Sign up for our daily briefing

Make your busy days simpler with Axios AM/PM. Catch up on what's new and why it matters in just 5 minutes.

Please enter a valid email.

Please enter a valid email.

Subscription failed
Thank you for subscribing!

Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday

Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday

Please enter a valid email.

Please enter a valid email.

Subscription failed
Thank you for subscribing!

Denver news in your inbox

Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Denver

Please enter a valid email.

Please enter a valid email.

Subscription failed
Thank you for subscribing!

Des Moines news in your inbox

Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des Moines

Please enter a valid email.

Please enter a valid email.

Subscription failed
Thank you for subscribing!

Minneapolis-St. Paul news in your inbox

Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Twin Cities

Please enter a valid email.

Please enter a valid email.

Subscription failed
Thank you for subscribing!

Tampa Bay news in your inbox

Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa Bay

Please enter a valid email.

Please enter a valid email.

Subscription failed
Thank you for subscribing!

Charlotte news in your inbox

Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Charlotte

Please enter a valid email.

Please enter a valid email.

Subscription failed
Thank you for subscribing!

Please enter a valid email.

Please enter a valid email.

Subscription failed
Thank you for subscribing!

Georgia recertifies Biden's victory after two recounts

Brad Raffensperger. Photo: Paras Griffin/Getty Images

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger recertified the state's election results on Monday, after another recount showed once again that President-elect Joe Biden won the state.

Why it matters: The recertification is the latest blow to Trump's long-shot effort to overturn the election results in Georgia and other states.

  • The president and his allies continue to claim, without evidence, that widespread election fraud took place in the presidential election.
  • Earlier on Monday, judges in Michigan and Georgia dismissed two parallel so-called "Kraken" lawsuits from attorney Sidney Powell, who has been pushing conspiracy theories about the election results.

Driving the news: The Trump campaign requested a recount after the state certified the results last month.

  • Biden won the initial count tally, a hand recount ordered by the state, and the machine recount requested by the Trump campaign.
  • The machine recount showed Biden's lead was just under 12,000 votes.

What he's saying: “Today is an important day for election integrity in Georgia and across the country,” Raffensperger said in a statement.

  • “The claims in the Kraken lawsuit prove to be as mythological as the creature for which they’re named," he added.
  • "Georgians can now move forward knowing that their votes, and only their legal votes, were counted accurately, fairly, and reliably.”

Go deeper: Conspiracy theories blow back on Trump's White House

Go deeper

Axios
Updated Jan 25, 2021 - Politics & Policy

Dominion files $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani

Photo: Rey Del Rio/Getty Images

Dominion Voting Systems filed a defamation lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani on Monday seeking $1.3 billion in damages for his "demonstrably false” allegations about the company's voting machines.

Why it matters: Giuliani led former President Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the election and spread the baseless conspiracy theory that Dominion's voting machines flipped votes from Trump to Joe Biden.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Zachary Basu
2 mins ago - Energy & Environment

John Kerry: U.S.-China climate cooperation is a "critical standalone issue"

President Biden's special climate envoy John Kerry said Wednesday that the U.S. must deal with China on climate change as a "critical standalone issue," but stressed that Beijing's human rights and trade abuses "will never be traded" for climate cooperation.

Why it matters: The last few years have brought about a bipartisan consensus on the need for the U.S. to confront China's aggression. But as the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, China will be a vital player if the world is going to come close to reining in emissions on the scale needed to meet the Paris Agreement goals of limiting warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Zach Dorfman of the Aspen Institute, author of Codebook
39 mins ago - World

In cyber espionage, U.S. is both hunted and hunter

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

American outrage over foreign cyber espionage, like Russia's SolarWinds hack, obscures the uncomfortable reality that the U.S. secretly does just the same thing to other countries.

Why it matters: Secrecy is often necessary in cyber spying to protect sources and methods, preserve strategic edges that may stem from purloined information, and prevent diplomatic incidents.

Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow