“President-elect Trump has said he wants to slap aggressive tariffs on all sorts of U.S. imports as soon as Day 1 of his administration. But taking shock-and-awe action would come with meaningful economic, political and legal risks,” Axios reports.

“Trump will have to decide whether to turn to the tried-and-true tools to implement tariffs he used when he was last in office — which are powerful, but take time and care to enact — or rip up the playbook.”

“In the disruption scenario, Trump could declare a national economic emergency, which gives the president wide latitude over international economic policy.”

“Then he could move quickly on tariffs. But he’d face blowback in the form of higher consumer prices, a slumping stock market, angry CEOs and congressional Republicans, retaliation from trade partners, and legal challenges.”

Politico: “According to nearly a dozen retired officers and current military lawyers, as well as scholars who teach at West Point and Annapolis, an intense if quiet debate is underway inside the U.S. military community about what orders it would be obliged to obey if President-elect Donald Trump decides to follow through on his previous warnings that he might deploy troops against what he deems domestic threats, including political enemies, dissenters and immigrants.”

Vice President-elect J.D. Vance said in an interview aired Sunday that “there’s a deal to be made in Greenland” amid President-elect Trump’s indication that he wants the U.S. to own the world’s largest island, Axios reports.

“Because he put money in, I was prepared to tolerate it. I’m not prepared to tolerate it anymore.”

— Steve Bannon, quoted by the Daily Beast, promising to get “evil” Elon Musk kicked out of Donald Trump’s inner circle.

“An unpaid group of billionaires, tech executives and some disciples of Peter Thiel, a powerful Republican donor, are preparing to take up unofficial positions in the U.S. government in the name of cost-cutting,” the New York Times reports.

“As President-elect Donald Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency girds for battle against ‘wasteful’ spending, it is preparing to dispatch individuals with ties to its co-leaders, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to agencies across the federal government.”

“After Inauguration Day, the group of Silicon Valley-inflected, wide-eyed recruits will be deployed to Washington’s alphabet soup of agencies. The goal is for most major agencies to eventually have two DOGE representatives as they seek to cut costs like Mr. Musk did at X, his social media platform.”

“President-elect Donald Trump offered fresh criticism early Sunday of the officials in charge of fighting the Los Angeles wildfires, calling them ‘incompetent’ and asking why the blazes were not yet extinguished,” the New York Times reports.

Said Trump: “The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols have no idea how to put them out.”

Washington Post: Winds to strengthen as blaze heads toward major highway.

“To serve as an economic adviser to Trump, it helps to share his belief that tariffs make the U.S. richer. Not many economists meet that criterion,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Stephen Miran has made just that case. Miran, nominated to chair Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers, has written that the U.S. could be better off with average tariffs of around 20% and as high as 50%, compared with the current 2%.”

“New York Republicans came out of a Mar-a-Lago meeting with Donald Trump on Saturday confident that the incoming president is on board with increasing a key deduction for state and local taxes,” Politico reports.

“And they have marching orders from Trump: Go back to Congress and negotiate a ‘fair number.'”

Bloomberg: “The main focus of the face-to-face meeting was the $10,000 cap on the so-called SALT deduction that was a signature feature of Trump’s 2017 tax cut bill, set to expire for tax years after 2025. The group wants to see the cap raised, or even eliminated, softening the burden on constituents who live in states like New York and California where the combination of high tax rates and expensive property values make a write-off especially valuable.”

“Special counsel Jack Smith has completed his work on two criminal investigations of President-elect Donald Trump and resigned Friday from the Justice Department,” Politico reports.

“Word of Smith’s departure came in a footnote to a court filing Justice Department officials submitted to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon Saturday afternoon, urging her not to extend a court order she issued last week temporarily blocking the release of the final report Smith submitted to department leaders on Tuesday.”

New York Times: “His departure was expected. Mr. Smith had signaled his intention to leave before Mr. Trump, who had threatened to fire him, took office on Jan. 20.”

“Donald Trump is working to smooth over roadblocks to his massive legislative agenda this weekend at his Florida resort, starting with a lavish dinner Friday night with some of Speaker Mike Johnson’s biggest antagonists,” Politico reports.

“Members of the House Freedom Caucus encountered a lively and positive atmosphere at Mar-a-Lago, according to three Republicans familiar with the meeting. Billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk also made an appearance, posing for pictures with several lawmakers, they said.”

“As his time in the White House comes to a close, President Joe Biden has implemented a series of executive orders and rules, trying to cement his policies before Donald Trump returns with the threat of undoing them,” ABC News reports.

“From using provisions in federal law to ban much offshore drilling to commuting the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates, Biden has been determined to accomplish the political goals he set out to do four years ago.”

“Trump, never one to mince words against his rival, has condemned Biden’s moves, claiming he was hurting his agenda — what he says Americans voted for in November.”

“Donald Trump’s real-estate company is in talks to reclaim its former Washington, D.C., hotel, a move that could offer an early test of how the president-elect will handle potential conflicts of interest,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Eric Trump this week met at his family’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida with an executive from merchant bank BDT & MSD Partners, which controls the long-term lease on the hotel.”

“Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, is changing her tune on a key intelligence-gathering authority she once sought to repeal as her Senate confirmation hangs in the balance,” Punchbowl News reports.

“Gabbard’s past criticisms of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act have emerged as a central issue in her confirmation process, leaving GOP senators — including some in leadership — increasingly skeptical about the former Democrat’s confirmation prospects.”

New Yorker: “On January 20, 2025, the next leader of the United States—and of the free world—assumes power. Also on that day: Donald Trump is sworn in.”

“It did look very friendly, I must say. I didn’t realize how friendly it looked. I saw it on your wonderful network, just a little while ago before I came in and I said ‘Boy, they look like two people that like each other.’ And we probably do.”

— Donald Trump, quoted by Politico, on the viral video clips of him laughing with Barack Obama at Jimmy Carter’s funeral.

“President-elect Donald Trump is preparing nearly 100 executive orders for when he returns to the White House on Jan. 20,” the Washington Post reports.

“Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma), appearing on Fox News, said Trump relayed plans to take action on immigration and energy, among other issues, during a meeting with Republican senators in Washington on Wednesday night.”