The Note: Trump Takes the Electoral College
— -- NOTABLES
--TRUMP SURPASSES 270 ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES: Donald Trump surpassed 270 Electoral College votes yesterday, meaning that he has the required number of votes to be elected president. The milestone came when electors in Texas cast their votes. There were 10 electors who did not cast ballots for the candidate they were expected to vote for: eight who were supposed to vote for Hillary Clinton and two who were supposed to vote for Trump but voted for other candidates. Four of the electors who were set to vote for Clinton were in Washington state. Three of them voted for former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and the fourth voted for Native American tribal leader Faith Spotted Eagle, according to the Washington secretary of state. ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY, SHUSHANNAH WALSHE and ALANA ABRAMSON have more: http://abcn.ws/2gUdXvX
--ANALYSIS -- ABC’s RICK KLEIN: What would Hamilton have thought of Faith Spotted Eagle? She’s the Sioux leader best known of late for helping block the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines, whom history will record received an electoral vote in 2016. She was one of five individuals, receiving a total of seven votes, who were named on Electoral College ballots despite not being candidates on Election Day. Donald Trump remains president-elect, with Hillary Clinton having actually lost more votes (five) than the total Trump earned but didn’t receive (two). Three more electors tried to go rogue but were replaced before their votes were counted. Thus concludes one of the stranger trips through the strangest College that American democracy can conjure. What was accomplished exactly? Surely the answer to an undemocratic process is not somehow less democracy – a sort of democracy by chaos, when 538 individuals feel free to make individual points of their choosing in casting the ballots that count for the presidency? If ever there was an argument for Electoral College reform, it came when electors convened on Monday, with no guidelines or centralized rules governing electors’ freedom to replace their individual judgment for those of the states they were representing. Perhaps it’s good that the selection of electors is unlikely to occur quietly in the future. For that, we can thank the elector who chose to be faithless with Faith.
--WARRANT RELATED TO CLINTON EMAILS TO BE UNSEALED TODAY: A federal judge in New York has ordered that a search warrant and supporting documents that authorized the FBI in the final days before the election to examine a laptop computer in connection with Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server be unsealed today at noon, according to ABC’s JACK DATE. The laptop's hard drive, which sources say was discovered in an unrelated investigation into alleged sexting by former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner, had been used by Weiner and his estranged wife, top Clinton adviser Huma Abedin. http://abcn.ws/2i39bkz
SPEED READ with ABC’s JENNY HANSLER and ADAM KELSEY
MAINE ELECTOR ATTEMPTS TO SWITCH VOTE FROM CLINTON TO SANDERS. Much attention was paid to Republican electors looking to switch their votes from Donald Trump, but there were defectors on the Democratic side as well. David Bright, an elector in Maine who was expected to vote for Hillary Clinton, tried to switch his vote in favor of Bernie Sanders but was overruled. His attempt to cast his first vote for Sanders was ruled out of order by the Electoral College president, and then Bright cast his second ballot for Clinton, which was accepted, report ABC’s MEGHAN KENEALLY, SHUSHANNAH WALSHE and ALANA ABRAMSON. http://abcn.ws/2i7R1dF
TRUMP TO NOMINATE FLORIDA PANTHERS OWNER VINCENT VIOLA FOR ARMY SECRETARY. President-elect Donald Trump says he plans to nominate West Point graduate, businessman and Florida Panthers owner Vincent Viola for secretary of the Army. Viola, founder of Virtu Financial and former chair of the New York Mercantile Exchange, is just the latest in a string of powerful businessmen Trump has tapped to serve in top staff or administration positions, notes ABC’s ALEXANDER MALLIN. Viola is a West Point graduate and U.S. Army veteran, and following the 9/11 terrorist attacks helped found the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, according to the Trump transition team. http://abcn.ws/2h3OSUl
OBAMA CONTEMPLATES THE FUTURE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Democrats are searching for answers after their devastating loss at the polls, President Obama admitted in a wide-ranging interview with National Public Radio. When asked about the future of the Democratic Party, he said, "I am a proud Democrat, but I do think that ... we've ceded too much territory. And I take some responsibility for that." When he took office, the Democrats "were just putting out fires" and "were in a huge crisis situation," Obama said in the portion of the interview that aired Monday, ABC’s AVERY MILLER writes: http://abcn.ws/2i1yeV8
HOW IVANKA TRUMP'S POSSIBLE WHITE HOUSE ROLE WOULDN'T BE UNPRECEDENTED. Although a Trump adviser says it's a "fair assessment" that his daughter, Ivanka, may play an active role in the administration, she wouldn't be the first child of a president to do so. Anita McBride, a former chief of staff to First Lady Laura Bush and board member of the White House Historical Association, points to several historical examples of first daughters taking on active roles to help their fathers in the White House. “A fair number throughout our history have stepped up to help the president,” McBride said in an interview with ABC News. “It wouldn't be unusual for a first child to step out, but this may be different if she is directly in charge of an initiative,” she added. ABC’s JORDYN PHELPS has more: http://abcn.ws/2hkHb8k
OBAMA IN HAWAII: All the details of the president’s final winter Hawaiian vacation while in office, courtesy of ABC’s SERENA MARSHALL: http://abcn.ws/2gKBn6K
‘POWERHOUSE POLITICS’ PODCAST -- WHAT WILL BE THE FALLOUT FROM THE ASSASSINATION OF RUSSIA’S AMBASSADOR BY A TURKISH POLICEMAN? Relations are already fragile between the two countries and with the recent US accusations of hacking by the Russians, this latest international event seems to further destabilize NATO relations. ABC’s JONATHAN KARL and RICK KLEIN ask the tough questions to former CIA Director James Woolsey who is a Donald Trump advisor and an expert in Russian-Turkish relations. http://abcn.ws/powerhouse-politics
WHO’S TWEETING?
@realDonaldTrump: Bill Clinton stated that I called him after the election. Wrong, he called me (with a very nice congratulations). He "doesn't know much" ...
@MajorCBS: In re @realDonaldTrump tweets on @billclinton this morning. Here is backstory http://www.record-review.com/record-review/12-16-16_Editorial__Mr._President,_one_more_question.html …
@PhilipRucker: City officials in Mobile, Ala, apologize for cutting down 50-ft cedar tree from public park as Trump rally xmas prop http://bit.ly/2hDB8hZ
@DLeonhardt: How different are our political parties right now? Imagine if Obama were handling the transition as NC's McCrory is. http://nyti.ms/2hmQtAv
@WSJPolitics: Why the GOP foreign-policy establishment supports Rex Tillerson as Donald Trump's secretary of state http://on.wsj.com/2ib5XaM