expect 2021 will be the year misinformation fatigue sets in — a condition from which I will undeniably suffer and for which I will be partly to blame.

Where Is the President of the United States?  —  Donald Trump is AWOL.  And his disgrace is hiding in plain sight.  —  Before we start: Tonight we're doing a livestream that I'm hoping will go down in legend as The Bulwark version of the Star Wars Holiday Special.  The first 12 minutes will be entirely in Wookie.

Congress to receive first batch of Covid-19 vaccines, but uncertainty lingers  —  Top congressional leaders will receive the coronavirus vaccine in the coming days with dozens of lawmakers planning to quickly follow suit — an effort designed to maintain a continuity of government while also instilling public confidence in the shot.

O Rahm, where art thou?  —  Welcome to POLITICO's 2020 Transition Playbook, your guide to one of the most consequential transfers of power in American history.  —  RAHM EMANUEL had never lost a political campaign.  Until this week.  —  Over the past few weeks, the former Chicago mayor …

Antrim County hand tally affirms certified election results  —  Clara Hendrickson Paul EganDetroit Free Press  —  An audit conducted Thursday of the votes cast in the November presidential election in Antrim County, the heart of a conspiracy theory about Dominion Voting Systems leveling false allegations …

How Offshore Oddsmakers Made a Killing off Gullible Trump Supporters  —  On Dec. 9, Donald Trump tweeted something incorrect but at least closer to the ballpark of the truth than most of what he's posted since losing his reelection campaign.  —  “At 10 p.m. on Election Evening, we were at 97% …

HHS secretary tells staff: My wife is sick with Covid  —  Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Thursday night informed staff that his wife, Jennifer, tested positive for Covid-19, according to an email shared by HHS.  —  “Today, my family learned that my wife Jennifer …

It's time for the ‘Deplorables’ to become the Unconquerables  —  Democrats won the election, but they don't seem very happy about it.  And with reason: The election failed in its main purpose, which was to shut down the Deplorables.  —  The Deplorables, in Hillary Clinton's infamous term …

Biden picks top North Carolina environmental official to run EPA  —  Michael Regan has forged a multibillion-dollar clean up of coal ash and worked with the state's GOP legislature  —  President-elect Joe Biden will choose to nominate Michael S. Regan, who heads the North Carolina Department …

John Roberts's self-defeating attempt to make the court appear nonpolitical  —  His obviously strategic opinions have infuriated the right — and emboldened the left.  —  “The highest art is artlessness,” observed Francis Alexander Durivage, a now largely forgotten 19th-century American author …

Canada floats idea of North American ban on new gasoline-powered cars  —  OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada wants deeper environmental ties with the United States and one result could be a North American ban on the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks, a senior cabinet member said on Thursday.

Supreme Court rejects Kentucky religious school's appeal against coronavirus restrictions  —  The Supreme Court rejected an appeal from a Kentucky religious school challenging Gov. Andy Beshear's coronavirus restrictions.  —  The high court wrote in an unsigned opinion on Thursday …

Veterans Affairs reverses plans to waste extra coronavirus vaccine doses  —  This story originally published Dec. 17 at 1:03 p.m. EST. It was updated at 5 p.m. to reflect reactions from Capitol Hill lawmakers and at 6:19 p.m. to include VA's change of plans following publication of this story.