The number of people who “like” Mitt Romney on Facebook is dropping by a few hundred every hour. You can follow along here as it happens.
capitol riot
State Capitols Brace for Protests: Live Updates
THE FEED
Navalny returns to Russia, is immediately detained
Aleksei A. Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who recuperated in Germany from a near-deadly poisoning, returned to Moscow on Sunday and was detained shortly after leaving his plane. The detention of Mr. Navalny could set off an international backlash and protests at home. He has accused the Kremlin of trying to murder him in YouTube videos viewed more than 40 million times.
Russia’s penitentiary service, which has said that Mr. Navalny was wanted for violating the terms of a prior suspended sentence, released a statement saying that Mr. Navalny had been detained pending a court hearing. …
Before he was detained at passport control, Mr. Navalny gave an impromptu statement to journalists. He stood in the transit area of the airport’s Terminal D, before a lit-up screen showing a photo of the Kremlin, and apologized to air travelers inconvenienced by the air-traffic tumult surrounding his arrival. “I am not afraid,” he said in remarks carried by Russian news media livestreams from the scene. “I know that I am right. I know all the criminal cases against me are fabricated.”
NSA is installing Trump-selected GOP operative as agency’s top lawyer
The National Security Agency is “moving forward” to install Michael Ellis, a former GOP political operative and White House official, as the agency’s top lawyer, the agency said Sunday. The announcement came a day after acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller ordered the NSA director, Gen. Paul Nakasone, to immediately place Ellis in position as the agency’s general counsel.
Ellis had been selected for the job in November by the Pentagon general counsel after a civil service competition. But Nakasone was not in favor of Ellis’s selection and sought to delay his installation, according to several people familiar with the issue, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity. …
Ellis was selected under pressure from the White House, people familiar with the matter said at the time. The move drew criticism from national security legal experts as an attempt to politicize a career position.
the money game
What Explains Bitcoin’s Resurgence?
how we live now
What Has the Pandemic Done to Our Eyes?
A look back at the president’s most notable lies from the most tireless fact-checker of the Trump era
My personal favorite lie: Trump was once named Michigan’s Man of the Year
Trump has never lived in Michigan. Why would he have been named Michigan’s Man of the Year years before his presidency? He wouldn’t have been. He wasn’t. And yet this lie he appeared to have invented in the final week of his 2016 campaign became a staple of his 2020 campaign, repeated at Michigan rally after rally. It’s so illustrative because it makes so little sense.
end times
Trump Job Approval Plunging He Leaves Office
politics
Even the Guy the MyPillow CEO Wanted to Enlist for a Coup Is Confused
end-times
How BidenWorld Is Scrambling to Prepare for January 21
end-times
The Most Important Takeaways From Big Tech’s Deplatforming of Trump
end-times
What Madison Cawthorn Saw at the Insurrection
end-times
Trump Is on the Verge of Losing Everything
stimulus checks
Will We Get a Third Round of Stimulus Checks?
covid vaccines
The Vaccine Stockpile the White House Released This Week Doesn’t Exist: Report
intelligencer chats
The Biggest Hopes and Fears for Biden’s Early Days
covid stimulus
The Good, the Bad, and the Odd in Biden’s Stimulus Plan
Trump unveils his Inauguration Day plans
Trump will depart Washington on Wednesday morning before Biden is sworn in, becoming the first modern-day president to skip his successor’s inauguration.
Instead, Trump will attend an unprecedented farewell event at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, where Air Force One is kept. No recent president has had his own sendoff ceremony at Andrews.
crime
The Last Man Set to Be Executed by the Trump Administration
biden administration
All of President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet Nominees
coronavirus vaccine
How to Sign Up for a COVID Vaccine in New York
Don’t believe the rumors: Trump and Giuliani are still pals (though it’s unclear if Trump is paying his legal fees)
When Rudolph W. Giuliani was treating his efforts to carry out President Trump’s wishes to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election as a payment opportunity — he proposed a daily retainer of $20,000 for his legal services from the burgeoning Trump campaign legal fund — the president dismissed it and responded by demanding to personally approve each expense.
Nine weeks and another impeachment later, Mr. Trump began the day on Thursday by asking aides to erase any sign of a rift. Stripped of his Twitter account, Mr. Trump conveyed his praise through an adviser, Jason Miller, who tweeted: “Just spoke with President Trump, and he told me that @RudyGiuliani is a great guy and a Patriot who devoted his services to the country! We all love America’s Mayor!”
White House officials are universally angry with Mr. Giuliani and blame him for both of Mr. Trump’s impeachments. But the president is another story.
Even as he complains about Mr. Giuliani’s latest efforts as fruitless, the president remains unusually deferential to him in public and in private. “Don’t underestimate him,” Mr. Trump has told advisers.
But only up to a point. While Mr. Trump and his advisers balked at the $20,000 request weeks ago, it is unclear whether the president will sign off on Mr. Giuliani being paid anything other than expenses.
impeachment
Who Will Be in Charge of Trump’s Impeachment Trial?
impeachment
Trump Faces Senate Trial After Second Impeachment
politics
Ted Cruz’s Former Staffers Are ‘Disgusted’ by His New Low for Trump
coronavirus stimulus
What Is in Joe Biden’s $1.9 Trillion Stimulus Package Plan?
family ties
Being a Trump Is a Liability Now – Even If You’ve Sued Donald
the body politic
They’ve Been Calling for Bloodshed the Whole Time
black lives matter
New York Attorney General Sues NYPD for ‘Pattern of Abuse’ at BLM Protests
An ambitious plan out of the gate
NEW: Biden has unveiled his proposal for a new $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill.
Among other things, it includes a new round of $1,400 checks, $50 billion for testing, $20 billion for vaccines, $350 billion for states, local and territorial governments.
—@josh_wingrove
Among other things, it includes a new round of $1,400 checks, $50 billion for testing, $20 billion for vaccines, $350 billion for states, local and territorial governments.
biden inauguration
Everything We Know About Joe Biden’s Inauguration
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