Biden to require walking boot after fracturing his foot

President-elect Joe Biden will need a walking boot after sustaining small fractures to his right foot while playing with one of his dogs, according to his doctor.

Biden was injured Saturday and visited an orthopedist at Delaware Orthopaedic Specialists in Newark, Del., for an examination Sunday afternoon, according to a pool report.

Earlier in the afternoon, doctors said they found “no obvious fracture,” but a follow-up CT scan confirmed hairline fractures of Biden’s “lateral and intermediate cuneiform bones, which are in the mid-foot,” according to a statement from his doctor, Kevin O’Connor.

"It is anticipated that he will likely require a walking boot for several weeks," O'Connor was quoted as saying.

Reporters covering the president-elect were not able to see Biden enter the doctor’s office. But Biden was visibly limping when he left the doctor’s office to head to an imaging center for his CT scan, according to pool reports.

Biden was injured while playing with Major, one of the Bidens’ two dogs.

At 78, Biden will be the oldest president when he’s inaugurated in January, but he frequently dismissed questions about his age on the campaign trail. His doctor has described him as “healthy, vigorous” and “fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Obama to be honored by PEN America

Former President Barack Obama, already a million-selling author, is also a prize-winning author.

PEN America announced Wednesday that Obama will receive its second annual Voice of Influence Award in recognition of how his writings “have traversed political, social, and ideological bounds and framed a self-reflective humanism that has marked his influence on public life.”

Obama, whose memoir “A Promised Land” came out last week, will be honored Dec. 8 at the literary and human rights organization's annual gala, to be held virtually because of the coronavirus.

During the ceremony, Obama and historian Ron Chernow, a former PEN board president, will discuss freedom of expression and the importance of truth in a world of misinformation.

Obama’s previous books include “Dreams from My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope.”

“As an organization of writers, we have always seen President Obama not just as a leader, but as one of us: an author. His probing and evocative narratives helped introduce the world to his unique background, and the power of his life experience as a prompt toward a more pluralistic and encompassing society,” PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said in a statement.

PEN presented its first Voice of Influence Award in 2019 to filmmaker Ava DuVernay.

David Dinkins, New York's first Black mayor, dies at 93

NEW YORK — David Dinkins, who broke barriers as New York City’s first African-American mayor, but was doomed to a single term by a soaring murder rate, stubborn unemployment and his mishandling of a race riot in Brooklyn, has died. He was 93.

Dinkins died Monday, the New York City Police Department confirmed. The department said officers were called to the former mayor’s home this evening. Initial indications were that he died of natural causes.

Dinkins, a calm and courtly figure with a penchant for tennis and formal wear, was a dramatic shift from both his predecessor, Ed Koch, and his successor, Rudolph Giuliani — two combative and often abrasive politicians in a city with a world-class reputation for impatience and rudeness.

In his inaugural address, he spoke lovingly of New York as a “gorgeous mosaic of race and religious faith, of national origin and sexual orientation, of individuals whose families arrived yesterday and generations ago, coming through Ellis Island or Kennedy Airport or on buses bound for the Port Authority.”

But the city he inherited had an ugly side, too.

AIDS, guns and crack cocaine killed thousands of people each year. Unemployment soared. Homelessness was rampant. The city faced a $1.5 billion budget deficit.

Dinkins’ low-key, considered approach quickly came to be perceived as a flaw. Critics said he was too soft and too slow.

“Dave, Do Something!” screamed one New York Post headline in 1990, Dinkins’ first year in office.

Dinkins did a lot at City Hall. He raised taxes to hire thousands of police officers. He spent billions of dollars revitalizing neglected housing. His administration got the Walt Disney Corp. to invest in the cleanup of then-seedy Times Square.

In recent years, he’s gotten more credit for those accomplishments — credit that Mayor Bill de Blasio said he should have always had. De Blasio, who worked in Dinkins’ administration, named Manhattan’s Municipal Building after the former mayor in October 2015.

Results from those accomplishments, however, didn’t come fast enough to earn Dinkins a second term.

After beating Giuliani by only by 47,000 votes out of 1.75 million cast in 1989, Dinkins lost a rematch by roughly the same margin in 1993.

Political historians often trace the defeat to Dinkins’ handling of the Crown Heights riots in Brooklyn in 1991.

The violence began after a black 7-year-old boy was accidentally killed by a car in the motorcade of an Orthodox Jewish religious leader. During the three days of anti-Jewish rioting by young black men that followed, a rabbinical student was fatally stabbed. Nearly 190 people were hurt.

A state report issued in 1993, an election year, cleared Dinkins of the persistently repeated charge that he intentionally held back police in the first days of the violence, but criticized him for not stepping up as a leader.

In a 2013 memoir, Dinkins accused the police department of letting the disturbance get out of hand, and also took a share of the blame, on the grounds that “the buck stopped with me.” But he bitterly blamed his election defeat on prejudice: “I think it was just racism, pure and simple.”

Born in Trenton, New Jersey, on July 10, 1927, Dinkins moved with his mother to Harlem when his parents divorced, but returned to his hometown to attend high school. There, he learned an early lesson in discrimination: Blacks were not allowed to use the school swimming pool.

During a hitch in the Marine Corps as a young man, a Southern bus driver barred him from boarding a segregated bus because the section for blacks was filled.

“And I was in my country’s uniform!” Dinkins recounted years later.

While attending Howard University, the historically black university in Washington, D.C., Dinkins said he gained admission to segregated movie theaters by wearing a turban and faking a foreign accent.

Back in New York with a degree in mathematics, Dinkins married his college sweetheart, Joyce Burrows, in 1953. His father-in-law, a power in local Democratic politics, channeled Dinkins into a Harlem political club. Dinkins paid his dues as a Democratic functionary while earning a law degree from Brooklyn Law School, and then went into private practice.

He got elected to the state Assembly in 1965, became the first black president of the city’s Board of Elections in 1972 and went on to serve as Manhattan borough president.

Dinkins’ election as mayor in 1989 came after two racially charged cases that took place under Koch: the rape of a white jogger in Central Park and the bias murder of a black teenager in Bensonhurst.

Dinkins defeated Koch, 50 percent to 42 percent, in the Democratic primary. But in a city where party registration was 5-to-1 Democratic, Dinkins barely scraped by the Republican Giuliani in the general election, capturing only 30 percent of the white vote.

