Here’s what you need to know at the end of the day.
(Want to get this newsletter in your inbox? Here’s the sign-up.) Good evening. Here’s the latest.1. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, backed President Trump in his refusal to concede. In his first comments since Joe Biden was declared the winner, the top Republican in Congress declined to recognize the victory, arguing on the Senate floor that Mr. Trump was “100 percent within his rights” to challenge the election outcome. As the president continued to claim the election was stolen from him and vowed to pursue lawsuits in key swing states, Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, broke ranks and became only the fourth senator in her party to recognize Mr. Biden’s “apparent victory.” At Jones Day, the most prominent law firm backing Mr. Trump and the Republican Party in their election fight, some senior lawyers are worried that they may be helping to undermine the integrity of American elections.2. Pfizer’s early data shows its vaccine is more than 90 percent effective in preventing Covid-19. Independent scientists have cautioned against hyping early results from late-stage trials. Still, the development makes Pfizer the first to announce positive results from an advanced coronavirus vaccine trial amid a pandemic that has killed more than 1.2 million people. Pfizer plans to ask for emergency authorization of the two-dose vaccine later this month, after it has collected two months of safety data. At the same time, President-elect Joe Biden made an urgent plea for Americans to wear masks to slow the spread of the virus and named a 13-member Covid-19 task force to advise him during the transition. In other virus developments: 3. President Trump fired Mark Esper as defense secretary. Mr. Esper disagreed with his boss in June about sending active-duty military troops to control demonstrations against police brutality. Christopher Miller, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, will be acting secretary, the fourth official to lead the Pentagon under Mr. Trump. Mr. Esper had taken pains to hew to the Trump line during his nearly four-month tenure. But concern over invoking the Insurrection Act to send troops to battle protesters across the country is deep in the Pentagon, and Mr. Esper ultimately opposed the move.4. Global markets soared in a relief-fueled rally.
