Donald Trump Should Be Prosecuted for His Shakedown of Georgia's Brad Raffensperger  —  President Donald Trump likely broke both federal and state law in a Saturday phone call during which he encouraged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn the state's election results.

Cotton Statement on Joint Session of Congress  —  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  —  Contact: Caroline Tabler or James Arnold (202) 734-0430  —  Washington, D.C. — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) released the following statement on the joint session of Congress later this week:

Donald Trump could be planning Turnberry trip as Scots airport told to expect a high-flyer the day before Joe Biden's inauguration … © Robert Perry/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock  —  US President Donald Trump could be planning a trip to Scotland to avoid attending his successor Joe Biden's inauguration, according to aviation sources.

The Made-Up Conspiracy  —  A Republican bid to deny Biden's victory is another worrying Trumpist disinformation ploy  —  When Republican senators attempt to block congressional confirmation of Joe Biden's presidential victory this week, they will not succeed in reversing the outcome of the election.

Worse Than Treason  —  “We are what we pretend to be,” Kurt Vonnegut wrote in the opening of his 1962 novel, Mother Night, “and so we must be careful what we pretend to be.”  Republicans in Congress are pretending to be seditionists—and so they have become, in fact, seditionists.

EXCLUSIVE: Atlanta-Based U.S. Attorney Abruptly Departs Office Sooner Than Expected  —  The U.S. attorney in Atlanta departed his post Monday, TPM has learned, after previously indicating that he would not leave until Inauguration Day.  —  The reason for U.S. Attorney Byung “BJay” Pak's change of plans are not clear.

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma suspected missing  —  Speculation has swirled around Chinese billionaire Jack Ma's whereabouts after reports surfaced that the high-profile businessman has not made a public appearance in more than two months.  —  The Alibaba founder also failed to appear …

Hundreds of Google Employees Unionize, Culminating Years of Activism  —  The creation of the union, a rarity in Silicon Valley, follows years of increasing outspokenness by Google workers.  Executives have struggled to handle the change.  —  OAKLAND, Calif. — More than 225 Google engineers …

Failures of Leadership in a Populist Age  —  For many years now, an important segment of the Republican electorate has been increasingly frustrated with the elites who lead our core institutions.  The political outlook of these voters has come to be defined by that frustration …

Rhode Island governor emerges as leading candidate for Commerce Department  —  Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo has emerged as a leading candidate to be President-elect Joe Biden's commerce secretary, according to people familiar with the matter.  —  Why it matters: Raimondo …

FBI Questioned a Michigan Senate Staffer After Zoom Call About Banning Tear Gas … Two officers with an FBI task force showed up at the home of a Michigan state senator's chief of staff and aggressively questioned her about a draft bill she had discussed on a private legislative Zoom call.

Trump keeps carrier in Middle East, overruling his Pentagon chief  —  President Donald Trump was behind the abrupt decision announced on Sunday night to reverse course and keep the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in the Middle East due to Iranian threats against top U.S. officials, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

DC media group buys NY publication City & State, plans expansion  —  A DC-based news agency for politicians and bureaucrats has acquired City & State, a media business covering New York state and local politics for elected officials and government workers.  —  Terms of the acquisition …

Terry McAuliffe raises a record $6.1 million in bid to reclaim Executive Mansion  —  RICHMOND — Democrat Terry McAuliffe announced Monday that he has raised more than $6 million for his comeback bid for Virginia governor, far surpassing what previous gubernatorial hopefuls have raised at similar points in their campaigns.

Florida Is Using Eventbrite for COVID-19 Vaccine Slots and It's Not Going Well  —  The country and state have struggled to distribute the vaccine, leading some counties to turn to the event platform for scheduling appointments.  —  EO  —  Near the end of last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis revealed …

117th Congress kicks off with GOP civil war, calls for impeachment and plexiglass  —  With assists from Melanie, Heather, Burgess, Andrew, and Kyle  —  It's less than 24 hours into the 117th Congress and we've already seen Republicans break out into a civil war, Democrats renew calls …