Daily Beast: “President Donald Trump continues to refuse to cede the election. His national security adviser Robert O’Brien is enabling the mayhem, four senior officials told The Daily Beast. O’Brien—once viewed as a potential check on Trump’s erratic national security demands—endorsed the installation of a pair of Trumpists at the Pentagon’s highest levels, while a defense secretary O’Brien has long opposed was fired by tweet.”

“Officials familiar with the matter noted that O’Brien has also pushed national security officials to publicly embrace the absurd Trump message that the election has not been certified and that there are still legal battles playing out across the country that could turn in the president’s favor. ‘If you even mention Biden’s name … that’s a no go. You’d be fired,’ one national security official said. ‘Everyone is scared of even talking about the chance of working with the [Biden] transition.’ Asked if officials in the White House feel comfortable saying Biden’s name in the West Wing, one senior White House official said, half-jokingly, ‘Sure, you can say his name. If you’re talking about who lost the election to the president.’ Behind closed doors, one official claimed, O’Brien has been much more forthcoming about Trump’s loss and the need to prepare for a transition. The problem, the other officials said, is that O’Brien hasn’t made that known to the commander in chief.”