The Breakdown – Mitch McConnell says Congress 'close' to COVID-19 relief deal

Plus, what the end of the eviction moratorium means for renters and California hospitals are in crisis due to a COVID-19 surge.

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  • Giuliani says he won't represent Trump at president's impeachment trial

    President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani apparently won't be on Trump's impeachment team. Giuliani, who has been leading the president's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl late Sunday that will not be part of Trump's legal team for the upcoming Senate impeachment trial due to his involvement in the Jan. 6 Washington, D.C., rally that led to the attack on the U.S. Capitol building.

  • Damaging winds expected in California, heavy snow for the Rockies and Eastern Great Lakes

    Major damaging winds are expected in California this week from the San Francisco Bay area all the way down to Los Angeles. The strongest winds in the San Francisco Bay area and Northern California will be on Monday and into the evening as winds could gust up to 50 to 70 mph with locally higher gusts. Also, with all the dry wind, a fire weather watch has been issued south of San Francisco where these conditions could spread fires quickly.

  • Newborn giraffe dies when mother accidentally steps on its neck after giving birth

    A newborn giraffe has died in a tragic accident shortly after it was born when it was stepped on by its own mother. The incident occurred at the Nashville Zoo and was announced on Jan. 16 when the zoo’s pregnant giraffe named Nasha went into labor as thousands of people watched the event live online during a live feed. Shortly after labor, however, complications with the baby giraffe began to develop and medical intervention was required from Dr. Matthew DeLisle from the Tennessee Equine Hospital and the zoo’s veterinary team who were able to eventually successfully deliver the calf.

  • Jeff Zients, Biden's COVID czar, inherits hardest job in administration

    When Joe Biden takes over the presidency on Jan. 20, it won't be an infectious disease doctor or scientist leading his federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, it will be Jeff Zients, a 53-year-old well-connected businessman known in Washington circles for his "Mr. Fix-It" ability to navigate thick bureaucracies. As the nation enters the next coronavirus chapter, all eyes are on what Biden's team will do differently in a pandemic that's spun rapidly out of control.

  • Baby with rare disease survives COVID-19 and liver transplant before his 1st birthday

    Kasen Donerlson is being called a "miracle baby" after surviving both COVID-19 and a liver transplant, all before his first birthday. Kasen of Syracuse, New York, was born on Jan. 14, 2020, weighing a healthy eight pounds, according to Donerlson. When Kasen's health did not improve, Donerlson said she sought further evaluations for her son.

  • Fit Finance: How to build an emergency fund, how much to save for it and how to avoid spending it

    An emergency fund contains cash for unforeseen moments "that throw your life into financial uncertainty and disarray," said Rebecca Jarvis, ABC News' chief business and economics correspondent. "Life is full of surprises and sometimes they have a giant price tag," Jarvis said. How much should you save in your emergency fund?

  • Poisoned Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny detained upon arrival in Moscow

    Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny was detained by police at a Moscow airport shortly after returning to Russia for the first time since he was poisoned with a nerve agent this summer. Navalny had pledged to return to Russia despite the assassination attempt and recent threats from Russian authorities that he would be jailed, saying he refused to be driven into exile. On Sunday, he flew to Moscow on a commercial flight from Germany, where he had been recuperating from the poisoning.

  • Migrants from Honduras moving through Guatemala, hoping to reach US

    Thousands of migrants from Honduras fleeing violence, devastation caused in the aftermath of two devastating hurricanes and economic hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic are in Guatemala and moving towards Mexico, hoping to ultimately reach the U.S. Calls were made on social media for groups to join together and leave from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on Jan. 15, according to the International Organization for Migration. Between Jan. 13 and 15, 3,500 people left from San Pedro Sula, and more people joined up with them in the following days.

  • Biden's dogs bring return of presidential pets to the White House

    For the first time in four years, pets are heading back to the White House. Barking up the same tree as President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, whose campaign boasted several firsts, the soon-to-be first canines are slated to make major history of their own as Major -- the family's second German shepherd -- will be the first-ever shelter dog to live at the White House. The Biden family adopted 2-year-old Major two years ago from the Delaware Humane Association -- a few months before Biden announced his run for the presidency.

  • Impeachment needed to bar Trump from running for federal office: Rep. Joaquin Castro

    House impeachment managers are prepared to chase every single Senate vote in an attempt to convict President Donald Trump for inciting insurrection, Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said on ABC's "This Week" Sunday. Stephanopoulos asked Castro if a failed conviction attempt in the Senate would serve as a method of vindication for the president.

