| | | | McCain: Russian hacks threaten to 'destroy democracy' | | Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain said Russian election-related hacks threaten to "destroy democracy" and faulted the American response as "totally paralyzed." In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" today, McCain said: "This is the sign of a possible unraveling of the world order that was established after World War II, which has made one of the most peaceful periods in the history of the world. We're starting to see the strains and the unraveling of it, and that is because of the absolute failure of American leadership. ... This is serious business. If they're able to harm the electoral process, they may destroy democracy, which is based on free and fair elections."
Team Trump isn't buying it: CIA Director John Brennan's unclassified letter to employees Friday saying that FBI Director James Comey and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper agree with his agency's findings that Russia was behind the hack and did it to help Trump didn't mollify Reince Priebus, Trump's incoming chief of staff and the RNC chairman. "It sure would be nice to hear from everybody. I mean, if there is this conclusive opinion among all of these intelligence agencies, then they should issue a report or they should stand in front of a camera and make the case," Priebus said on "Fox News Sunday."
Doubling down on a select committee: McCain once again made his case Sunday for a select committee to investigate the Russian hacks. "Cyber is the rare kind of all-encompassing challenge for which the Congress' jurisdictional boundaries are an impediment to sufficient oversight and legislative action," he wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has already rejected the idea. Also signing: Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina; Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island; and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York. | | "Being friendly doesn't make you friends." -- Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, defending the relationship between Donald Trump's pick for secretary of state, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, and Russian President Vladimir Putin on NBC's "Meet the Press." | | | | Vladimir Putin came down Alec Baldwin-as-Donald Trump's chimney and John Goodman's Rex Tillerson came through the front door on "Saturday Night Live" last night. But Kate McKinnon's Hillary Clinton making a "Love Actually" inspired visit to a member of the Electoral College in a last-ditch move to block Trump was what really stole the show. | | Trump's move: Make you an offer you will refuse | | From John King's "Inside Politics" forecast: The next week or two will provide a deeper sense of how many longtime loyalists President-elect Donald Trump is eager to please, and how many he is prepared to disappoint. In filling Cabinet posts, there has been a common thread, according to CNN's Sara Murray: Make an offer, or offers, that were all but certain to be refused. That played out, for example, with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. They wanted State and Justice, respectively, but the President-elect wanted to go in a different direction in both cases. So he offered Giuliani and Christie other jobs -- knowing full well the answer would be no.
Watch again now as Trump moves on to senior jobs in the White House and critical government agencies. "It gives him the opportunity to appear magnanimous. It gives them the opportunity to save face," Murray said. "Trump is expected to roll out a list of White House staffers. And you can bet that missing from that list are going to be some of Trump's earliest and most strident supporters." | | | Donald Trump made his naughty list on this week's "State of the Cartoonion" by Jake Tapper. | | Electoral College set to make Trump's win official | | The Electoral College will meet Monday -- with the 538 members gathering in all 50 states and in the District of Columbia at noon local time and, barring what would be the most unprecedented and stunning turn of events in modern political history, making Donald Trump the next president.
How does Trump stack up? With 56.9% of the electoral vote -- assuming all electors vote according to their states' results -- Trump's victory is not, as he has described it, a landslide. Trump has the 44th-largest share of the electoral vote out of 54 presidential elections since the modern system started in 1804. It's a better performance, though, than President George W. Bush's razor-tight victory in 2000 and slightly larger win in 2004.
Bush, though, bested Trump in the popular vote -- as has every other president aside from Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876 and John Quincy Adams in 1824, which featured four candidates and was decided by the House of Representatives. Clinton won 48.2% of the vote to Trump's 46.2% -- a lead of more than 2.8 million votes and more than 2% as of Friday, with that lead expected to grow as the final ballots are tallied.
The graphic to see: The New York Times' Jugal K. Patel and Wilson Andrews lay all of this out well. | | Lynch: Reaction to Bill Clinton meeting was 'painful' | | From CNN's Eugene Scott: Attorney General Loretta Lynch says she regrets not recognizing that her meeting with Bill Clinton over the summer would turn out to be problematic, saying it was "painful" that it called into question the integrity of the Justice Department. The meeting -- coming right before the FBI was set to announce the findings of its investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server -- would eventually cast doubt on the Justice Department's impartiality in the matter, as the FBI is an agency of the DOJ.
"I do regret sitting down and having a conversation with him, because it did give people concern," she told CNN's Jake Tapper in an interview that aired Sunday on "State of the Union." "And as I said, my greatest concern has always been making sure that people understand that the Department of Justice works in a way that is independent and looks at everybody equally. And when you do something that gives people a reason to think differently, that's a problem. It was a problem for me. It was painful for me, and so I felt it was important to clarify it as quickly and as clearly and as cleanly as possible." | | | Henry Kissinger says Donald Trump's newness to the political landscape offers an "extraordinary opportunity" in foreign policy. ... Trump's ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, could upend relations with the Middle East. ... Trump was tweeting about double standards this evening: | | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Check out Five Things for Your New Day, CNN's morning newsletter. Give us five minutes, and we'll brief you on all the news and buzz people will be talking about. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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