His administration had one early high note: Newly freed Nelson Mandela made New York City his first stop in the U.S. in 1990. Dinkins had been a longtime, outspoken critic of apartheid in South Africa.

In that same year, though, Dinkins was criticized for his handling of a black-led boycott of Korean-operated grocery stores in Brooklyn. Critics contended Dinkins waited too long to intervene. He ultimately ended up crossing the boycott line to shop at the stores — but only after Koch did.

During Dinkins’ tenure, the city’s finances were in rough shape because of a recession that cost New York 357,000 private-sector jobs in his first three years in office.

Meanwhile, the city’s murder toll soared to an all-time high, with a record 2,245 homicides during his first year as mayor. There were 8,340 New Yorkers killed during the Dinkins administration — the bloodiest four-year stretch since the New York Police Department began keeping statistics in 1963.

In the last years of his administration, record-high homicides began a decline that continued for decades. In the first year of the Giuliani administration, murders fell from 1,946 to 1,561.

One of Dinkins’ last acts in 1993 was to sign an agreement with the United States Tennis Association that gave the organization a 99-year lease on city land in Queens in return for building a tennis complex. That deal guaranteed that the U.S. Open would remain in New York City for decades.

After leaving office, Dinkins was a professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

He had a pacemaker inserted in August 2008, and underwent an emergency appendectomy in October 2007. He also was hospitalized in March 1992 for a bacterial infection that stemmed from an abscess on the wall of his large intestine. He was treated with antibiotics and recovered in a week.

Dinkins is survived by his son, David Jr.; and daughter, Donna and two grandchildren. His wife, Joyce, died in October at the age of 89.

Biden builds out White House legislative affairs team

President-elect Joe Biden announced two more staff hires on Monday for his White House's Office of Legislative Affairs.

Reema Dodin and Shuwanza Goff, two Capitol Hill veterans, will join the Biden administration’s legislative affairs team as deputy directors.

Dodin currently serves as deputy chief of staff and floor director for Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the Senate Democratic whip. She is also working for the transition on a volunteer basis leading legislative strategy and engagement for the confirmation process.

Goff has worked for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer in a number of positions, most recently as floor director for the House of Representatives. She was the first Black woman to hold that position, which allowed her to set the legislative schedule and determine which bills came to the House floor.

“The American people are eager for our Administration to get to work, and today’s appointees will help advance our agenda and ensure every American has a fair shot,” Biden said in a statement announcing the hires. “In a Biden administration, we will have an open door to the Hill and this team will make sure their views are always represented in the White House.”

Both women will be joining the legislative affairs team helmed by Louisa Terrell, whose role Biden announced on Friday. The president-elect has been building out his White House team and is expected to formally announce his first Cabinet selections on Tuesday.

POLITICO confirmed Sunday night that Biden plans to name Antony Blinken to serve as his secretary of State; Jake Sullivan as his national security adviser; and Linda Thomas-Greenfield as ambassador to the United Nations.

Illinois Democrats threaten Michael Madigan's decadeslong hold on power

CHICAGO — Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan — the longest-serving state legislative leader in American history — is losing his grip on power as a federal investigation pounds his allies and lackluster election results undermine his influence.

Democrats began to publicly turn on Madigan over the summer, after the inquiry into influence peddling by a local electric utility company came to light. But the revolt against Madigan accelerated this week and, by Thursday, enough legislators had fled Madigan to deny him his title in January, potentially stripping him of the post he's largely held since 1983.

The speaker’s downfall would mark a major turning point in Illinois politics and carry with it major implications for the future of the Democratic Party here.

“This reflects a big change in what people in Illinois are expecting out of government," Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi, who defeated a machine-style politician two years ago, said Friday. "Basically, we have one of the last old-school political machines in the country. Madigan’s a lineal descendant of that tradition and people don’t think it works. It has caused tremendous fiscal problems in the state.”

Earlier this week, federal prosecutors charged one of Madigan’s confidantes and three former ComEd executives in an alleged scheme to give no-work jobs and internships to Madigan allies in exchange for favorable legislation. Madigan has not been charged, but he was quickly identified as “Public Official A” in federal documents because the official is described as the Illinois speaker, a position only two people have held in nearly 40 years.

Madigan's exit would bring practical concerns for Democrats, and not just in Illinois: Despite having a Democratic supermajority, the speaker’s allies in labor and in the General Assembly worry ousting Madigan now could jeopardize their control over the next redistricting process, which begins in 2021. There is also fear around being alienated from him and “The Program,” Madigan’s fundraising operation and an army of volunteers that help candidates win campaigns.

Madigan, known as the “Velvet Hammer,” could only afford to lose 13 votes in the Illinois House and hold on as speaker — a figure he hit early this week. By Thursday night, 17 had defected as he sought to defend himself (The number grew to 18, Friday morning).

“Some individuals have spent millions of dollars and worked diligently to establish a false narrative that I am corrupt and unethical. I have publicly ignored their antics because those who know me and work with me know that this rhetoric is simply untrue,” Madigan said in a two-page statement issued Thursday.

The Illinois GOP struggles to fund campaigns in a state dominated by Democrats, but the ComEd angle — and it's connections to Madigan, who also chairs the Illinois Democratic Party — gave them a clear target. Republican candidates across the state capitalized on the investigation, which was announced in July, using it to slam Democratic incumbents and newcomers alike in the Nov. 3 election.

Although President Donald Trump is credited with turning out his base all over the country, some Democrats say the specter of corruption in Illinois helped tank Democratic campaigns for Congress and the General Assembly. And as the election fallout ripples and news of the investigation trickles out, a growing number of high-profile Democrats have called out Madigan.

Earlier this month, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) stunned political veterans in the state with a television interview where he put Betsy Dirksen Londrigan's House loss at Madigan's feet.

“All across our state — and the advertising told the story — we paid a heavy price for the speaker’s chairmanship of the Democratic Party,” Durbin told WTTW on “Chicago Tonight.” “Candidates who had little or no connection with [Madigan] whatsoever were being tarred as Madigan allies who are behind corruption and so forth and so on."

Londrigan fell short in her rematch this year against Republican Rep. Rodney Davis after she'd lost by a just 2,000 votes in 2018. Davis ran an attack ad trying to tie Londrigan to Madigan and said “Betsy Londrigan would make Washington more corrupt.”

Similarly, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) has called for Madigan to step down as party leader.

Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker blamed the cloud of corruption for influencing voters to reject a progressive income tax ballot initiative. The measure was a signature piece of Pritzker’s plan to help turn the state’s financial ship and further cement his liberal credentials.

“If Speaker Madigan wants to continue in a position of enormous public trust with such a serious ethical cloud hanging over his head, then he has to at the very least, be willing to stand in front of the press and the people and answer every last question to their satisfaction,” Pritzker told reporters Thursday.

Strong as he was, the governor didn't call for Madigan's resignation outright and instead gave him something of an out. Written statements, Pritzker said, “are not going to cut it. If the speaker cannot commit to that level of transparency, then the time has come for him to resign as speaker.”

Pritzker must weigh his own political ambitions as he looks to re-election in 2022, as Republican campaigns are sure wield Madigan as a top talking point.

But it’s the lawmakers in the state House who have the most power to decide Madigan’s future in the face of his denials of wrongdoing.

The cracks in Madigan’s veneer started before the ComEd investigation. Two years ago, his office came under scrutiny for sexual harassment. A few veteran aides were fired, but female lawmakers haven’t forgotten and have led much of the opposition to Madigan staying on as speaker.

“Women are tired of the system being rigged against them, tired of the old-boy network and tired of having to put up with bad behavior, ethical challenges and a complete disregard for a higher standard of ethics and morality when you’re in a position of leadership,” said state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, who so far is the only representative who’s put her hat in the ring to run against Madigan as speaker.

Madigan still has his supporters and some legislators have hinted at supporting the speaker in January if he commits to make it his last. Union leaders and others credit Madigan with pushing back against Bruce Rauner, a one-term Republican governor whose austere budget efforts added to a budget morass that the state is still struggling with today.

“We have a raging pandemic, a precarious economy, a huge budget hole and we might be coming into one of the toughest budget-making sessions we’ve ever had," Michael Sacks, a top Democratic donor and supporter of Joe Biden, said before the latest drip of the ComEd scandal. "The idea that we don’t have all of our best players on the field protecting social services, education, working families and other things Democrats care about is nonsensical.”

Transition delay leads to awkward gap between Biden and Harris in intel access

President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede to President-elect Joe Biden has resulted in an unusual national security predicament: how to navigate a presidential transition when the vice president-elect is privy to classified information that she cannot discuss with the future commander-in-chief.

As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has access to regular classified briefings and documents up to the top-secret level, and can request intelligence briefings on specific topics, said David Priess, a former CIA officer and daily intelligence briefer under the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.

Biden, by contrast, will not be allowed access to classified information or any members of the intelligence community until the General Services Administration officially “ascertains” him as the president-elect — a formality that has traditionally taken place within 24 hours of election day but is being held up by Trump as he continues to challenge the election results.

Biden was given classified briefings as a candidate but those stopped once he became president-elect, and his status as a former vice president and former senator does not afford him access now.

The result is an awkward gap between what Biden and Harris know about the biggest national security threats facing the country, which the Biden White House will need to be prepared to respond to on Day One of the new administration. Harris is also legally prohibited from disclosing any classified information to Biden, leading to situations where she may have to censor herself when discussing sensitive foreign policy and national security issues around the president-elect.

In the unlikely scenario that Harris accidentally revealed something classified that she'd learned as part of a committee briefing, mishandling of classified information is technically punishable under the Espionage Act.

“Until Biden is inaugurated, he has no constitutional right to classified information and none of his conversations with Harris can venture into classified issues until they both finally start receiving classified briefings as part of the transition,” said national security lawyer Brad Moss. “There has never been an Espionage Act case against a sitting Member of Congress but no one wants to poke the 400-pound bear on this one and risk it either.”

A transition official emphasized to POLITICO on Thursday that Harris’s work on the Intelligence Committee “is entirely separate from her role as the Vice President-Elect. There is no co-mingling of those roles and responsibilities whatsoever.” The official noted that Harris, like Biden, “does not have access to the [President’s Daily Brief] or other information to which she is entitled as Vice President-elect because of the GSA’s failure to ascertain the results of the election.”

The official added that the information Harris receives by virtue of her membership on the Senate Intelligence Committee “is not the same information” as what is in the PDB — a detailed and highly classified document, compiled each morning for the president, vice president, and their senior advisers by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, that outlines key national security threats and global hot spots.

But Priess, who prepared the PDB for past presidents, noted that the top-line analytic judgments that make it into the document “would not be substantially different” from what is briefed to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The committee members typically see analysis “that is consistent with what is in the PDB,” Priess said. So while Harris cannot currently see that document, “she should be seeing the best judgments of the intelligence community and its respective agencies on most, if not all, of the same issues that appear in the PDB.” And she will be “certainly a lot better informed” on the most pressing issues than past vice presidents have been upon entering the White House, Priess said.

Still, the transition official indicated that Harris’ access to the latest intelligence as a member of SSCI, which is walled off from her work as vice president-elect, makes it no less urgent that Biden begin receiving full intelligence briefings and threat assessments.

“The 9/11 Commission Report found that the delayed 2000 transition significantly hampered the incoming administration's ability to fill key appointments, including national security personnel, and left the country less prepared for a crisis. That’s why in the elections since, the transition process has begun almost immediately,” the official said. “It could also pose significant challenges to getting President-elect Biden’s team in place given the role of FBI background checks and security clearances for potential nominees and incoming national security officials.”

Newsom's cozy ties with top lobbyist showcased by French Laundry dinner party

SAN FRANCISCO — Not every political operative can celebrate their 50th birthday with the governor of America’s most populous state during a pandemic.

Not every political operative is Jason Kinney.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is weathering a ferocious backlash for his decision to attend a celebration for Kinney on Nov. 6 at the French Laundry, a bucket list-level dining icon in Napa County. After the private dinner was exposed by the San Francisco Chronicle, Newsom said that while the outdoor meal did not violate coronavirus restrictions, he showed poor judgment in attending. He reiterated that point in a public apology on Monday, saying it went against the spirit of state rules as coronavirus cases surge across California.

While the meal amplified criticism of Newsom’s coronavirus management, with the governor parrying accusations of hypocrisy, it also cast a brighter spotlight on Kinney and the dual clout he wields in the insular world of California politics.

The longtime California Democratic politics fixer has had a hand in both winning campaigns and influencing policy. He was chief speechwriter for Gov. Gray Davis, served for years as a senior strategist for Senate Democrats and has long counseled Newsom politically. He continues to advise Newsom on politics even as his lucrative, newly launched lobbying firm works on bills that could land on Newsom’s desk.

