Monday morning news: November 11, 2024

Trump will visit Biden in Oval Office this week » President-Elect Trump doesn’t take office until January, but he’ll be in the Oval Office this week at the invitation of President Bident.

National Security Adviser Jake Sulivan says they’ll meet face to face on Wednesday to discuss the transition. But he said they’ll also talk about policy and the major challenges now facing the nation.

SULLIVAN:  Talk to President Trump about how President Trump is thinking about taking on these, uh, these issues when he takes office.

Sullivan said Biden will take the opportunity to make his case about how the United States should tackle those challenges going forward, including the war in Ukraine …

SULLIVAN:  Because the threat to Ukraine will remain no matter what exactly happens on the battlefield or at the negotiating table, and the United States should not walk away from its commitment.

Ukraine » A top U.K. defense official told the BBC that Russian forces had suffered their worst month of casualties.

Meanwhile a huge nighttime wave of Russian drones targeted Ukraine, and a massive drone strike reportedly rattled Moscow and its suburbs.

Russia's defense ministry said Sunday that its air defenses shot down more than 70 drones over the country.

This came after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a major military pact with North Korea over the weekend.

Transition in progress »  The transition to Donald Trump's second term as president is officially underway.

Former Democratic congresswoman presidential candidate, turned Trump campaign surrogate Tulsi Gabbard said Sunday:

GABBARD:  If he asks me to serve in a position where I feel I can be effective, uh, to help him carry out his objectives, of course, I'd be honored to do that.

She’s among the names rumored to be in the running for key posts in the next Trump administration. Other names on that list include Sen. Marco Rubio, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and Trump’s former Sec. of State Mike Pompeo, just to name a few.

Trump made history last week by picking his campaign co-chair, Susie Wiles, for chief of staff, which will make her the first woman ever to hold that job

Anti-Trump protest / Rep. Phillips election postmortem » In New York City over the weekend …

AUDIO: Hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go! [fade under and slowly out]

Demonstrators not happy with the election results.

Democratic Congressman Dean Phillips says he shares their frustration, but says Democrats only have themselves to blame. He believes voters did not reject his party’s policies …

PHILLIPS:  Our product is not the real problem. Our packaging, our messengers, and our distribution is a real problem. And I think it's fair to say if you ask people what the Democratic brand stands for right now, it's real complicated.

And he says Democrats should have held an open and honest presidential primary, which might have yielded a stronger candidate.

Congress update / Senator-elect in PA » It looks increasingly likely that Republicans will hang onto their slim majority in the House of Representatives and perhaps even pick up a couple seats.

Prior to the election, the GOP controlled 220 seats. And Congressman Chip Roy said Sunday:

ROY:  I think we're looking at probably ending up somewhere around 222 or 223, uh, which would give us a, you know, at least a healthy majority.

With votes still being counted, it now appears Republicans control at least 213 seats. They need at least five more for a majority.

There are 19 races still undecided.

But the GOP has already claimed control of the Senate, gaining three seats, including in Pennsylvania where Senator-Elect Dave McCormick won a close race.

MCCORMICK: Thank you to the great people of Pennsylvania for giving me this opportunity. I'm, uh, Dina and I are so excited about it.

One Senate race remains undecided. That’s in Arizona. But Democrat Rubin Gallego leads there by nearly 2 points without 90 percent of the votes counted.

Wildfire » A New York parks employee was killed over the weekend fighting one of several wildfires burning in New York and New Jersey. Authorities say he was killed when a tree fell on him.

New Jersey officials said the blaze had spread to 4 square miles and is now threatening numerous structures across both states.

Chief Bill Donnelly with the New Jersey Fire Service:

DONNELLY:  New Jersey hasn't seen anything this dry since we began keeping records, which is one of the obstacles we're facing. So it's very labor intense to put these fires out. It takes a lot of time and energy.

Health advisories were issued in both states due to the unhealthy air quality. Firefighters also were battling smaller blazes in Massachusetts.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: the Supreme Court considers a case about the line between mandatory and discretionary disclosures.

Plus, the Monday Moneybeat with David Bahnsen.

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