Today in one sentence: More than 10 million people have been infected with the coronavirus in the United States; Biden named 13 health experts to his Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board; Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is reportedly more than 90% effective; Trump and his campaign continue to baselessly claim widespread election fraud; Mitch McConnell supported Trump’s refusal to concede the election; Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper by tweet; and Trump told advisers he's thinking about running for president again in 2024.

1/ More than 10 million people have been infected with the coronavirus in the United States, which is about one-fifth of the 50 million infections worldwide. At least 105,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Sunday, down slightly from the daily record set a day earlier. All but one state had more cases last week than the week before. (NPR / ABC News / USA Today / CNN / Bloomberg)

2/ Biden named 13 health experts to his Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board and declared the pandemic “one of the most important battles our administration will face.” Biden added: “I will be informed by science and by experts.” The panel will be co-chaired by the former FDA commissioner, former Surgeon General, and an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Yale. While Biden is unable to take control of the country’s response until after his Jan. 20 inauguration, the advisory board will work to create a plan for bringing the pandemic under control — a process Biden says will begin immediately after his inauguration – despite uncertainty over how much the Trump administration will cooperate. Biden also warned that the U.S. was facing a “dark winter” as the coronavirus continues to spread and appealed to Americans to wear mask, saying “a mask is not a political statement.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Axios / NPR / NBC News / Bloomberg)

3/ Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is reportedly more than 90% effective, according to an analysis by an independent data monitoring committee. Pfizer plans to ask the FDA for emergency authorization later this month, after it has collected two months of safety data. By the end of the year it will have manufactured enough doses to immunize 15 to 20 million people. Pfizer did not join Operation Warp Speed, the Jared Kushner initiative to rush a vaccine to market by providing funding for research and manufacturing. Instead, Pfizer invested $2 billion on the project and then made a $1.95 billion deal with the U.S. government to provide 100 million doses. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / STAT News / Politico / CNBC)

  • Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson tested positive for COVID-19, days after Chief of Staff Mark Meadows also tested positive. Meadows and Carson attended the White House’s largely mask-free election night party alongside a group of officials in Trump’s Cabinet. (Axios / Washington Post)

  • Rep. Matt Gaetz, a close Trump ally, tested positive for coronavirus antibodies on Election Day. In March, Gaetz wore a gas mask on the House floor during a vote on an emergency funding bill to fight the spread of COVID-19. (Politico / The Hill)

4/ Biden plans to sign a series of executive orders after being sworn into office on Jan. 20 to reverse Trump’s policies, including rejoining the Paris climate accord, reversing the country’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization, repealing the ban on travel from some Muslim-majority countries, and reinstating the program allowing “Dreamers” to remain in the country. (Washington Post)

5/ Trump and his campaign continue to baselessly claim widespread election fraud, alleging that observers were blocked from ballot-counting rooms. The claim is without any basis in fact and is contradicted by several of Trump’s own legal filings. (New York Times / Washington Post / Axios)

  • Trump plans to hold campaign-style rallies in an effort to fight against the election results. He also reportedly plans to display the obituaries of people who supposedly voted but are dead. (Axios)

6/ Mitch McConnell supported Trump’s refusal to concede the election, saying Trump was “100 percent within his rights” to challenge the outcome and “look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options.” McConnell, declining to recognize Biden’s victory, added that Trump was right to not concede the presidential race because no states have certified their results yet. Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump’s reelection effort, said conceding “is not even in our vocabulary right now.” (New York Times / NBC News / Politico)

7/ A Trump administration appointee has refused to recognize Biden as the winner of the election and has declined to sign a letter allowing Biden’s transition team to formally begin its work. Emily Murphy, the administrator for the General Services Administration, must first affirm the election results in order for Biden’s transition to receive the legally mandated millions of dollars in federal funding, as well as access to government officials, office space in agencies, and equipment authorized for the transition team. Meanwhile, John Barsa, the acting deputy administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development told political appointees that the transition of power hasn’t started and will not begin until Murphy signs off. (Washington Post / CNBC / CNN)

8/ Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper by tweet. Trump tweeted that Christopher Miller, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, would immediately become acting defense secretary now that “Esper has been terminated.” Trump nominated Esper last year as his fourth defense secretary and the two had been at odds since Esper declined to deploy active-service troops to U.S. cities at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests this summer. Two White House officials said that FBI Director Christopher Wray and CIA Director Gina Haspel could be next. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / CNN / The Guardian / Reuters / USA Today)

9/ Trump told advisers he’s thinking about running for president again in 2024. (Axios)

Two years ago today: Day 659: Inconvenient facts.
Three years ago today: Day 294: Great credit.