Kinney is not the first California political operative to blur the line between politics and policy. The doors between campaigns, administrations and Sacramento’s lobbying corps have long swung open for people with contacts and experience to leverage.

“He's got some deep roots in government. Like any successful lobbyist, he uses those to his advantage because he's smart,” said Steve Maviglio, a Democratic operative who has also worked both for the California government and for the interest groups that seek to sway it. “Any special interest hires the best talent they can get and that was the decision they made with Jason.”

The governor and Kinney have a relationship extending back decades. In apologizing for attending, Newsom referred to Kinney on Monday as “a friend that I have known for almost 20 years.”

But the fact that Kinney, a registered lobbyist, got an intimate audience with Newsom immediately raised questions about conflicts of interest. Newsom said he paid for his meal, so it did not qualify as a lobbying payment.

“Newsom's got to bend over backwards and not give him any favors,” said Bob Stern, the architect of California’s campaign finance laws. “People are going to be watching what Newsom does in terms of Kinney clients now.”

While Kinney worked on Newsom’s transition team and has continued to counsel the governor, he has also launched a lobbying shop, Axiom Advisors, whose client list included major California players that spend heavily to influence state policy. Axiom reaped $10.9 million worth of lobbying work in 2019-20, the first legislative session during which Newsom was governor.

Some of Axiom’s clients highlight Kinney’s overlapping roles. Kidney dialysis firms DaVita and Fresenius paid Axiom $475,000 this session. During the same period, Kinney earned $90,000 from the California Democratic Party, which spent money to pass a labor-backed initiative regulating kidney dialysis. DaVita and Fresenius were the measure’s principal opponents.

Not all Axiom clients are major corporations; some are just desperate to get through to the governor for survival. Theme parks have been trying to get the governor's ear this year to reopen attractions during coronavirus. Three smaller amusement park operators — Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, San Diego Coaster Co., and Santa Monica Amusements — hired Axiom on Oct. 1, right as Newsom officials were discussing reopening rules. The state ultimately issued guidelines last month that allowed the Boardwalk and other smaller parks to operate, though the recent coronavirus surge has forced the closure of rides again.

The single most remunerative client for Axiom in the last two years has been Marathon Petroleum, giving Kinney’s firm $525,000 worth of business. Marathon is a member of a powerful oil industry organization that battled proposals to ban hydraulic fracturing; Newsom called on the Legislature earlier this year to send him a fracking ban.

“The thing that is so powerful about this luxury dinner story is that Newsom also risked the lives of Californians by violating his own Covid recommendations to party with the same oil lobbyist,” said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity's Climate Law Center, which is planning a lawsuit over the state's issuance of oil and gas well permits. “There's just so many ways that ordinary people are suffering such incredible pain,” she added, “and it just shows his hypocrisy to be partying with an oil lobbyist in the middle of this. It's just inexcusable.”

This would not be the first time Kinney has faced scrutiny over his work. In 2013, the California Fair Political Practices Commission fined Kinney $12,000 for failing to disclose lobbying activity despite having communicated with lawmakers on behalf of a developer.

After Kinney served as a spokesperson for Proposition 64, the 2016 Newsom-championed ballot initiative to legalize recreational cannabis use, prominent cannabis companies hired Kinney's political firm. Some critics assailed it as an example of cashing in on insider influence, with cannabis companies more likely to patronize Kinney given his connections to the future governor.

An Axiom spokesperson for Kinney did not comment for this story.

Despite wide condemnations of Newsom’s presence at the dinner, several lobbyists and strategists said Kinney could still reap the benefits. Conflict-of-interest concerns aside, the episode demonstrates that Kinney retains Newsom’s ear during a time of extremely limited in-person access to people in power. The buzz this weekend among lobbyists was how Kinney couldn't have asked for better advertising of his close ties to Newsom.

“All publicity is good publicity,” Maviglio said, and reporting on the dinner “revealed his presence in Newsom's inner circle. That is very important to many interests in Sacramento. I worked with Jason for five years, and he's had a lot of negative stories on him, and he seems to be doing quite well.”

A year ahead of Murphy’s reelection, a détente among New Jersey’s top Democrats

A year ago, a task force appointed by Gov. Phil Murphy was digging up dirt on South Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross’ use of tax incentives, while Norcross was telling reporters Murphy was “politically incompetent” and in danger of facing a serious primary challenge for reelection in 2021.

Things have changed drastically since then.

The two sides have entered into a kind of détente after years of political schism between the freshman governor’s allies in North Jersey and the South Jersey Democrats, led by Norcross and his childhood friend, Senate President Steve Sweeney.

The thawing of tensions is likely a combination of the coronavirus upending politics as usual in Trenton, Murphy’s political popularity skyrocketing in the wake of the pandemic and the increasing independence of Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin and his Middlesex County Democrats from the South Jersey Democrats who helped install him in the leadership post in 2018.

There’s also a feeling that it makes little sense for the two sides to openly feud when South Jersey Democratic lawmakers and Murphy will be on the same ballot next year.

“Maybe they just got to know each other better,” former state Sen. Ray Lesniak, a Democrat who has been a Norcross ally in recent years, said, laughing.

Whatever the reason, the Democratic Party in New Jersey is more unified now than it‘s been in years as Norcross, Murphy and Sweeney have put aside their personal distaste for each other — at least temporarily — a year ahead of Murphy’s reelection campaign.

“Things evolve and, frankly, the pandemic has changed a lot of the focus of the discussions, whether it has slowed some things down or caused other things to be placed on the back burner” said Assemblymember John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester), a running mate of Sweeney‘s.

“Priorities get shifted when you have to talk about how you borrow $4.5 billion and then try to hold the economy together,” Burzichelli said, referring to a bill that authorized the state government to borrow up to $4.5 billion — a proposal first floated by Murphy and passed with Sweeney and Coughlin’s cooperation and input.

The good will has produced other results.

In September, Sweeney relented from his previous position and cut a deal on the top issue Murphy has pushed since his 2017 election: Instituting a higher tax on millionaires. Sweeney, who had been a champion of the tax until Murphy became governor, had refused to implement the tax for more than two years.

The Coughlin-brokered deal was part of a largely drama-free pandemic budget that came two years after Sweeney and Murphy’s fight over the millionaire‘s tax came within hours of shutting down state government.

