Axios

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) told "Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski at the "Know Your Value" event in San Francisco on Saturday that she will decide early next year whether to launch a bid for the White House, saying that "over the holiday" she will "make that decision with my family," per NBC News.

Why it matters: Harris' move would help to clarify what is expected to be a crowded field of Democratic primary candidates. Rep. Beto O'Rourke is currently a candidate du jour — and other top contenders like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden have indicated they could make their decisions soon.

Go deeper: The Democrats' 2020 crowd jumps the gun

Incoming House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that President Trump’s refusal to rule out a pardon for his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort "adds to the growing body of evidence that the president is engaged in obstructing justice."

The backdrop: Trump told the New York Post last week that a potential pardon "was never discussed, but I wouldn’t take it off the table. Why would I take it off the table?" Trump's statement came as the president doubled down in his attacks on the Mueller investigation after the special counsel said in court filings that Manafort violated a plea agreement by lying repeatedly to federal investigators.

Go deeper: Democrats to probe Trump for targeting CNN, Washington Post

Former FBI Director James Comey tweeted Sunday that he had reached a deal to take part in a hearing with House Republicans behind closed doors but with the ability to release a transcript the next day, stating the deal was "the closest I can get to public testimony."

"Grateful for a fair hearing from judge. Hard to protect my rights without being in contempt, which I don’t believe in. So will sit in the dark, but Republicans agree I’m free to talk when done and transcript released in 24 hours. This is the closest I can get to public testimony."

The big picture: Comey had been subpoenaed by House Republicans to discuss Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as well as Russian interference in the 2016 election in a closed door setting, but he asked a federal judge to quash the subpoena while arguing that he preferred to take part in a public hearing, per Vox.

Former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone said on ABC's "This Week" Sunday that he hasn’t discussed the possibility of a pardon with President Trump or his legal team if he were convicted in the Mueller investigation.

"There’s no circumstance under which I would testify against the president because I’d have to bear false witness against him. I’d have to make things up. And I’m not going to do that. I’ve had no discussion regarding a pardon.”

The backdrop: Stone has been under the microscope for his alleged contacts with WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign, particularly surrounding the release of Democratic emails. On Sunday, Stone again denied that he discussed WikiLeaks with Trump at the time and said he had not been contacted by Mueller. Meanwhile, Trump said last week that a pardon for his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort remains a possibility.

Go deeper: Signs point to an acceleration of Mueller's endgame

President Trump announced Saturday that all agencies in the federal government will close on December 5 for former President George H.W. Bush's funeral.

Details: Trump declared the day a national day of mourning and will be attending the funeral on Wednesday. The president told reporters he will be sending Air Force One to Texas to bring Bush's casket to Washington for his service at the National Cathedral.

North Carolina's board of elections voted 7-2 Friday to continue investigating allegations of possible fraud involving absentee ballots in the state's 9th district congressional race, in which Republican Mark Harris beat Democrat Dan McCready by just 905 votes, the Washington Post reports.

What's happening: In Bladen County, 19% of absentee ballots were requested by registered Republicans and 39% by unaffiliated voters, per the Charlotte Observer. Yet Harris, who lost the absentee ballot count by a lopsided margin in seven of the eight counties in the 9th district, won 61% of absentee ballots. A number of voters have submitted sworn affidavits to the election board claiming irregularities, including multiple accounts of a woman coming to their house and telling them she was collecting absentee ballots.

President Trump is attending the funeral of former President George H.W. Bush, despite his contentious past with the Bush family, Politico reports.

Why it matters: Trump's relationship with the Bush family has been tumultuous. He has been critical of the family in the past, mocking the 41st president just five months ago: "What the hell was that, by the way: Thousand points of light?" He did not attend the funeral of Barbara Bush to "avoid disruptions due to added security."

Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said on Friday that the committee has "made referrals...to the special counsel for prosecution," and that many of those referrals were because they believed the witnesses were lying, the Washington Post reports.

Why it matters: The committee has interviewed more than 200 people since special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation began, per the Post, including Michael Cohen who pled guilty for lying to Congress this week — though he was not referred by the committee for prosecution. Burr said his message "was if you lie to us, we're going to catch you and we're going to prosecute you, period, end of sentence."

President Trump cancelled his press conference scheduled for the end of the G20 summit on Saturday, "out of respect for the Bush family and former President George H.W. Bush."

"I was very much looking forward to having a press conference just prior to leaving Argentina because we have had such great success in our dealing with various countries and their leaders at the G20....However, out of respect for the Bush Family and former President George H.W. Bush we will wait until after the funeral to have a press conference."

Michael Cohen's lawyer stated in a Friday court filing that Cohen "remained in close and regular contact with White House-based staff and legal counsel" to President Trump — called "Client-1" in the document — while he was preparing inaccurate statements to Congress about Russian contacts.

The big picture: Cohen's new guilty plea is the first time that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation has "come alive with pre-presidential actions and entanglements by Trump himself," as previously reported by Axios' Mike Allen. Cohen's lawyer says in the filing that Cohen and Trump "discussed possible travel to Russia in the summer of 2016, and Michael took steps to clear dates for such travel." It also says that Cohen kept Trump "apprised" of conversations he had with the assistant of a Kremlin official about the Moscow tower project.

The passing last night of President George H.W. Bush at age 94 "marks the end of a long era in presidential history — what we might call the Cold War Presidents: Truman, Ike, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Bush," presidential historian Jon Meacham, author of "Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush," tells Axios.

The big picture: "The last combat veteran to hold the office, President Bush came from a truly vanished world. Born to privilege, he had the most adventurous and courageous of spirits (he considered joining the Royal Air Force after Pearl Harbor since the RAF would take 17-year-olds). ... "The war years, the move to Texas, the long apprenticeship in national politics and governance — it was a thrilling life, and he loved every bit of it."