memeorandum: There is a wave of Republicans leaving Congress (CNN)

10:05 AM ET, November 10, 2017

Top Items:

Woman says Roy Moore initiated sexual encounter when she was 14, he was 32 — Leigh Corfman says she was 14 years old when an older man approached her outside a courtroom in Etowah County, Ala. She was sitting on a wooden bench with her mother, they both recall, when the man introduced himself as Roy Moore.

Discussion: Power Line, CNN, New York Times, Fox News, Weekly Standard, ABC News, Business Insider, Media Matters for America, NBC News, Daily Kos, FiveThirtyEight, NPR, Towleroad, CBS Boston, Vox Popoli, Alabama Political Reporter, Slate, Los Angeles Times, DCReport.org, WHNT-TV, Shareblue Media, The Atlantic, BuzzFeed, Washington Free Beacon, Breitbart, Mother Jones, New York Magazine, The Guardian, RedState, The Gateway Pundit, Taylor Marsh, Balloon Juice, Common Dreams, ThinkProgress, HuffPost, www.wnyc.org, Axios, Politico, electionlawblog.org, The Hill, The Montgomery Advertiser, Friendly Atheist, Talking Points Memo, Crooked Media, CBS New York, Salon, al.com, Mashable, Raw Story, CNBC, Progressive Secular Humanist, The Stranger …, The Daily Caller, TheBlaze, New Republic, New York's PIX11, AOL, Vox, KTLA, Joe.My.God., Fox News Insider, Boing Boing, Outside the Beltway, Political Insider, Refinery29, Washington Monthly, CANNONFIRE, The Root, Washington Times, The Rock River Times, IJR, twitchy.com, Latest from Crooks and Liars, Hullabaloo and No More Mister Nice Blog

Philip Wegmann / Washington Examiner:

Alabama state auditor defends Roy Moore against sexual allegations, invokes Mary and Joseph — Judge Roy Moore, the Republican candidate for Alabama's upcoming special Senate election, denies allegations that he romantically pursued teenagers as young as 14 when he was in his 30s.

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Key Takeaways From Steve Bannon's Interview With The Times — Stephen K. Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News and the former White House chief strategist, spoke with Jeremy W. Peters, a reporter for The New York Times, in a wide-ranging interview on Wednesday.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Mother Jones and Business Insider

New York Times:

Sex Allegations Against Roy Moore Send Republicans Reeling — ATLANTA — Republicans in Washington seemed near panic Thursday in the light of a news report in which four women said Roy S. Moore, the Republican nominee for a United States Senate seat in Alabama and an evangelical Christian …

Jonah Goldberg / National Review:

Saving Roy Moore Isn't Worth It — I argued that conservatives should disassociate themselves from Roy Moore and denounce him weeks before credible allegations surfaced today that he preyed on teenage girls, one only 14 years old. So I'm pretty locked-in. — I suppose it's good that some Republicans see this as a bridge too far.

Discussion: Althouse and The Gateway Pundit

Jacqueline Alemany / CBS News:

Bannon compares Moore report to Trump Access Hollywood tape — MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE—At a speech in New Hampshire Thursday night, GOP strategist Steve Bannon compared the accusations against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore to the release of President Trump's infamous “Access Hollywood” video during the 2016 election.

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Hill, Political Wire, Business Insider and Joe.My.God.

Louis Nelson / Politico:
Bannon compares Moore accusations to infamous Trump Access Hollywood tape

Discussion: New York Times

James Hohmann / Washington Post:
The Daily 202: As Roy Moore declines to step aside, a tale of two Republican parties emerges

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos and Raw Story

Alexander Mallin / ABC News:
Trump believes Roy Moore will ‘step aside’ if allegations true, White House says

Discussion: Shareblue Media and New York Magazine

McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Moore allegations threaten to spark a GOP Senate crisis

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, Shareblue Media, The Gateway Pundit and Business Insider

The Hill:
GOP scrambles to respond to Moore allegations

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

David French / National Review:
Conservatives, Don't Dismiss the Sexual Misconduct Claims Against Roy Moore

Discussion: RedState, New York Times, ABC News, The Hill, The Gateway Pundit, Mother Jones, Weekly Standard, Politico, Media Matters for America, NPR, Washington Post and NBC News

Kaili Joy Gray / Shareblue Media:
Breitbart editor: It's OK if Roy Moore is a pedophile because he was single at the time

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post and Raw Story

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:
Lib Media Accuses AL Republican Roy Moore of Illicit Advances on 14-Yr-Old in 1979 …

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Washington Post, Politico, WHNT-TV, Raw Story, NBC News and The Daily Caller

Aaron Klein / Breitbart:
After Endorsing Democrat in Alabama, Bezos's Washington Post Plans to Hit Roy Moore with Allegations …

al.com:
Roy Moore's full statement on teen sex encounter allegation

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Raw Story, Washington Post and ThinkProgress

Paul Blumenthal / HuffPost:
Here's What Could Happen With Roy Moore And The Alabama Senate Ballot

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Magazine and Business Insider

Wall Street Journal:

Mueller Probes Flynn's Role in Alleged Plan to Deliver Cleric to Turkey — Under alleged plan, ex-Trump adviser and his son were to be paid millions to forcibly remove Fethullah Gulen from U.S. and deliver him to Turkish custody — WASHINGTON—Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating …

Discussion: Axios, NBC News, New York Magazine, Political Wire and Raw Story

New York Times:

Louis C.K. Crossed a Line Into Sexual Misconduct, 5 Women Say — In 2002, a Chicago comedy duo, Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov, landed their big break: a chance to perform at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colo. When Louis C.K. invited them to hang out in his hotel room for a nightcap …

Matt Zoller Seitz / Vulture:

Louis C.K. Is Done — Louis C.K. is done. — A New York Times investigation published today put names and specifics to unsourced stories that had been circulating for years, alleging that the filmmaker-performer pressured five female colleagues to watch or listen to him masturbate.

Discussion: thecut

Brian Ross / ABC News:

Trump adviser claims he lied to FBI out of loyalty to Trump: Source — George Papadopoulos, the Trump foreign policy aide who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, initially misled agents out of what he claimed was loyalty to President Donald Trump, according to a person with direct knowledge of the investigation.

Discussion: Raw Story and Political Wire

The Daily Beast:

Steve Bannon Advised Mark Cuban to Run in 2020 as a Democrat … As he publicly flirts with a run for the presidency in 2020, Mark Cuban has also privately been in touch with potential allies and strategists to plot out a campaign. — The Dallas Mavericks owner confirmed that he has corresponded …

Discussion: Axios, Political Wire and CNBC

The Hill:

Mounting GOP retirements threaten House majority — A retirement wave has hit House Republicans, emboldening Democrats who have become increasingly bullish about their prospects of winning back a majority in 2018. — House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte

CNN: There is a wave of Republicans leaving Congress

CNN:

Mueller interviews top White House aide — Washington (CNN)White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller has been interviewed as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, according to sources familiar with the investigation. — The interview brings the special counsel investigation …

Discussion: Towleroad, RedState, Politico, Shareblue Media, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, IJR, Axios and Raw Story

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Republican panic boosts tax cut chances — With the release of the Senate's plan yesterday, tax cuts are off to a stronger start than health reform's fraught debut earlier this year. — The bottom line: You've got high top rates on wealthy people, a concession to the left — yet tons of loopholes and crony tax breaks.

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Romney moves toward Senate bid — Mitt Romney is edging closer to a 2018 Senate run. — The former GOP presidential nominee is huddling with Utah's class of GOP power brokers, contacting the state's major political donors, and hitting the trail for candidates running in local races amid …

Discussion: Axios

Ali Watkins / Politico:

Mysterious Putin ‘niece’ has a name — Federal investigators have a name for a mysterious Russian woman who offered to help broker meetings between former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos and Kremlin officials: Olga Vinogradova. — The name, which has not previously been reported …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, ABC News and Raw Story

Jordyn Phelps / ABC News:
Trump, Putin will not have formal meeting during APEC summit: White House

Discussion: Axios and Politico

Don Lee / Los Angeles Times:

Trump's Asia trip shows U.S. at risk of being sidelined in the region's economic future — President Trump speaks at a business meeting Nov. 9 with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (Fred Dufour / AFP/Getty Images) — For all of President Trump's efforts …

Heather Timmons / Quartz:
Beijing is playing Trump “like a fiddle,” an ex-ambassador to China says

Discussion: NewsBusters, Raw Story, The Guardian, Shareblue Media, Politico, RedState, NBC News and The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »

Kurt Schlichter / Townhall.com:

Thoughts and Prayers for Anti-Gun Freaks Grieving Over Death of The Narrative — The synchronized leftist response to this latest attack on normal Christians was pre-planned, and it didn't matter that this time it was another militant atheist weirdo instead of an ISIS-loving foreigner.

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:

Biden sees one Democrat who can beat Trump in 2020: Joe Biden — Joe Biden thinks it's critical that Donald Trump not get a second term — and though it's early, he doesn't yet see anyone else who could stop that from happening. — So, he's been telling people privately, that might mean he'll just have to run himself.

Discussion: IJR

Mark Hosenball / Reuters:

Trump, Clinton camps both offered slice of dossier firm's work: sources — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The same political research firm that prepared a dossier on Trump campaign ties to Russia had unrelated information on Clinton Foundation donors that a Russian lawyer obtained and offered …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Daily Caller and RedState