Sweeney has also backed off a plan to form a committee with subpoena power to examine the Murphy administration‘s handling of the pandemic, including how the virus swept through the state’s long-term care facilities, killing more than 7,200 residents and staff.

At the same time, the administration’s investigation into the state’s tax incentive programs has quieted — a final report issued in the fall didn’t focus on Norcross — and Murphy, Sweeney and Coughlin are now negotiating on the future of programs after a year of head-butting which resulted in the programs expiring.

In October, Murphy attended two events with Norcross’ brother, U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.), who has has endorsed the governor’s reelection.

And most recently, a top Murphy ally, Democratic State Chair John Currie, granted Sweeney’s request and appointed him to the Democrats’ state legislative redistricting team, allowing the Senate president to protect his South Jersey district, which leans more conservative than many of the safe Democratic districts up north.

That appointment was not an easy one for Murphy’s allies.

Currie, whose desire to become Passaic County clerk was blocked legislatively by Sweeney, resisted putting Sweeney on the redistricting commission, according to two sources with knowledge of the appointments — and not only because of a personal grievance. Despite growing populations, the Democrats’ delegation includes no Hispanic or South Asian members, and also lacks a voice from the state’s increasingly powerful grassroots progressive community. The five-member delegation includes just one woman.

“The Chairman’s picks for the redistricting commission protect and entrench 1) Dual officeholders 2) Steve Sweeney and 3) The patriarchy,” tweeted progressive activist Jay Lassiter.

There’s also been little chatter about a major primary challenge to Murphy, whose approval rating in recent polls has been above 60 percent.

Assemblymember Jamel Holley (D-Union) has said he’s considering a run, but likely wouldn’t be a serious contender as he’s promoted anti-vaccine conspiracy theories that have alienated some of his fellow Democratic lawmakers while developing a right-wing following online.

Former Newark mayoral candidate Shavar Jeffries, who has ties to Norcross, said in early 2020 that he was considering a run for governor, but has not made any recent moves or appearances that hint at a run.

Sweeney, persistently rumored to be considering a primary challenge to Murphy, ended that speculation for good when he secured enough votes from his caucus to return as senate president in 2022. His success in putting together the coalition, aided by the support of Bergen County senators, also ended any hopes that Murphy‘s allies would neutralize Sweeney’s political career.

“The governor’s approval rating is at an all-time high. While many of us were on the Phil Murphy train from the get-go, it’s good to see George Norcross and Steve Sweeney finally getting on board,” said Sue Altman, director of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance and vocal Norcross critic.

Sweeney and Norcross did not respond to requests for comment.

But Brendan Gill, a top Murphy political adviser who was mocked by George Norcross at a 2019 Super Bowl party in Puerto Rico, acknowledged that relations have thawed.

“There have been differences of opinion on some of the substantial policy issues that the governor put forward. But what I’ve seen is the natural progression over the first two years and now deep into the third year of an administration where they have started to find areas of mutual concern and be able to work more closely together,” Gill said. “I think it’s a natural progression for an administration to make after having the ability to kind of get planted, so to speak.”

Eric Adams to officially jump into NYC mayor's race

One week after New Yorkers resoundingly rejected President Donald Trump, a Brooklyn politician with aspirations to run the city addressed a small crowd outside Borough Hall about a push to allow residents with green cards to vote in municipal elections.

The City Council bill, which would cover an estimated 1 million people, had won the support of immigration advocates and a slate of local politicians, and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams wanted to join the chorus.

“How dare we celebrate our emancipation from the bigotry and hatred of the previous president when we are still silent where millions of Americans are still living on the plantation of not participating in government,” Adams said. “So freedom must not be for some. Freedom must be for all.”

He wasn't simply using the opportunity to discuss local legislation. He was addressing potential supporters about a far-reaching issue in a borough that consistently turns out the highest number of voters.

On Wednesday the 60-year-old politician is expected to announce his candidacy to succeed Bill de Blasio as the city’s 110th mayor. A Brooklyn native and former police officer, Adams joins a crowded and growing field of Democrats angling for the job at a time of unmatched crisis. He brings a dramatic flair to the race — a champion of veganism who said he would sometimes carry a gun as mayor, Adams drew national attention last year when he touted a new rat trap that drowns the rodents in a vat of water and alcohol.

Signifying the challenge in campaigning for office amidst a deadly pandemic, he is planning to announce his campaign over Zoom rather than at a customary rally alongside supporters.

In an interview Tuesday, Adams said his campaign will zero in on public safety and reinvigorating the economy — issues that highlight his perceived strengths as well as the ideological gulf between him and left-leaning Democrats who have been racking up legislative wins across the city in recent years.

“We have to get our economy up and running, and feeling safe to get on our subway system is crucial,” Adams said. “My business communities, they have to open up again. If I don’t have that accountant inside that office, then they’re not going down to the local deli, they’re not going down to the Dunkin’ Donuts.”

“The unskilled, uneducated — they have to get back to work, and we have to do that by really opening up our economy again,” he added.

He criticized the city’s decision to close schools when the Covid-19 positivity rate reaches a 7-day average of 3 percent, saying they are “probably the safest place for our children at this time.”

Adams comes to the campaign from eight years as borough president, a role that lacks the heft of jobs held by many of his competitors. Scott Stringer is the city comptroller; Maya Wiley served as de Blasio’s lead attorney; Ray McGuire was an executive at Citigroup until he left to explore a mayoral bid; Kathryn Garcia and Loree Sutton ran agencies under de Blasio; Shaun Donovan held high-ranking positions in the Bloomberg and Obama administrations; and Dianne Morales oversaw a large nonprofit.

Opponents will grouse that Adams lacks the managerial experience he professes the city needs, and some will say his 22 years in the NYPD — 1984 through 2006 — make him ill-suited to a moment of national reckoning with policing and race. “He’s built a glass house of management-speak and given out rocks to the neighbors,” one person working for an opposing campaign said.

But Adams has life experiences many New Yorkers can relate to.

He and five siblings were raised by a single mother who cleaned houses. They often worried about paying rent and buying food. At the age of 15, he was arrested on a trespassing charge and then beaten by police while he sat in a precinct house in South Jamaica, Queens, he said.

“I’m potentially the first blue collar mayor,” he said. “My nails are not manicured, they’re chipped up.”