  • Kamala Harris set to resign from US Senate so she can preside over it

    Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is set to resign from the United States Senate on Monday but will not give a speech on the Senate floor which is not in session. The California native had already started the process of resigning after notifying California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

  • Biden team preparing for 'any scenario that should arise' on Inauguration Day

    President-elect Joe Biden is still planning to take his oath of office on the west side of the U.S. Capitol Wednesday despite growing concerns over safety for the event, incoming White House Communication Director Kate Bedingfield said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." “Well, that is certainly our plan,” Bedingfield said when asked by ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos if she was certain the ceremony would go forward as planned.

  • How 1 Chicago school district got kids back in the classroom during COVID-19

    As the novel coronavirus pandemic divided communities and kept many kids out of the classroom, one school district in the Chicago suburbs found a way to keep its doors open: regularly testing students using its own system. "We have been open every single day since the first day of school," Kelli Kalata, the district nurse, told ABC News. In addition to a hybrid schedule, masks and social distancing measures, LaGrange School District 102 has offered once-a-week saliva tests to students and staff as another mitigation strategy.

  • Why wait? If you can get a COVID-19 vaccine, do it now: OPINION

    The vaccine the world has been waiting a year for is now available to the general public, but research shows many of those eligible to receive it would rather wait. Since the pandemic began, there has been misinformation and skepticism about the existence of the virus, how severe an infection can be, how to prevent transmission and about the safety of potential vaccines. Vaccination is the best way to end the pandemic's devastation and return to normalcy.

  • For Trump, 68% oppose a self-pardon; Biden receives positive marks for transition: POLL

    Ahead of his inauguration, Americans by more than a 40-point margin approve of the way Joe Biden has handled the presidential transition -- but just half are confident he'll make the right decisions for the country's future, with muted expectations for his progress on key issues. As to the man he's replacing, 68% in this ABC News/Washington Post poll oppose President Donald Trump pardoning himself for any federal crimes he may be accused of committing. Biden enters on a better note: Two-thirds in this survey, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates, approve of how he's handled the transition.

  • Snow squalls and gusty winds expected in parts of Midwest and Northeast

    The organized part of the winter storm that hit the Northeast on Saturday has ended and it brought 13 inches of snow to Mineville, New York, 16 inches of snow to Woodford, Vermont and 12 inches of snow to Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire. In the wake of this system, an upper level low pressure system remains very slow to move out of the eastern U.S. and it is creating patches of unsettled weather, mainly in the form of quick moving snow squalls across parts of the Great Lakes and into the Appalachians where snow squalls on Sunday could quickly reduce visibility. Gusty winds along the Northeast coast are a concern today in the wake of the storm with gusts possibly reaching 50 mph at times.

  • Woman, 70, filmed allegedly poisoning husband's coffee with roach killer multiple times

    A 70-year-old woman in has been arrested after being filmed allegedly poisoning her husband’s coffee with ant and roach killer on more than one occasion. The incident occurred on Jan. 12, when 70-year-old Suncha Tinerva of Queens in New York City was caught on video surveillance placing a “white powdery substance” from a bottle with a red cap and a yellow label into her husband’s coffee, according to a statement from Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz’s office. “Tinerva retrieved the bottle from the cabinet under the sink and allegedly spiked her husband’s coffee on two or three occasions,” said Katz’s office.

  • 10 diverse children's books to teach kids about racism and representation

    As protests continue across the country, and across the globe, in the wake of George Floyd's death, a conversation has been ignited in America about how to teach kids to fight racism from an early age. "Books provide a good context for starting the conversation," said Bunnie Hilliard, owner of Brave and Kind book store in Atlanta. Hilliard, who began Brave and Kind bookstore in 2018 as a way to celebrate and elevate diversity in children's literature, said over the last few weeks she's been inundated with book requests and has sold out of some children's book titles on these topics.

  • Giuliani says he's working on Trump's impeachment defense, would argue voter fraud claims

    President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani tells ABC News he's working as part of the president's defense team in his upcoming second impeachment trial -- and that he's prepared to argue that the president's claims of widespread voter fraud did not constitute incitement to violence because the widely-debunked claims are true. "I'm involved right now … that's what I'm working on," Giuliani told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl. A few hours later, Giuliani -- who led the president's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results -- was spotted at the White House.

  • Inside look at how 25,000 National Guardsmen are arriving in Washington, DC

    Thousands of National Guardsmen from across America are arriving daily in Washington, D.C., as they build up to the 25,000 members authorized to help provide security at next week's presidential inauguration in the wake of the assault on the U.S. Capitol. Bringing in so many guardsmen has been a major logistical feat in just a matter of days has been a major logistical feat after the Secret Service requested that the number of personnel increase from15,000 to 25,000. "To bring them from every state in the nation on short notice -- that many folks -- is truly an incredible feat," Gen. Daniel Hokanson, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, told ABC News.