South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) said that she “expects the road could be a little bit rough under the Biden administration with some of the policies that they’ve embraced,” KELO reports.
“Noem’s director of communications, Ian Fury, contacted KELO after this story was first published and said Noem was discussing a potential Biden administration and not recognizing Biden as the next president.”
President-elect Joe Biden will likely start with a “skeleton staff” in the West Wing to keep him healthy after the Trump administration’s cavalier approach to the coronavirus, Axios reports.
“The incoming president, at 78, is in a high-risk group and already careful to mask up. President Trump and numerous staffers have flouted safety protocols and caught COVID-19, meaning there will have to be some sort of deep cleaning for the White House residence and offices before the new team moves in.”
Idaho officials had to shut down a virtual public meeting on the coronavirus pandemic because anti-mask protestors were banging on the doors at their houses during the call, the Idaho Statesman reports.
Donald Trump Jr. is featured in a new ad urging Georgians to get out and vote for Sens. David Perdue (R-GA) and Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) in the January 5 runoff.
The ad opens with footage of Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) saying, “Now we take Georgia, then we change America.”
Trump Jr. responds: “There it is. The radical left wants to tear down everything we’ve accomplished –- defunding the police, eliminating private health insurance and dismantling the Supreme Court. On January 5, the U.S. Senate is on the line and my father’s accomplishments are on your ballot. Don’t let them take Georgia.”
Newsmax TV has notched a ratings win over Fox News Channel for the very first time, CNN reports.
“The win, fueled by conservative viewers who are disappointed by the election results, happened Monday evening. In the key 25- to 54-year-old demographic prized by advertisers, ‘Greg Kelly Reports’ on Newsmax out-rated ‘The Story with Martha MacCallum’ on Fox.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) tells Axios that both he and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told the White House they would support including $600 stimulus checks in a coronavirus relief deal being negotiated in Congress.
“Terry McAuliffe (D), who mixed business-friendly politics with liberal social policies over four hard-charging years as Virginia governor, will announce Wednesday that he wants his old job back,” the Washington Post reports.
“A win would make McAuliffe only the second governor since the Civil War to make a comeback in Virginia, the lone state to bar its chief executive from serving back-to-back terms.”
“A Los Angeles judge granted former Rep. Katie Hill’s (D-CA) request for a temporary restraining order against her ex-husband Tuesday, after Hill alleged her ex had subjected her to 15 years of abuse, including choking her unconscious, threatening her with a gun, killing her pet and releasing sexually explicit pictures that ended her political career,” NBC News reports.
“The House on Tuesday passed a bipartisan $741 billion defense authorization bill by a sizeable veto-proof majority, throwing down the first of two expected gauntlets before President Trump, who has escalated his threat to scuttle the legislation,” the Washington Post reports.
“The 335 to 78 vote represents a bigger margin of victory for the bill than the House mustered for an earlier version of the legislation this summer. House leaders credit the increased support to changes that were made during a months-long negotiation process between the Senate and House, despite Trump’s exhortations to House Republicans to vote against the bill.”
New York Times: “It also amounted to a remarkable break from the president by Republicans, who refused to defer to Mr. Trump’s desire to derail the critical bill as his time in the White House comes to a close.”
In line with the rumors, President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack as his Agriculture secretary and Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH) as his Housing and Urban Development secretary, Axios reports.
“The UK government has broken ranks with the EU by disclosing plans to suspend punitive tariffs against the US over aircraft subsidies, in an attempt to pave the way for a post-Brexit trade deal with Washington,” the Financial Times reports.
Rep. Louie Gohmert’s (R-TX) tooth fell out while speaking at his press conference.
Andrew Yang is calling elected officials to gauge support for a possible bid to become New York City’s next mayor, Politico reports.
New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) — who is currently pursuing a civil investigation against President Trump, while Manhattan’s district attorney has a criminal investigation ongoing — told The View that she believes Trump will take a preemptive measure to try to cut off future federal charges.
Said James: “The vast majority of legal scholars have indicated that he cannot pardon himself. What he could do is step down and allow Vice President Pence, to pardon him. I suspect that he will pardon his family members, his children, his son-in-law, and individuals in his administration as well as some of his close associates. And then I suspect, at some point in time, he will step down and allow the vice president to pardon him.”
The Supreme Court turned down a request by Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) to block Pennsylvania from certifying results of presidential election, according to Amy Howe.
Washington Post: “The court’s brief order provided no reasoning, nor did it note any dissenting votes. It was the first request to delay or overturn the results of the presidential election to reach the court.”
New York Times: “FireEye revealed on Tuesday that its own systems were pierced by what it called ‘a nation with top-tier offensive capabilities.’ The company said hackers used ‘novel techniques’ to make off with its own tool kit, which could be useful in mounting new attacks around the world.”
“It was a stunning theft, akin to bank robbers who, having cleaned out local vaults, then turned around and stole the F.B.I.’s investigative tools. In fact, FireEye said on Tuesday, moments after the stock market closed, that it had called in the F.B.I.”
Key detail: “The hack raises the possibility that Russian intelligence agencies saw an advantage in mounting the attack while American attention — including FireEye’s — was focused on securing the presidential election system.”
“The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC affiliated with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is overseeing the Peachtree PAC, a new political action committee that emerged in recent days to shape the US Senate runoffs in Georgia,” CNN reports.
“The group will spend $43 million in new television and radio ad spending. That’s on top of the roughly $80 million that the McConnell-aligned political organization already has committed to spend through the Senate Leadership Fund and American Crossroads.”
The New York Times reviews A Promised Land by Barack Obama.
“Barack Obama’s new memoir A Promised Land is unlike any other presidential autobiography from the past — or, likely, future. Yes, it provides a historical account of his time in office and explicates the policy objectives of his administration, from health care to economic recovery to climate change. But the volume is also an introspective self-portrait, set down in the same fluent, fleet-footed prose that made his 1995 book Dreams From My Father such a haunting family memoir.”
“And much like the way that earlier book turned the story of its author’s coming-of-age into an expansive meditation on race and identity, so A Promised Land uses his improbable journey — from outsider to the White House and the first two years of his presidency — as a prism by which to explore some of the dynamics of change and renewal that have informed two and a half centuries of American history.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.