He rose through the ranks as a police officer in the high-crime era of the 1980s and 1990s, beginning as a transit cop and retiring as a captain before becoming a state senator in 2007. He also founded 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement to protest the mayoral policies of Rudy Giuliani, a Republican and former prosecutor elected in 1993.

Adams separated himself from calls for sweeping NYPD reforms by Stringer, Morales and Wiley, who chaired de Blasio’s police accountability panel. Rather than shift low-level cops tasked with responding to traffic accidents, mentally ill homeless people and school safety incidents to other agencies, he said they should be promoted within the department if they show promise. That would help diversify the agency and ensure officers have better track records in resolving conflict, he said.

After learning he had developed diabetes a few years ago, Adams changed his eating habits and credits a plant-based diet and exercise with reversing his diagnosis. He has since become an evangelist for a healthy lifestyle.

Adams and Stringer are currently leading the pack in fundraising, with more than $2 million each in their campaign accounts. Both have taken money from real estate executives, though Stringer has recently jumped on the anti-development bandwagon and said he will stop taking their contributions.

When asked about such donations at a recent mayoral forum, Adams declared, “I own a small property so I am real estate also.”

Among Adams’ donors is Frank Carone, a lawyer affiliated with the Brooklyn Democratic Party, which is likely to back Adams in the primary. The importance of that type of support is waning as upstart campaigns across the city continue defeating incumbents.

Nevertheless, Brooklyn voters turn out in disproportionately high numbers, which Adams’ team believes will help him at the polls next year. In the last mayor’s race, for instance, 358,085 ballots were cast in Brooklyn, compared to 286,130 in Queens and 272,080 in Manhattan.

As borough president, Adams has shown a knack for grabbing headlines with quirky behavior and occasionally incendiary speech.

During the early days of the pandemic, he began living out of his office in borough hall, inviting a TV crew to film him lying on an unmade mattress. At a Martin Luther King Jr. event in January he commanded gentrifiers, “Go back to Iowa. You go back to Ohio!”

And last year he ladeled out servings of liquid surrounding drowned rats in a demonstration about ridding the city of rodents. “We were promised dead rats, and goddamn did we get them,” a local reporter wrote at the time.

Following the deadly shooting inside a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, Adams said police officers should bring their firearms to houses of worship. He more recently said he would carry a gun if elected mayor. On Tuesday he said he would bring it with him if he felt he was in danger, and he would opt for a smaller police detail than past mayors.

“We’re at a time now where we need a mayor who has gone through a lot to understand people who are going through a lot,” he said. “The city is ready for me.”

Former pro-democracy lawmakers arrested in Hong Kong

HONG KONG — Hong Kong police arrested three former opposition lawmakers Wednesday for disrupting legislative meetings several months ago, as concerns grow over a crackdown on the city’s pro-democracy camp.

Posts on the Facebook accounts of Ted Hui, Eddie Chu and Raymond Chan said they were arrested in relation to the incidents in the legislature’s main chamber. The trio separately disrupted legislative meetings by splashing pungent liquids and other items on two occasions.

Hong Kong police said in a statement that they arrested three former lawmakers on charges of contempt in the legislature and intent to cause harm to others. Police did not identify them by name.

The pro-democracy camp has in recent months accused the Hong Kong government and the central Chinese government in Beijing of tightening control over the semi-autonomous Chinese territory in response to demands for more democracy. They say authorities are destroying the autonomy promised to the city, a global financial center with greater freedoms than mainland China.

The three former lawmakers disrupted meetings debating the now-approved National Anthem ordinance, which criminalizes any insult to or abuse of the Chinese national anthem, the “March of the Volunteers.”

On May 28, Hui rushed to the front of the legislature, dropping a rotten plant and attempting to kick it at the legislature’s president. Chu splashed a bottle of liquid in the legislature.

One week later, Chan hid a pot of pungent liquid in a paper lantern and attempted to approach the front of the chamber, but dropped it after he was stopped by security guards. On the same day, Hui also splashed some liquid at the front of the legislature and was escorted out.

Both times, emergency services were called to the venue, and several pro-Beijing lawmakers reported feeling unwell.

Chu and Chan quit the legislature in protest after Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam postponed legislative elections by one year, citing the coronavirus pandemic. They said the postponement breached the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, which came into effect after the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.

The pro-democracy camp had hoped to win a majority in the elections that had been slated for September. They have criticized the postponement of the elections as an attempt by the pro-Beijing government to thwart their efforts.

The arrests of the lawmakers is the latest in a string of arrests in recent months. Earlier this month, seven pro-democracy lawmakers — including Chu and Chan — were arrested over another chaotic legislative meeting on May 8.

During that meeting, scuffles had broken out between the pro-Beijing and pro-democracy camps as they debated over who would preside over a committee that oversees bills. The pro-democracy lawmakers arrested were accused of rushing the chairperson’s desk, bumping into security guards and throwing sheets of paper from the public gallery.

Last week, 15 pro-democracy lawmakers resigned en masse after Beijing passed a resolution that resulted in the disqualification of four of its members from the legislature. Hui and another lawmaker, Claudia Mo, left their posts last week, while the remaining lawmakers are expected to stay on until Dec. 1. The resignations leave the body with virtually no opposition voice.

How to make a gov't in 4,000 easy steps

The 2020 presidential transition is one of the most consequential transfers of power in American history: Covid-19 is raging, Joe Biden still isn't receiving classified information as prez-elect, and Donald Trump hasn't conceded the election. POLITICO Transition Playbook author Alex Thompson demystifies the process with host Scott Bland and talks about some of the frontrunners in Joe Biden's cabinet.

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Corey Lewandowski tests positive for coronavirus

Corey Lewandowski, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday but is feeling well, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Lewandowski has traveled to various states to promote the campaign’s legal challenges to the presidential election results, but has spent recent days in Philadelphia, where he believes he could have contracted the virus from any number of people.

He did attend the election night party at the White House along with his friend, Trump campaign senior adviser David Bossie, who has since tested positive.

A Republican National committee spokesperson also confirmed Thursday that Richard Walters, the party organization’s chief of staff, had tested positive, as well. Walters did not attend the election night party.

Lewandowski’s diagnosis comes after reports within the past week that White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson have also been infected.

And Lewandowski is the latest of several Trump campaign aides and administration officials who have recently tested positive in what appears to be a third White House coronavirus outbreak.

