ARMY PROBES FLYNN OVER SHARING INTEL

washington» The retired Army general chosen by Donald Trump to be national security adviser was investigated for inappropriately sharing classified information with foreign military officers while he was serving as an intelligence commander in Afghanistan.

Army documents that were made public Wednesday by the Washington Post and obtained by The Associated Press concluded that while some intelligence was shared wrongly by Michael Flynn, it was “not done knowingly.”

No action was taken against Flynn, who was a major general serving as the deputy chief of staff for intelligence in the Afghanistan war when the investigation was done in 200910.

Trump picks Michigan’s Ronna Romney McDaniel for RNC chair. Michigan

Republican Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel is Trump’s choice to become the new Republican National Committee chairwoman next year.

The niece of 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney would be the first woman to hold the committee’s top position in 40 years, and her promotion comes after Trump became the first Republican to carry Michigan in 28 years.

McDaniel was hailed by members of the committee for remaining loyal to the nominee despite the public disagreement within her well-known GOP family.

Democrats warn Trump hotel could turn into big headache B

washington» House Democrats warned on Wednesday that they’ll make Trump’s splashy new Washington hotel a big headache if he doesn’t dump his ownership stake in it before taking office as the nation’s 45th president. Top Democrats on the House Oversight and Transportation committees said the General Services Administration, which holds the lease on the Trump International Hotel, told members of Congress on Dec. 8 that “Mr. Trump must divest himself not only of managerial control, but of all ownership interest” or breach the $180 million contract, according to a letter they released.

More than 1.7 million people in 33 states, D.C. cast ballot without voting in presidential race.

In 33 states and the District of Columbia in 2012, there were 754,000 undervotes at the top of the ticket — voters who cast a ballot but did not vote for president. That’s about 0.9 percent of all ballots cast. In 2016? About 1.75 million people skipped the presidential contest, 2 percent of the total. In other words, in these states, one out of every 50 people declined to vote in the presidential contest.

Trump poised to complete Cabinet faster than anyone in 40 years

B washington» Energy secretary is generally one of the last Cabinet positions to be filled by presidents-elect, or so it’s been since Ronald Reagan was staffing up in 1980. Energy, Interior, Transportation: For the past five people headed to the White House for the first time, these were low on the priority list. On average, they came shortly before Christmas.

With his announcement that Rick Perry would be selected to run the agency that he forgot he wanted to destroy four years ago, Trump has picked someone to run Energy sooner than any of the five previous presidents. Same goes for Interior, picking Rep. Ryan Zinke on Tuesday. And his Transportation pick, Elaine Chao, was announced nearly two weeks before any nominee since 1980.

From 1980 to 2008, the greatest number of Cabinet nominees announced by Dec. 14 of the election year was nine, by Barack Obama. Trump has named 11. Along with the three departments above, his picks for Commerce, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development and Justice were the quickest since 1980.

The order of Trump’s picks is also a bit unorthodox. The first four picks since 1980, on average, have been Treasury, State, Justice and Commerce. Trump’s first four were Justice, Education, HHS and Transportation (with Commerce and Treasury coming that same day).

All he’s got left to decide on? Agriculture, Labor and Veterans Affairs. George H.W. Bush made his last pick a little over a week before his inauguration.

Evancho to sing national anthem at inauguration-

B washington» We now have our first confirmed performer for Donald Trump’s inauguration next month: Jackie Evancho, a former “America’s Got