Axios

President Trump may be leaving the White House on Jan. 20, but his legal challenges and refusal to concede could become far more normal in U.S. politics.

Why it matters: GOP support for his tactics has been far broader than immediately after the election.

Nearly nine months since the CARES Act became law, ensuring that an economic recession didn't become a depression, Congress is finally close to a successor bill.

Axios Re:Cap digs into the negotiations, and what took so long, with Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, which has taken the lead in crafting new legislation.

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 Office of Special Counsel issued a report on Monday finding that White House trade adviser Peter Navarro repeatedly violated the Hatch Act — which restricts government employees from engaging in partisan political activities — by using his official authority for campaign purposes.

Why it matters: Navarro is one of more than a dozen Trump administration officials the OSC has found to have violated the act.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will deliver a foreign policy speech at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta on Wednesday, just weeks ahead of two runoff races that will determine control of the Senate.

Why it matters: Pompeo, widely seen as a likely 2024 presidential candidate, has frequently been criticized for violating norms restricting the secretary of state from overtly partisan activities.

Some elected Republicans are breaking ranks with President Trump to acknowledge that President-elect Biden won the 2020 presidential election.

Why it matters: The relative sparsity of acknowledgements highlights Trump's lasting power in the GOP, as his campaign moves to file multiple lawsuits alleging voter fraud in key swing states — despite the fact that there have been no credible allegations of any widespread fraud anywhere in the U.S.

Stocks rose faster in the one month of trading following the 2020 election than in the month of trading that followed the 2016 election.

Between the lines: There are many macro differences between the 2016 and 2020 periods, most notably the pandemic, but both elections took place amid bull markets.

When Bob Woodward called President Trump to warn him that "Rage" would be "a tough book," Trump replied, as Woodward recounted on "60 Minutes": "Well, I didn’t get you on this book. Maybe I’ll get you on the next one." He'll get a chance sooner than he thought.

Driving the news: Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, both of The Washington Post, are teaming up to write a book on the final days of the Trump presidency and the first phase of the Biden presidency.

President-elect Joe Biden on Monday announced the key members of his health team, tapping California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be Health and Human Services secretary and Harvard infectious disease expert Rochelle Walensky to be director of the CDC.

Why it matters: The team will immediately be in charge of addressing what will likely still be an out-of-control pandemic, including the government's efforts to distribute coronavirus vaccines.

On the Season 3 finale of “Axios on HBO," former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director Christopher Krebs tells Axios national political correspondent Jonathan Swan whether he thinks President Trump is a domestic threat:

• “There is disinformation that he is spreading. I mean, disinformation is one type of threat,” Krebs said.

Catch the full interview and much more on Monday, Dec. 7 at 11 p.m. ET/PT on all HBO platforms.

NAID director Anthony Fauci's appeal to Americans to "wear a mask" during the pandemic to prevent COVID-19 is the top quote of the year in The Yale Book of Quotations, per AP.

Driving the news: Fred Shapiro, an associate director at the Yale Law School who chooses quotes for the Yale Law School librarian's list first published in 2006, has said he picks ones that are famous or revealing of the spirit of the times — not necessarily eloquent or admirable.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Sunday night called for threats against elected officials to "stop" after Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said armed protesters gathered outside her home and shouted "baseless conspiracy theories about the election."

Why it matters: Saturday's protest follows Trump's persistent unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. Election officials in states including Georgia and Pennsylvania have reported receiving death threats over the election.

Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) refused to say during her Georgia Senate runoff debate with Democrat the Rev. Raphael Warnock Sunday whether she agrees with President Trump's baseless claims that the presidential election was rigged.

Why it matters: Some Republicans are concerned that Trump's claims may hurt the party ahead of the two Jan. 5 Senate elections runoffs in Georgia that will decide which party will hold the Senate majority.