Roughly three dozen people, including the president, were infected in September and October following a White House ceremony celebrating Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination.

Several top aides to Vice President Mike Pence also tested positive in a separate spate of infections last month, including his chief of staff Marc Short.

Lewandowski served as Trump’s campaign manager in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, and has long been a loyal ally to the president.

In June, Trump appointed Lewandowski and Bossie to serve on the Commission on Presidential Scholars, a Department of Education panel tasked with awarding special recognitions to high school seniors.

Last year, Lewandowski testified before Congress as part of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, and also flirted with a potential run for Senate in New Hampshire.

Newsom issues new pardons, commutations and medical reprieves

OAKLAND — Gov. Gavin Newsom commuted the sentences of 13 people in California prisons on Tuesday and granted four medical reprieves for older inmates with health conditions that his office said put them at high risk for Covid-19.

The governor also issued 22 pardons, 10 of which involve people who face possible deportation — including one who is in an ICE detention facility.

“Their deportations would be an unjust collateral consequence that would harm their families and communities,” Newsom’s office said.

The details: To date, Newsom has granted a total of 63 pardons and 78 commutations while in office, but these represent the first reprieves granted during his administration, spokesperson Jesse Melgar said.

The grants from Newsom went to people who “have participated in a range of rehabilitative programs and have demonstrated their transformation," his office said. They included five inmates who were tried as adults and sentenced to prison for crimes they committed when they were under 18 years old.

Five of the clemency grantees are survivors of sex trafficking and/or targeted violence, according to the governor’s office. Many of the commutation grantees were referred by former CDCR Secretary Ralph Diaz back to the trial courts for resentencing based on the inmates’ exceptional conduct.

A notable case: Among those recommended for a full pardon were Violet Henderson, who was convicted at age 18 for the conspiracy to commit grand theft as a victim of sex trafficking in Alameda County. She served less than two years, and now at age 66, is a full-time student at the University of California, Berkeley, planning to graduate in May 2022. The governor's office said that prior to her retirement in 2018, Henderson led the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s waste reduction and recycling programs. She also worked in construction and was one of a small handful of female laborers who helped build the Bay Bridge.

Newsom granted medical reprieves to four medically high-risk inmates, all 70 years and older, after some were referred by Diaz for clemency to the governor, his office said.

What's next: Even after the governor’s declarations Tuesday, the commutations will require some of the grantees to appear before the Board of Parole Hearings, where parole commissioners will determine whether the grantee can be safely released to the community. But some of the clemency grants make the inmate immediately eligible for release on parole.

Biden to name Ron Klain as his White House chief of staff

President-elect Joe Biden will name Ron Klain to be his White House chief of staff, a campaign official and two people close to the transition said on Wednesday.

Klain, a longtime Democratic operative who first worked for Biden in the late 1980s when Biden was a senator from Delaware, is the first White House official the president-elect has announced since winning last week’s election.

Ronna McDaniel expected to stay on as RNC chair

Ronna McDaniel is expected to seek a third term as Republican National Committee chairwoman, according to a person familiar with her thinking, and she has President Donald Trump’s backing to keep her post.

McDaniel, who President Donald Trump picked to lead the RNC after he won the 2016 election, received Trump’s endorsement for another term on Wednesday evening, all but guaranteeing her reelection.

Trump’s endorsement shows how he is determined to play a central role in Republican Party politics even after losing his bid for reelection. Party officials expect him to stay involved in down-ballot races heading into the 2022 midterms once he is out of office.

“I am pleased to announce that I have given my full support and endorsement to Ronna McDaniel to continue heading the Republican National Committee (RNC). With 72 MILLION votes, we received more votes than any sitting President in U.S. history - and we will win!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

The 47-year-old McDaniel is also expected to receive the support of GOP congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Trump and McDaniel got to know each other during the 2016 campaign, when she was serving as chair of the Michigan GOP. The president chose McDaniel for the RNC post shortly after he was elected, and she has since emerged as one of his top political advisers.

The RNC’s 168 members are set to elect the next chair in January, when they convene for their winter meeting.

No challenger for the RNC chairmanship has yet to emerge, and senior Republicans say prospective candidates were waiting to see if McDaniel would seek reelection. The list of rumored candidates has included informal Trump adviser and Maryland committeeman David Bossie, Ohio GOP chairwoman Jane Timken, and Mississippi committeeman Henry Barbour, the nephew of ex-RNC Chairwoman Haley Barbour.

As presidential dust settles, New York City turns its eyes to historic mayoral race

NEW YORK — Hundreds of supporters filled the street outside Bill de Blasio’s Park Slope row house in January of 2013 to witness him launch a long-shot bid to become New York City’s 109th mayor.

It was a lively affair, the size of the crowd belying de Blasio's underdog status at the time. Bundled in winter gear, supporters chanted his name as he delivered a soaring speech pledging his commitment to New Yorkers disappointed in the technocratic tenure of multi-billionaire Mike Bloomberg.

Nearly eight years later, with the city in the throes of a ceaseless pandemic, the election to replace de Blasio is shaping up to be a very different race.

Two candidates looking to succeed him next year, Scott Stringer and Maya Wiley, announced their campaigns at relatively muted affairs. They each gathered just a few dozen supporters who sat several feet apart, their faces and cheers obscured by masks, as they somberly promised to guide the city through a time of profound crisis. Other candidates, including Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, past Citigroup executive Ray McGuire and former nonprofit head Dianne Morales, must navigate concerns over a second wave of Covid-19 as they prepare to announce their bids in the coming weeks.

As the presidential election draws to a close, the contest to succeed de Blasio, whose term ends on Dec. 31, 2021, will be unlike any other in city history. It features a crowded field of contestants who must consider both the growing progressive wing of the Democratic Party and a creeping unease over safety, the economy and quality-of-life matters in a city transformed by the ongoing pandemic.

“This will look different than any race, except for the very bizarre eight-week run between Sept. 11 and the November general back in 2001,” Jonathan Rosen, a consultant who worked on de Blasio’s 2013 race, said in a recent interview. “Then, as in now, the city faced real existential questions about its future. Unlike then, the pandemic and what it means for the city is yet to be determined and there’s no end in sight.”

The virus-era restriction on gatherings is not the only novel factor in the upcoming election.

The primary contest — which will likely decide the race in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans 8-to-1 — has been moved by state law from September to June, compressing the political calendar and robbing candidates of standard summer opportunities to connect with voters.

