President lauds Operation Warp Speed success but says New York will have to wait for vaccine

President fires defence secretary Mark Esper

Like any bully worth his salt, it didn’t take Trump long to start turning his election frustration on those around him, sacking his defence secretary yesterday by saying on Twitter he had been “terminated”.

Esper will be replaced by Christopher C Miller, director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, who will only be serving in an acting capacity until Biden’s team comes in in January and so will not need to be approved by the Senate.

Esper though wasted no time in hitting back, denying that he was a “yes man” for Trump as he worried the president would begin replacing senior Cabinet officials with people who would not push back.

In an exclusive interview with The Military Times that dropped shortly after his abrupt firing, Esper took exception with critics who have called him a “yes man”, the source of the derogatory nickname “Yesper” used by the president.

“Name another Cabinet secretary that’s pushed back… Have you seen me on a stage saying, ‘Under the exceptional leadership of blah-blah-blah, we have blah-blah-blah-blah?” Esper said.

“At the end of the day, it’s as I said - you’ve got to pick your fights… I could have a fight over anything, and I could make it a big fight, and I could live with that - why? Who’s going to come in behind me? It’s going to be a real ‘yes man.’ And then God help us.”

The interview was conducted on 4 November, before his replacement would have been known.

Justin Vallejo has more.

Ben Carson tests positive for Covid after attending White House election party

Just days after the president’s chief of staff Mark Meadows was diagnosed with coronavirus, his housing and urban development secretary was found to have it too.

The development spreads fresh fears that a mass gathering at the White House could have once again proven to be a superspreader event, just as Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination reception in the Rose Garden on 26 September was.

This time, it looks like Trump’s election night bash could be to blame, at which few masks were worn.

Oliver O’Connell has this report.

Fox News cuts away from Kayleigh McEnany press conference: ‘I can’t in good countenance continue showing this’

In the latest evidence of Rupert Murdoch’s powerful right-wing network turning against this administration following their election night spat over that early call of Arizona for Biden, the channel pulled away from carrying the White House press secretary yesterday.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. I just think we have to be very clear: she's charging the other side as welcoming fraud and illegal voting, unless she has more details to back that up, I can't in good countenance continue to show you this," host Neil Cavuto said.

McEnany began the press conference arguing that the Democrats were the only party opposing voter ID, verifying signatures, citizenship, residency, eligibility and trying to keep observers out of the counting room.

“You take these positions because you are welcoming fraud and you are welcoming illegal voting,” she said, just before Fox cut away.

Justin Vallejo has this one.

Donald Trump’s New Nightmare

Like Freddy Kreuger in Wes Craven’s meta-sequel to his celebrated horror franchise, this president could return to haunt the dreams of Democrats in 2024 as revenge for the public losing the faith in him this time around.

So says Lindsey Graham, as does Axios, which reports that Trump has already begun preliminary talks with aides on a fresh tilt at the constitutional norms and basic decency in four years’ time.

Graig Graziosi has more.

Biden team considers suing over delay in recognition by federal agency

The Democratic victor’s presidential transition team could take legal action against a federal government agency's failure to recognise his election win last week.

A Biden transition official argued on Monday that the General Services Administration’s (GSA) failure to officially recognise the result was now delaying preparations on the changeover of power in the White House.

The GSA, an independent agency of the United States government, must formally recognise election winners to allow a president-elect to start work on the transition.

Emily Murphy, the body’s administrator and a Trump appointee, has been facing plenty of flack on Twitter over her dithering.

Gino Spocchia has this report.

International observers report ‘no serious irregularities’ in blow for Trump fraud claims

Bill Barr may have cleared federal investigators to go after “substantial” allegations of voter fraud but, in the opinion of a 28-member delegation from the Organisation of American States, there are none and the national vote was “well-organised” and “progressed in a peaceful manner”.

Namita Singh has more.

Lindsey Graham: ‘Republicans lose elections because Democrats cheat’

This is a deplorable statement from the recently re-elected South Carolina senator and Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, as dangerously inflammatory as it is utterly baseless.

Trump’s new acting secretary of defense arrives at the Pentagon

Here’s Christopher Miller almost tripping over on his way into the corridors of power.

From dead voters to mail-in ballots: A brief history of Donald Trump’s bogus claims of voter fraud 

If you’re already utterly baffled by the president’s complex web of unfounded conspiracy theories surrounding his election defeat, Richard Hall has this guide.

Is Biden facing the toughest presidential transition in history?

It’s certainly an unenviable task ahead of the president-elect, with coronavirus, a tanking economy, mass unemployment, a polarised public and a loss of face on the world stage all matters in need of his urgent attention come 20 January.

Sean O’Grady considers the question.