Presented by BP.

Good morning. I'm Playbook Deputy Editor Zach Stanton. It is Thursday, December 12th,

and here's what's driving the day. Today is roughly the halfway mark between Election

Day and inauguration day, and we are all seeing the transition of power happen in real

time.

And if you had any doubts that Donald Trump's coming administration has begun to fundamentally change the layout of power in Washington and around the world, well, take a look around you.

Yesterday, FBI director Christopher Ray announced that he will resign his position at the end of the Biden administration.

Now, Ray had come under heavy criticism from Trump, who appointed him to a 10-year term in 2017, and from other Republicans.

And his coming resignation avoids his likely firing by Trump and effectively clears the runway

Trump's nominee, Cash Patel, should he be confirmed by the Senate.

Elsewhere in Washington, eyebrows were raised for a wholly different reason,

as reports broke last night that Trump has invited Chinese president Xi Jinping

to attend his inauguration ceremony.

Now, on the one hand, that's not altogether surprising,

as foreign dignitaries have been known to attend past swearing-in ceremonies,

but it is kind of shocking, given Trump's adversarial posture

towards China as well as Z's record on pro-democratic reforms. Also considering attending,

by the way, is Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban. Over on the Democratic side of the aisle,

changes are afoot as the party readjusts to this new Trump era. On the hill, Congresswoman

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is now poised to

become the top Democrat on the House Overset Committee, where she has the edge over Virginia Democrat

Jerry Connolly, who's roughly four decades or senior. Now, that move is just the latest in a series

...