If Covid-19 continues apace, gone will be the annual parades commemorating American soldiers during Memorial Day weekend and Puerto Rican heritage in June. The West Indian American Day parade along Eastern Parkway, an all-but-mandatory stop on every candidate’s path to office, takes place several months after the primary on Labor Day. Campaigns’ in-person efforts to register and turn out voters will likely be complicated.

The pandemic has already begun affecting the rituals of campaigning.

The candidates were forced to skip the traditional, lively Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club visit, instead answering questions from the host on individual Zoom calls. Wiley is launching a series of online forums titled “People’s Assemblies,” which will run from Nov. 16 through Dec. 15 and will provide voters a chance to interact with her on issues.

In-person fundraisers are smaller, presenting a difficulty for newer candidates in raising money, according to several campaign advisers. As a result, they are relying more on social media and online efforts. Further changing the roadmap is a new, voluntary campaign finance system that limits individual donations while increasing the size of taxpayer-funded matches.

Even if the virus abates and restrictions are lifted during the election, the earlier primary means candidates will not have a chance to schmooze with voters at street fairs and block parties.

The advent of ranked-choice voting, which will make its debut next year, is another big factor altering the election's dynamics. Backed by government reform groups — as well as Stringer and Wiley — it is intended to avoid subsequent runoff elections in inconclusive primaries by allowing voters to rank their choices. But the reform, approved by voters on a ballot question last year, is being challenged by people close to established Democratic organizations who argue it will ultimately disenfranchise Black and Latino voters.

“I will call it BS forever. We can undo the law. We are going to have more than 10 candidates per race. More people's vote will not count because people will not rank all 10. We institute a program to ‘empower the minority’ when we are no longer that. We've gentrified our vote,” Patrick Jenkins, a Queens-based political operative, tweeted on Saturday, responding to a post about ranked-choice voting.

In a follow-up interview, Jenkins said he is discussing efforts to delay the reform with lawmakers in the City Council.

Jenkins is close to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a powerful figure in the Bronx Democratic Party, but said his opposition to the measure is his alone.

“Now that minorities are the majority in this city, things like ranked-choice voting are there to dilute their power,” Jenkins said.

Supporters of the measure are holding educational training sessions ahead of the election, and argue it will better reflect the will of voters, particularly in crowded races.

Dennis Walcott, a deputy mayor for Mike Bloomberg and current president of the Queens Public Library, said ranked-choice voting will change how candidates craft their messages.

“Vote for me, but then vote for this person in the second slot. I think it really raises a level of sophistication in how you campaign,” Walcott, who volunteered on Bloomberg’s 2005 and 2009 campaigns, said in an interview. “You’re campaigning, but you don’t necessarily have the hand-holding that’s going on in the streets to reinforce your message.”

“The other piece is you really can’t dog that many people because there are implications in really trying to tear other people down,” he added.

Walcott is also a regular church attendee in Southeast Queens, and often accompanied Bloomberg to church services when he was running for re-election. Some of the city’s larger religious institutions, such as the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, are regular stops for candidates looking to connect with large audiences of consistent voters.

To that end, Walcott said most churches are holding Zoom sessions, which enable candidates to cut down on travel time and connect with even more potential voters than they normally would — albeit without any in-person contact.

Jessica Ramos, a state Senator from Queens and surrogate for Stringer’s campaign, agreed the tactic of trying to appeal to every voter rather than discounting certain blocs is likely to discourage negative campaigning.

“It really will bring us closer to being much more solution-oriented, which is what I’ve always thought government should be, and it’s hard when electoral politics get in the way,” Ramos said in a recent interview.

She said she recently participated in a cell phone poll that she believes was conducted on behalf of a mayoral candidate.

Ramos said the survey, which lasted for 18 minutes, inquired about her race and education level and the importance of a spate of issues including the pandemic, crime, public transportation, racism, the economy, public schools and homelessness. It specifically inquired about Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams’ history as a police officer, she said.

She was asked what she thinks of several mayoral hopefuls, including Stringer, Wiley, Adams, McGuire, former Obama and Bloomberg official Shaun Donovan, former de Blasio commissioner Kathryn Garcia and City Council Member Carlos Menchaca.

Many of the candidates volunteered for Joe Biden in recent weeks as the election wound down, and quickly reminded supporters of their own ticking clocks.

“After four LONG years, we did it,” Wiley wrote in a blast email to supporters. “We can breathe a sigh of relief, and NOW is the time to turn to real solutions to the problems that plague us."

Trump fires Defense Secretary Mark Esper

President Donald Trump announced Monday that he had fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper, ousting one of his top Cabinet officials just days after losing his reelection bid.

In a pair of tweets, Trump wrote that Esper had "been terminated" and that he would be replaced by National Counterterrorism Center Director Christopher Miller, who will lead the Pentagon in an acting capacity.

The shakeup comes after reports that Esper had prepared a letter of resignation in recent days, prompting lawmakers, former Defense officials and military experts to urge him to remain in his post.

Esper and Trump have previously clashed over the president's use of active-duty troops to quash incidents of civil unrest.

U.S. tops 126,000 virus cases, again sets new record

The United States set a record of more than 126,400 confirmed cases in a single day on Friday.

The seven-day rolling average of new daily cases in the U.S. is approaching 100,000 for the first time, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Total U.S. cases since the start of the pandemic are nearing 10 million, and confirmed cases globally are approaching 50 million.

Worldwide infection numbers are also setting records. The world reached 400,000 daily confirmed cases on Oct. 15; 500,000 on Oct. 26, and 600,000 on Friday.

The seven-day rolling average for daily deaths in the U.S. rose in the past two weeks from 772 on Oct. 23 to 911 on Friday. Those numbers were higher in the spring and August.

The global death toll hit a daily record of 11,024 confirmed deaths on Wednesday.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

• Malaysia’s coronavirus cases triple in month

• Germany reports daily record of more than 23,000 virus cases

• Russia's total death toll surpasses 30,000 from virus

• Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows diagnosed with the coronavirus

• Books? Hairdressers? Europeans split on lockdown essentials

• In India, polluted air spells trouble for virus patients

The Great Wait

Election Day came and went, and we’re deep into Day 4 of Election Week. POLITICO's Sudeep Reddy and Scott Bland lay out what we know, what we don’t, and the state of political journalism and polling after the vote — and how much longer we may still have to wait.

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