House Republicans have begun mapping aggressive probes of the Biden administration if they win back the majority — including inquiries into the origins of COVID, a leak of IRS data about billionaires, and accusations the NSA spied on Tucker Carlson. 

Why it matters: The plans, obtained exclusively by Axios, show House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy would make muscular use of majority powers for the last two years of President Biden's term if, as expected, the GOP wins the majority in next year's midterms. 

• McCarthy plans to send a spate of "preservation notices" to departments throughout Biden's Cabinet, ordering them to retain documents that might be needed for future GOP oversight hearings. 

Between the lines: Republicans want to deflect attention from the 1/6 commission, a real-time probe of real violence, death and looting in the Capitol.

• As a prelude, House Republicans in August sent Biden a request to "preserve all records related to your Administration’s withdrawal ... from Afghanistan."

Investigations planned by House Republicans — in parallel with their legislative agenda — show they hope to use congressional power to stoke culture wars for 2024:

• IRS: Leak of a "vast cache of IRS information" about billionaires to ProPublica.
• National Security Agency: Tucker Carlson last summer accused the spy agency of targeting his show's communications. The NSA said he was never an "intelligence target."
• Parents: Attorney General Merrick Garland's vow to mobilize the FBI against "threats of violence against school board members," after the National School Boards Association used the phrase "domestic terrorism." The association apologized for its letter.
• Border: Record levels of illegal immigration.
• COVID: Origins of the virus, and CDC communications about school closures and mask mandates.
• Afghanistan: Decisions behind the withdrawal, and an accounting of Americans who remain stranded.
• JEDI: A disputed cloud-computing contract.

What's next: McCarthy plans to beef up staff, counsel and other resources to be ready to extract information beginning Day 1 if the GOP gets the gavel.

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Omicron signals from Denmark, which has tracked COVID variants as closely as any country in the world, "have never been more concerning," The Washington Post reports from Copenhagen:

• "Omicron positives are doubling nearly every two days. The country is setting one daily case record after another. ... And scientists say the surge is just beginning."
• "A just-published paper from the institute and other researchers described a Christmas party attended by about 150 people. Most were vaccinated. And yet 71 tested positive for omicron."

Between the lines: We are about to go off the rails.

Catch up quick:

🎥 "Saturday Night Live" went on without a live audience and with Kenan Thompson as the only cast member on-set. Host Paul Rudd was joined by Tom Hanks and former "SNL" stalwart Tina Fey for a show featuring sketches taped earlier in the week. Go deeper.

📺 CNN will return to "flash studios" — small studios that can be operated remotely by fewer people. —The Wall Street Journal

🇺🇸 On Tuesday, President Biden will announce new steps against Omicron and issue "a stark warning of what the winter will look like for Americans that choose to remain unvaccinated," Jen Psaki tweeted.

🏈 New NFL COVID protocols will reduce testing for asymptomatic, vaccinated players since Omicron appears to be "very different": "[W]hile more players and staff are testing positive, roughly two-thirds ... are asymptomatic," Commissioner Roger Goodell told clubs. Go deeper.

🎊 Paris canceled New Year's Eve fireworks and festivities on the Champs-Élysées.

Eerie reminders of last year's holidays: Ohio summoned the National Guard to help overwhelmed medical facilities, and experts in Nebraska warn that its hospitals soon may need to ration care, AP reports.

• Medical officials in Kansas and Missouri are delaying surgeries, turning away transfers and desperately trying to hire traveling nurses.

Tiger Woods, 45, and his son, Charlie Woods, 12, mirrored each other's stances and mannerisms yesterday at the PNC Championship in Orlando.

Except for riding in a cart instead of walking, Tiger looked much like he did before his right leg was smashed in a car crash in February. He and Charlie combined for a 62 in the scramble, tied for fifth. Go deeper.

• Watch a video of Tiger/Charlie mannerisms ... See more photos.

The New York Times's Azmat Khan draws on "the military’s own confidential assessments of more than 1,300 reports of civilian casualties" to show that the American air war in the Middle East since 2014 has suffered from "flawed intelligence, faulty targeting .... and the deaths of thousands of civilians, many of them children."

• Why it matters: It's "a sharp contrast to the American government’s image of war waged by all-seeing drones and precision bombs. ... [P]ledges of transparency and accountability have given way to opacity and impunity."

Accountability has been scant, The Times found: "Not a single record provided includes a finding of wrongdoing or disciplinary action. Fewer than a dozen condolence payments were made, even though many survivors were left with disabilities requiring expensive medical care. Documented efforts to identify root causes or lessons learned are rare."

• "To understand how this happened, The Times did what military officials admit they have not done: analyzed the casualty assessments in aggregate to discern patterns of failed intelligence, decision-making and execution. It also visited more than 100 casualty sites."

Pentagon response: Capt. Bill Urban, spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, said that "even with the best technology in the world, mistakes do happen, whether based on incomplete information or misinterpretation of the information available."

• "We work diligently to avoid such harm. We investigate each credible instance. And we regret each loss of innocent life."

Keep reading (subscription) ... See the documents ... 4-page Pentagon response.

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