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U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked the nation’s top military officer about preventing an “unhinged” President Donald Trump from initiating a nuclear strike. She said she was told that steps had been taken to prevent any illegal attack. The conversation underscored rising tensions in Washington over how to remove Trump after he goaded far-right supporters to march on the Capitol. Bipartisan pressure to invoke the 25th Amendment or in the alternative impeach Trump a second time is running up against time constraints and Republicans, who are divided over how to proceed. Pelosi, in a private call Friday, said articles of impeachment are being drafted should Vice President Mike Pence decline to move forward on removing Trump. As for President-elect Joe Biden, when asked about removing Trump from the White House, he said his inauguration in two weeks will be the fastest way. —Margaret Sutherlin

Bloomberg is tracking the progress of coronavirus vaccines while mapping the pandemic globally and across America. 

Here are today’s top stories 

Just as the U.S. surpassed 4,000 daily fatalities from Covid-19, Biden said he’ll distribute more of the available doses of coronavirus vaccines. It reverses the Trump administration practice of holding back some of the supply in reserve. A new study showed the BioNTech-Pfizer shot may protect against fast-spreading variants that have emerged in the U.K. and South Africa. Here is the latest on the pandemic.

The U.S. lost 140,000 jobs in December, the first decline in 8 months. Restaurant workers hit by Covid-19 restrictions, women and workers of color were the worst hit. The report provided the strongest evidence yet of how the latest surge in coronavirus cases is weighing on the economy, and signals January’s report may be even weaker as infections rise. However, the data may raise the prospects for another round of relief from the new Congress. 

Perhaps with an eye toward a new rescue package, markets shrugged off the dreary jobs report (not to mention political turmoil in Washington). Stocks climbed to all-time highs after Biden said he’ll lay out details of his plan for trillions of dollars in additional aid to reboot the recovery. The S&P 500 notched its fourth straight day of gains, led by retailers and real-estate companies. Here’s your markets wrap.

President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, giving the speech that precipitated the attack by his supporters on the U.S. Capitol.

Photographer: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images North America

Trump tweeted he would not attend Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20. His decision to skip the ceremony is a notable break from recent precedent. The last living U.S. president not to attend his successor’s inauguration was Richard Nixon, who like Trump, was impeached. 

A new round of Paycheck Protection Program money will start becoming available to select lenders and borrowers next week.

Outgoing Georgia Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue conceded defeat in their respective Georgia runoff races, and with it Republican control of the Senate. 

Trump’s billionaire supporters have gone very, very quiet since Wednesday’s sacking of the Capitol while most of corporate America stopped short of directly blaming Trump for the attack. Goldman Sachs Senior Chairman Lloyd Blankfein, however, is taking Wall Street to task for staying silent for too long.  

Lloyd Blankfein

Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg

What you’ll need to know tomorrow 

What you’ll want to see in Bloomberg Graphics

Why the American Capitol Fell So Easily

Most Americans watched in horror as a pro-Trump mob of far-right groups including white supremacists overwhelmed Capitol Police and stormed the building. Now, Congress is trying to figure out how the police force failed so spectacularly, an analysis which may include some troubling questions about the department and the availability of the National Guard. This interactive timeline shows how police were overrun so quickly.
 

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Bloomberg Breakaway CEO Town Hall: With the world turned upside down by the pandemic, finding new ways to reimagine cultures of innovation can vex even the most seasoned leaders. Register here to join us on Jan. 21 for Workplace Culture in Focus: Innovating During Crisis. Hear from business leaders from Accenture, Atlassian and Maven on how to build a truly collaborative, innovative company culture in the work-from-home world.

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