The Journalist and the Pharma Bro  —  Why did Christie Smythe upend her life and stability for Martin Shkreli, one of the least-liked men in the world?  —  Almost every weekday for six years, Christie Smythe took the F train from Park Slope downtown to her desk at Brooklyn's federal court …

Trump Is Losing His Mind  —  Donald Trump's descent into madness continues.  —  The latest manifestation of this is a report in The New York Times that the president is weighing appointing the conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell, who for a time worked on his legal team, to be special counsel …

Birx travels, family visits highlight pandemic safety perils  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — As COVID-19 cases skyrocketed before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus response, warned Americans to “be vigilant” and limit celebrations to “your immediate household.”

Trump Campaign taking Constitutional fight to Supreme Court  —  President Trump's campaign today issued the following statement:  —  “Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., President Trump's campaign committee, today filed a petition for writ of certiorari to the US.

Details emerge on $600 stimulus checks, jobless benefits as Congress rushes to finalize deal  —  House leadership tells lawmakers to prepare to be ready to vote as early as Sunday, but there are still details that need to be worked out, according to people familiar with the conversations.

White House secures ‘three martini lunch’ tax deduction in draft of coronavirus relief package  —  President Trump has long seized on the tax break as a way to revive the restaurant industry.  But economists have panned it as ineffective and largely benefitting the wealthy.

The Coronavirus Is Mutating.  What Does That Mean for Us?  —  Officials in Britain and South Africa claim new variants are more easily transmitted.  There's a lot more to the story, scientists say.  —  Just as vaccines begin to offer hope for a path out of the pandemic …

Journalists Hacked with Suspected NSO Group iMessage ‘Zero-Click’ Exploit  —  Summary & Key Findings  — In July and August 2020, government operatives used NSO Group's Pegasus spyware to hack 36 personal phones belonging to journalists, producers, anchors, and executives at Al Jazeera.

Frontline Workers and People Over 74 Should Get Shots Next, C.D.C. Panel Says  —  The recommendation was a compromise aimed at getting the coronavirus vaccine to the most vulnerable of two high-risk groups.  —  Striking a compromise between two high-risk population groups …

'I'm Haunted by What I Did' as a Lawyer in the Trump Justice Department  —  No matter our intentions, lawyers like me were complicit.  We owe the country our honesty about what we saw — and should do in the future.  —  Ms. Newland worked in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department from 2016-18.

What happened to the Colorado Republican Party?  —  Out of power in a changing state, the GOP is in soul-searching mode  —  The Jefferson County GOP began its annual assemblies in the 1990s by asking all elected Republicans in attendance to say a few words.

A President Who Can't Put Aside Grudges, Even for Good News  —  The past week served as a preview of Mr. Trump's post-presidency: no leadership on debates within his party, but keen attention to waging personal vendettas and cultivating his supporters.  —  It was among the most consequential weeks …

Ex-cop hits truck thinking it held 750,000 fraudulent ballots, police say.  It held air conditioning parts.  —  David Lopez-Zuniga, an air-conditioner installer, had just left his mobile home for his typical predawn commute when he noticed an SUV's headlights closely trailing his small cargo truck.

Trump says he spoke with Sen.-elect Tuberville, who has hinted at backing electoral college challenge next month  —  President Trump said Sunday that he has spoken with Sen.-elect Tommy Tuberville, the Alabama Republican who suggested last week that he supports a potential challenge …

A Conservative Justice in Wisconsin Says He Followed the Law, Not the Politics  —  Like officials in Arizona and Georgia, Justice Brian Hagedorn is a longtime Republican who is now under fire for ruling against President Trump's challenges to the election.  —  Justice Brian Hagedorn …

How Trump drove the lie that the election was stolen, undermining voter trust in the outcome  —  Elena Parent, a Democratic state lawmaker from the Atlanta area, listened incredulously in a small hearing room in early December as a stream of witnesses spun fantastical tales of alleged election fraud …

Why Do They Hate Us?  —  Race, Christian Nationalism, and White Evangelical Alienation from America  —  If there is any good to come from last weekend's Christian-nationalist “Jericho March,” and other bizarre, angry, and sometimes-violent right-wing attacks on the 2020 presidential election …

Don't cut in line for the COVID vaccine.  Elites who do will be named and shamed.  —  The optics of the privileged jumping the COVID vaccine line ahead of essential workers will be terrible and should be damaging.  —  Concierge medical practices are fielding inquiries from their wealthy patients wondering …

Seattle City Council member who supports defunding police calls officers to her home to report a crime  —  A Seattle councilwoman who led an effort to defund the police and is proposing forgiving most misdemeanors called the police to her home after she became the victim of a crime.

Scoop: Trump likely won't announce 2024 run before Jan. 20  —  President Trump's closest confidants no longer expect him to imminently announce he's running in 2024, three sources who've recently discussed the matter with the president tell Axios.  —  Driving the news: Trump doesn't want to announce …