Become a member to get many great benefits -- exclusive analysis, trending news, a private podcast, no ads and more!
Bonus Quote of the Day
“Oh, I don’t know. They probably would have eaten me alive.”
— Vice President Joe Biden, quoted by Politico, on whether he could have run a better campaign than Hillary Clinton.
2016 Election Results by Media Market
Join now to continue reading.
Members get exclusive analysis, bonus features and no advertising. Learn more.
McCain Says Don’t ‘Leap to Conclusions’ with Trump
Sen. John McCain told Reuters that he personally backs Washington’s decades-old “one China” policy and that no one should “leap to conclusions” that President-elect Donald Trump would abandon it.
Said McCain: “I do not respond to every comment by the president-elect because it may be reversed the next day.”
Trump Faces Deposition Just Before Inauguration
President-elect Donald Trump “is scheduled to testify under oath at Trump Tower in January, just weeks before the inauguration, in a lawsuits tied to his Washington D.C. hotel,” USA Today reports.
“His lawyers are battling over special conditions Trump is seeking because of his new position.”
Quote of the Day
“I am turning down billions of dollars of deals. I will tell you, running for president — the money I spent is peanuts compared to the money I won’t make, and that’s okay, because this is so important. What I’m doing is so important. This is a calling… I’m not going to be doing deals at all. Now that would be — I don’t even know if that’s a conflict. I mean, I have the right to do it. You know, under the law, I have the right to do it. I just don’t want to do it. I don’t want to do deals, because I want to focus on this. But, by my not doing deals — I turned down seven deals with one big player, great player, last week, because I thought it could be perceived as a conflict of interest.”
— Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News.
McConnell Backs Investigation Into Russian Hacking
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that he supported congressional investigations of possible Russian cyberattacks to influence the American election, the New York Times reports.
Noting that “the Russians are not our friend,” McConnell said that he “strongly condemns” foreign hacking and that the Senate intelligence committee was “more than capable of conducting a complete review” of the matter.
He added: “We need to approach all these on the assumption the Russians do not wish us well.”
Conway Declined Offer to be Press Secretary
Kellyanne Conway said she “politely declined” an offer to be White House press secretary for Donald Trump and that communications, particularly with a “hostile” press will be paramount in Trump’s White House, Politico reports.
Said Conway: “As you imagine in President Trump’s administration, communications will be a very important aspect for it and there will be a number of people handling that.”
Electors Demand Intelligence Briefing Before Vote
“At least 10 members of the Electoral College, including Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s daughter Christine and a former member of Congress, are demanding a briefing from U.S. intelligence officials on any ongoing investigations into Donald Trump’s ties to Russia,” Politico reports.
A Tainted Election
Paul Krugman: “It was not, as far as we can tell, stolen in the sense that votes were counted wrong, and the result won’t be overturned. But the result was nonetheless illegitimate in important ways; the victor was rejected by the public, and won the Electoral College only thanks to foreign intervention and grotesquely inappropriate, partisan behavior on the part of domestic law enforcement.”
“The question now is what to do with that horrifying knowledge in the months and years ahead.”
For members: The Comey Effect Was Real
How Does This End Well?
Rick Klein: “Intelligence officials are coming forward to suggest that the Russians sought to interfere with the election. The president-elect’s response? ‘Ridiculous,’ Donald Trump said on Fox News Sunday. ‘I don’t believe it.’ Setting aside motives, it appears Russian entities succeeded in hacking DNC accounts, and tried to do the same on the Republican side. The president-elect? He appears close to naming a secretary of state who has a closer relationship with Vladimir Putin than perhaps any other private American citizen.”
“The storyline of attempted Russian interference has troubling implications for American democracy, and governance in the Trump era. So far, Trump isn’t engaging in that conversation – viewing it instead as politics as usual, and an attempt to threaten his legitimacy as president-elect. If the Russians have more to leak, they have potential leverage over the new administration. Even if they don’t, they’ve already won a round: They have American politicians at odds over a relationship that figures to tip in Russia’s favor.”
McCain Likens Russian Hacking to ‘Form of Warfare’
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that there was “no doubt about the hacking” by Russian intelligence services into Democratic campaign accounts, which he called “another form of warfare,” the New York Times reports.
“He said a Senate investigation would be necessary despite President Obama having already ordered up an inquiry, as that one would not be completed before the end of the Obama administration. The implication was that the new Trump administration would not follow through.”
China Warns Trump Over Taiwan
“China warned Donald Trump against using the One-China policy regarding Taiwan as a bargaining chip in trade talks, a swift response that indicates Beijing is losing patience with the U.S. president-elect as he breaks with decades of diplomatic protocol,” Bloomberg reports.
Said a spokesperson: “Adherence to the One-China policy is the political bedrock for the development of the China-U.S. relationship. If it is compromised or disrupted, the sound and steady growth of the China-U.S. relationship as well as bilateral cooperation in major fields would be out of the question.”
Trump Considers Fiorina for Top Intelligence Job
President-elect Donald Trump will meet today with Carly Fiorina to discuss the job of director of national intelligence, the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump and Ms. Fiorina do not have the warmest of relationships. They clashed bitterly when she ran against him for the Republican nomination. And Mr. Trump once denigrated her appearance once in an interview with Rolling Stone, saying ‘Look at that face!‘”
Democrats Don’t See Heitkamp Taking Trump Job
“A pair of top North Dakota Democrats said over the weekend that it’s unlikely Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) would accept the position of Agriculture secretary if President-elect Donald Trump offers it to her,” KTIC reports.
The Right Lessons for Democrats Won’t Come Easy
The Hill: “Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump is an unmitigated disaster for Democrats, who want to ensure nothing like it happens again. But Clinton’s popular-vote lead over Trump is so large that it complicates the question of how to recalibrate for future elections.”
“Clinton led Trump by almost 3 million votes as of Sunday, according to a Cook Political Report tracker, with some final results still to be tabulated. More than 128 million votes were cast for the two main candidates nationwide, and Trump emerged as the victor by winning three Rust Belt states by margins of roughly 11,000 (Michigan), 23,000 (Wisconsin) and 44,000 (Pennsylvania).”
Tillerson Faces Resistance In Senate
Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, “the top choice for secretary of state in a Trump administration, faces bipartisan resistance in Congress over his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Republican hesitation over Mr. Tillerson marked the first sign of division between congressional GOP and the Trump team over its likely cabinet picks. All of President-elect Donald Trump’s other nominees so far appear likely to be confirmed by the Senate.”
“Mr. Tillerson, a seasoned deal-maker whose company has a long history of doing business in Russia, is drawing unease from senators on both sides of the aisle. Republicans can likely afford to lose only two GOP votes next year in the new Congress when it meets to consider Mr. Trump’s nominees.”
Bolton Suggests Obama Administration Behind Hacks
Ambassador John Bolton claimed that hacks during the election season could have been “a false flag” operation — possibly committed by the Obama administration itself, Politico reports.
Said Bolton: “It is not at all clear to me just viewing this from the outside, that this hacking into the DNC and the RNC computers was not a false flag. So the question has to be asked, why did the Russians run their smart intelligence service against Hillary’s server, but their dumb intelligence service against the election?”
