Monday, Nov. 16

· The FBI released a report showing hate crimes in the United States are at their highest levels in more than a decade. Hate-motivated killings are also at their highest rate since the FBI first began collecting that data in the early 1990s.

· In his first address on the economy since winning the election, President-elect Joe Biden warned that the coronavirus pandemic must be controlled before the nation can begin to recover financially. “Once we shut down the virus and deliver economic relief to workers and business,” Biden said, “then we can start to build back better than before.” He called on the Republican-controlled Senate to pass a bill like the $3 trillion Heroes Act.

· President Donald Trump tweeted “I won the Election!” in perpetuation of the false narrative that the election was rigged against him. Twitter tepidly corrected with the note, “Official sources called this election differently.”

· Biden said the U.S. and its allies need to counter Chinese influence, suggesting the next administration will perpetuate Trump’s antagonism toward China.

· Tech magazine Motherboard reported on a U.S. military project purchasing private information gathered from apps used by Muslims around the world. While the military confirmed the report, Muslim Pro, one of the most popular apps named, denied selling information.

· Top infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said early trials of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine are “stunningly impressive” at about 94.5% effectiveness. “It is really a spectacular result that I don’t think anybody had anticipated would be this good,” Fauci said.

Tuesday, Nov. 17

· Facebook and Twitter CEOs Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee to defend their election misinformation policies. Republicans accused the social media companies of anti-conservative bias, while Democrats accused the sites of not doing enough to limit hate speech. There was bipartisan support for stripping the companies of protections against legal responsibility for what their users post.

· The Pentagon announced a sharp reduction in the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan from 4,500 to 2,500 before Trump leaves office, along with a reduction of troop levels in Iraq from 3,000 to 2,500. These numbers do not include the considerable amount of military contractors in both countries.

· The Senate blocked Trump’s nomination of Judy Shelton to the board of the Federal Reserve, the latest in a line of such failed nominations. Shelton is an advocate for a return to the gold standard.

· The Missile Defense Agency announced that on Nov. 16, a U.S. warship intercepted and destroyed an intercontinental ballistic missile target in a test conducted northeast of Hawaii, a first for U.S. missile defense systems.

· In a joint statement, Attorney General William Barr and his Mexican counterpart, Alejandro Gertz Manero, announced the decision to drop drug trafficking and money laundering charges against former Mexican Defense Secretary General Salvador Cienfuegos and turn the investigation over to Mexico.

· Biden held a phone conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which they agreed to work closely to further advance the Indo-US strategic partnership.

· Health and Human Services scrapped a planned ad campaign featuring celebrities discussing COVID-19, which was intended as part of a larger $300 million taxpayer-funded campaign aimed at "defeating despair" over the pandemic.

Wednesday, Nov. 18

· Trump fired Christopher Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which was charged with protecting the 2020 election from cyberattacks, after Krebs said the Nov. 3 general election was conducted without error.

· The Trump administration continued its “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions targeting Iran by blacklisting the Islamic Revolution Mostazafan Foundation, which is controlled by the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, over alleged human rights abuses.

· A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop expelling immigrant children who cross the U.S.-Mexico border alone, bringing to a halt a policy of rapidly deporting thousands of minors during the pandemic.

· Biden criticized Trump for refusing to concede, saying the president’s refusal to acknowledge the results of the 2020 election is creating problems in the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. “There’s a whole lot of things we just don’t have available to us, which unless made available soon, we’re going to be behind by weeks or months,” Biden said.

· The military released the geographic coordinates for nearly all confirmed instances of civilian harm and deaths in Iraq and Syria between 2014 to 2019 to a UK-based nonprofit organization, which identified 341 acknowledged incidents of civilian harm and about 1,400 civilian deaths known to have been caused by the U.S. military.

· The Senate confirmed James Story as ambassador to Venezuela, the first in a decade. The U.S. still has no diplomats at its embassy in Venezuela due to a breakdown in relations.

Thursday, Nov. 19

· Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. will formally designate the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, which seeks to isolate Israel over its illegal occupation of Palestine and extrajudicial murder of Palestinians, as an antisemitic campaign. Pompeo referred to BDS as a “cancer.” Advocates for BDS called the move an “attack on dissent.”

· The Centers for Disease Control urged Americans to stay home for the Thanksgiving holiday as COVID-19 cases surge nationwide with a total of 12 million cases reported.

· The Treasury Department sanctioned a Russian construction company and a North Korean trading company operating in Russia that it claims collaborate with North Korean forced labor camps.

· The Food and Drug Administration approved the emergency use of an arthritis drug, baricitinib, in combination with remdesivir to treat COVID-19 patients.

Friday, Nov. 20

· Biden remained the winner in the Georgia presidential election after a recount effort, making him the first Democrat to win the state since 1992.

Saturday, Nov. 21

· The FDA granted emergency-use authorization for Regeneron Pharmaceutical’s COVID-19 antibody therapy, the experimental treatment given to Trump.

· A federal judge dismissed a Trump campaign lawsuit claiming there were improprieties with mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania. Out of at least 36 cases filed, at least 24 have been denied, dismissed, settled or withdrawn.

Sunday, Nov. 22

· The U.S. formally withdrew from the Treaty on Open Skies, an agreement intended to foster international trust by allowing the 34 participating nations to used unarmed flyovers to observe one another’s militaries.