What Biden said last night:

yes, drumpf is still at it

Scoop: McConnell alerted White House before congratulating Biden

by Alayna Treene @ Axios.com, 5 hrs. ago

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called White House chief of staff Mark Meadows Tuesday morning to say he planned on congratulating Joe Biden on winning the Electoral College and would officially address him as president-elect on the Senate floor, two sources familiar with the call tell Axios.

Why it matters: The Senate leader had resisted public demands to acknowledge Biden's victory despite the president's losing court battles, holding off until electors had formally given Biden the 270 votes he needed to secure his win on Monday. The delay underscored that McConnell still needs President Trump to back must-pass legislation before leaving office, one of the sources said.

• The Kentucky Republican — whose wife, Elaine Chao, serves in the president's Cabinet — did not speak directly with Trump.

Beyond Trump's help in the Senate, McConnell also needs the support of Trump voters in the pivotal Georgia Senate runoff elections next month. Republicans must win both races or face a 50-50 split Senate with the Democrats, and Vice President Kamala Harris, casting tie-breaking votes in her party's favor.

• McConnell also made clear during a phone call Tuesday afternoon he doesn’t want Senate Republicans doing anything to jeopardize incumbents up for reelection in the critical 2022 midterms.

Yes, but: McConnell's courtesy call to the White House didn’t stop Trump from tweeting an article quoting Rep. Mo Brooks. The Alabama Republican asserted: "‘Trump Won the Electoral College' - I Can Be a Part of the ‘Surrender Caucus‘ or I Can Fight for Our Country,” just moments after McConnell spoke.

A spokesperson for McConnell declined to comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Joe and Mitch show gets started

By Renuka Rayasam  @ Politico nightly 12/15/2020 08:00 PM EST

MCCONNELL IN THE MIDDLE — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did today what President Donald Trump has not: He congratulated Joe Biden on winning the presidential election in November.

McConnell’s recognition of Biden, along with his plea to Senate Republicans not to challenge the election results, was calculated. McConnell was careful not to alienate Trump — he waited an entire month after the election, until the Electoral College cast its votes — but he also surely wanted to protect his majority from voting to confirm the election results on Jan. 6. As Marianne LeVine and Melanie Zanona write, if the Senate were forced to deliberate the election results, most GOP senators would be going on the record against a president who values fealty above all else.

The Senate majority leader even transmitted a message to the White House ahead of time that he would be congratulating Biden on his win over Trump, according to a source familiar with the matter, writes Burgess Everett.

McConnell will have to work closely with Biden over the next two years, particularly if he leads a slim GOP majority. But he also has to work with Trump over the next few weeks: to pass coronavirus relief and a government funding bill and to win the two Georgia Senate runoff races.

Nightly caught up with Senate reporter Marianne over Slack today to talk about the relationship between McConnell and Biden. This conversation has been edited.

How well do McConnell and Biden know each other?

Both men have referred to each other as “friends.” And McConnell was the only Senate Republican to attend Beau Biden’s funeral.

Have they spoken since Election Day?

Biden told reporters that he spoke to McConnell today and thanked him for this floor speech. It’s not completely clear if they’d spoken before that. Biden at a recent press conference declined to say whether he’d spoken to the majority leader, prompting some speculation in Twitterverse.

Do you think this will translate to the pair hashing out deals?

Their long-standing relationship is likely to help in the sense that they seem to understand each other. Both men worked closely together while Biden was vice president. For example, in 2012 Biden and McConnell reached a bipartisan compromise on the fiscal cliff.

But the Senate has only become a more partisan institution and while bipartisanship was a big part of Biden’s campaign pitch, it’s hard to know how much appetite for that there will be. McConnell’s moves will be guided by a desire to protect his majority in 2022.

What does this mean for Biden’s agenda?

The first test will be how McConnell handles Biden’s Cabinet appointments [....]