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First Read's Morning Clips: Trump's Business Ties

A roundup of the most important political news stories of the day
Image: President-Elect Donald Trump Holds Meetings At His Trump Tower Residence In New York
NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 16: A view of Trump Tower on 5th Avenue, November 16, 2016 in New York City. Trump is in the process of choosing his presidential cabinet as he transitions from a candidate to the president-elect. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)Drew Angerer / Getty Images

TRUMP TRANSITION WATCH: Trump announces December presser on business ties

Trump tweeted this morning that he will hold a press conference in December to announce he will be “leaving my great business in total in order to fully focus on running the country.”

The Wall Street Journal, on Trump’s selection of Steven Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary: “President-elect Donald Trump will name longtime banker and former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin as Treasury secretary, turning to a campaign loyalist and fundraiser for the incoming administration’s top economic cabinet post, a transition official said Tuesday… Mr. Mnuchin’s longtime Wall Street ties—his father spent his entire career at Goldman—make him a traditional pick for the Treasury spot. But the choice is at odds with Mr. Trump’s message that economic and political elites have left the country damaged. Still, his establishment profile may sit more comfortably with the Republicans in the Senate, which decides whether to confirm the nominee.”

And here’s the Journal on apparent Commerce pick Wilbur Ross: “Over the past 15 years, the firm Mr. Ross founded has purchased bankrupt companies and rehabilitated them, often turning a profit by selling to overseas investors. In doing so, his firms and their suitors have relied at times on the very methods Mr. Trump has promised to crack down on, including building factories overseas. Other measures Mr. Trump has championed, including tariffs and quotas to revive companies in the steel, textiles and auto-parts industries, also have benefited Mr. Ross, who met with Mr. Trump in New York on Tuesday.”

“President-elect Donald Trump’s choices for health secretary and administrator of the government’s largest health insurance programs have for years pursued a sharply conservative agenda that includes redefining Medicare, placing “personal responsibility” requirements on low-income recipients of Medicaid, and dismantling the Affordable Care Act,” writes the Washington Post. “If adopted, this agenda could dramatically alter access to insurance and medical services for more than 100 million Americans covered through the two entitlement programs and the ACA.”

The Washington Post delves into Trump’s relationship with onetime foe Mitt Romney.

Here’s what a big donation to the Presidential Inaugural Committee can buy you.

POLITICO reports that Mary Fallin is the leading candidate to head the Interior Department.

“Anti-Trump forces are preparing an unprecedented assault on the Electoral College, marked by a wave of lawsuits and an intensive lobbying effort aimed at persuading 37 Republican electors to vote for a candidate other than Donald Trump,” writes POLITICO.

TRUMP AGENDA: The Carrier deal

From CNBC: “The incoming Trump administration and United Technologies have reached an agreement that will keep close to 1,000 jobs at Carrier Corp., which is owned by United Technologies, in Indiana. Carrier had planned to move production from a key factory in that state to Mexico, taking with it the roughly 1,400 jobs of those who work at the Indiana plant. But shortly after CNBC revealed that Donald Trump was expected to travel to Indiana on Thursday to reveal that a deal had been reached, Carrier itself confirmed the agreement.”

More, from the New York Times: “Mr. Trump will be hard-pressed to alter the economic forces that have hammered the Rust Belt for decades, but forcing Carrier and its parent company, United Technologies, to reverse course is a powerful tactical strike that will hearten his followers even before he takes office.”

Trump’s proposal yesterday to jail or revoke the citizenship of a person who burns the American flag doesn’t pass legal muster.

The Washington Post: “In flag-burning comments, Trump again plays to the voters that elected him.”

“CIA director John Brennan has warned Donald Trump that scrapping the nuclear deal with Iran would be "the height of folly" and "disastrous,” writes NBCNews.com.

From Reuters: “The United States should prepare to use greater military power and covert action in Syria to help forge a political settlement to end the country's civil war, according to a bipartisan report to be released on Wednesday. Produced by a task force led by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a Democrat, and former U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, a Republican, the report amounts to a bipartisan rejection of President Barack Obama's decision to limit U.S. military engagement in the nearly six-year civil war.”

DEM WATCH: Leadership vote day

Here’s Roll Call’s whip count in the Nancy Pelosi/Tim Ryan race.

More, from POLITICO: “The size of the anti-Pelosi vote will be a major concern for her even if she hangs on. While the leadership vote will be conducted by secret ballot, and whip lists for leadership races can be notoriously unreliable, dozens of Democrats are likely to vote against her. How many is still unclear; estimates range from the low 20s to the high 60s, short of the majority of 195 House Democrats required but still a significant — and potentially embarrassing number for Pelosi. But it will inevitably raise the question of whether this is the beginning of the end of the Pelosi era.”

And from the AP: “The 76-year-old Pelosi has been promising some changes to assuage concerns in her caucus, including adding a member of the freshmen class to her leadership team. But her proposals do little to ensure new blood at the very top or change the seniority system that has key committees led by lawmakers in their 80s at a moment when the party needs to be defending President Barack Obama's health care law and other initiatives. Nonetheless Pelosi projected confidence heading into the vote. Known for her vote-counting skills, the Californian asserted she had support of two-thirds of Democrats locked up.”