The Note: Trump Goes Nuclear

— -- NOTABLES

--TRUMP -- U.S. 'MUST GREATLY STRENGTHEN' NUCLEAR CAPABILITIES. President-elect Donald Trump tweeted Thursday that the U.S. "must greatly strengthen and expand" its nuclear capabilities without offering immediate context to what prompted the declaration, writes ABC’s ALEXANDER MALLIN. Trump said the expansion and strengthening must happen "until such time as the world comes to its sense regarding nukes." The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to ABC News' requests for further comment. http://abcn.ws/2hZqToX

--WHAT TRUMP IS TWEETING: @realDonaldTrump: My wonderful son, Eric, will no longer be allowed to raise money for children with cancer because of a possible conflict of interest with my presidency. Isn't this a ridiculous shame? He loves these kids, has raised millions of dollars for them, and now must stop. Wrong answer!

--SPICER, MILLER, HICKS, SCAVINO GET WEST WING JOBS: Trump named top aides Sean Spicer, Jason Miller, Hope Hicks and Dan Scavino to senior roles on his incoming White House communications team. Spicer will serve as the next White House press secretary. A Washington veteran, Spicer no stranger to Republican politics, reports ABC’s KATHERINE FAULDERS. He has served six years as communications director for the Republican National Committee and was a chief strategist for the committee for almost two years. http://abcn.ws/2hdZVJ4

WHAT WE’RE READING -- WITH TRUMP BUSINESS CONFLICT LOOMING, DEUTSCHE BANK SETTLES MORTGAGE CRISIS LAWSUIT. The German banking giant Deutsche Bank has agreed to a $7.2 billion settlement in principle with the U.S. Department of Justice over its role in the late-2000s mortgage crisis, the bank said in a statement on Thursday night, heading off what critics said would be a major conflict of interest with one of its big borrowers – President-elect Donald Trump, ABC’s MATTHEW MOSK reports. The agreement, if finalized, would allow the bank to resolve one of two major legal issues it has faced with the U.S. government, but likely won’t silence critics who continue to call for a special prosecutor to take over the case. "Despite this settlement, the criminal investigation of Deutsche Bank and culpable individuals must continue – and it should be done by independent counsel,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told ABC News. “Only an independent counsel can investigate and prosecute vigorously and impartially, in light of conflicts of interest created by the enormous debt owed by Donald Trump to the bank.” http://abcn.ws/2hfYJ7I

SPEED READ with ABC’s ADAM KELSEY and PAOLA CHAVEZ

TRUMP ASKED BOEING TO PRICE A LOCKHEED F-35 COMPETITOR. President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter again to express his displeasure about the price tag of an aircraft. "Based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of the Lockheed Martin F-35, I have asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet!" he tweeted Thursday. Trump's tweet comes the day after he met with the CEOs of both Boeing and Lockheed Martin to discuss the F-35 fighter and the new Air Force One. More from ABC’s LUIS MARTINEZ and KATHERINE FAULDERS: http://abcn.ws/2heFfjY

--BACKSTORY: The Pentagon is in the process of purchasing 2,443 F-35 fighters that will become the standard fighter aircraft for the military. The F-35 has stealth capability and is one of the most highly computerized aircraft to ever fly. Each F-35 costs about $112 million to produce, but Lockheed Martin estimates that costs will go down as more aircraft are produced so that by 2019 each F-35 will cost $85 million. The F/A-18 is a fighter aircraft that went into use in the 1980s by the Navy and Marine Corps as a carrier-based aircraft. It is not flown by the Air Force. The Navy and Marine Corps are in the process of modernizing their F/A-18 aircraft until they are all eventually replaced by the F-35.

TRUMP WEIGHS IN ON ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS WHILE WHITE HOUSE STAYS MUM. Egypt Thursday pulled a resolution in the United Nations calling on Israel to "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem" -- a measure President-elect Donald Trump said should be rejected. While the Obama administration had yet to comment on the matter, Trump weighed in via social media before the resolution, before the Security Council, was tabled. ABC’s JUSTIN FISHEL has more: http://abcn.ws/2igxrQo

STATES WON BY TRUMP HAVE HIGHEST ‘OBAMACARE’ ENROLLMENT. A record number of people signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act for the coming year, Barack Obama's administration announced Wednesday, with the most people selecting coverage in states that Donald Trump won in November. Some 6.4 million people signed up by the mid-December deadline — 400,000 more enrollees than the same period last year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. In a twist, the states with the most people selecting coverage all went for Trump in the presidential election: Florida, with just under 1.3 million selections; Texas, with about 776,000; North Carolina, with 369,077; Georgia, with 352,000; and Pennsylvania, with 290,950. ABC’s ALI ROGIN notes, those tallies do not include states that created their own digital health insurance exchanges, like New York and California, instead of using the federal government's HealthCare.gov website. http://abcn.ws/2h6ilYK

TRUMP WINERY LOOKING TO ADD FOREIGN WORKERS. The Trump Winery is working to add more foreign workers to its staff after a presidential campaign in which the president-elect criticized companies for moving jobs overseas. The Virginia winery, owned and managed by Eric Trump and not his father, is seeking to add six foreign workers to its staff for six months, from January to June 2017, to prune grapevines and perform a “variety of manual/equipment operation tasks in a vineyard operation,” according to a Monday filing with the U.S. Department Of Labor. Trump Winery is seeking the temporary visas under the H-2A program, which allows American employers to fill seasonal agricultural jobs with foreign workers. The winery also requested 19 temporary visas under the same program last spring. It also requested temporary visas in 2014 and 2015. ABC’s BEN SIEGEL has more: http://abcn.ws/2h611TM

REPUBLICANS SEEKING IMMEDIATE CUTS TO SOCIAL SECURITY? NOT SO FAST. A story about Republicans’ seeking to cut Social Security benefits by up to 50 percent has been gaining traction on Facebook. The Dec. 9 story on the liberal-leaning website New Century Times was flagged by Facebook users as being potentially false. ABC News looked into it, and this is what we found. The headline itself -- “Leaked! Republicans Looking To Cut Social Security As Much As 50% Immediately (Details)” – is misleading, ABC’s MARYALICE PARKS explains why: http://abcn.ws/2hMFuDD

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

CLINTON OFFICIALLY WINS POPULAR VOTE BY NEARLY 2.9 MILLION. The now officially-certified votes from the 2016 presidential race show that Hillary Clinton surpassed Donald Trump in the national popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes. According to vote tallies from The Associated Press, Clinton amassed 65,844,610 votes across all 50 states and Washington D.C., 48.2 percent of all votes cast. Trump received 62,979,636 votes, 46.1 percent of all votes cast, ABC’s ALANA ABRAMSON notes.  The Associated Press announced Thursday that all votes had officially been certified. http://abcn.ws/2hMRjty

WHO’S TWEETING?

@Cirincione: Wise words from @ArmsControlWonk. Nuclear policy can't be made - or unmade - in 140 characters. http://theatln.tc/2hx8M6b

@SenJeffMerkley: .@realDonaldTrump, Reagan & even your friend Nixon knew better. Nuke arms race = dangerous, expensive & bad for America. True then, true now

@Max_Fisher: Earth, 2016: superpower announces destabilizing nuclear arms race via TV talk show with jokey hosts dressed in PJs http://bit.ly/2h9e2vV

@jonathanweisman: “Let it be an arms race because we will outmatch them at every pass & outlast them all.” Trump seems to have no concept of existential risk.

@jpaceDC: On China, nukes and more, Trump keeps trafficking in ambiguity as his presidency nears. http://apne.ws/2intdTh