memeorandum: GOP fears Roy Moore will cost them a Senate seat (Mike Allen/Axios)

11:50 AM ET, November 12, 2017

Top Items:

Mary Papenfuss / HuffPost:

Everyone Knew Roy Moore Dated High School Girls, Says Former Colleague — And they thought it was “weird,” according to former deputy district attorney. — A former prosecutor who worked in Alabama with GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore in the early 1980s told CNN on Saturday that it was …

Discussion: Breitbart, ThinkProgress, CNN, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, Business Insider, AOL, NBC News, New York Magazine, al.com, American Thinker and The Daily Caller

Daniel Strauss / Politico:

Moore backers stand by their man — BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Roy Moore's supporters are shocked and angry. But it's not Moore they're upset with, after four women came forward to say that Moore pursued relationships with them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s.

Discussion: Raw Story and Washington Post

Mike Allen / Axios:

GOP fears Roy Moore will cost them a Senate seat — After the allegations against Roy Moore, and his subsequent response — in which he didn't rule out dating teenage girls while in his 30s — “some GOP political operatives fear Roy Moore could lose the race” and cost the party a Senate seat, AP reports.

Discussion: Politico, Political Wire and New York Magazine

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
Trump dominates the GOP base. Party leaders live with the consequences.

Discussion: Politico

Max Greenwood / The Hill:
Former Moore colleague: ‘Common knowledge’ that he dated high school girls

Discussion: Axios, Politico, Political Wire, RedState and ABC News

Mark Landler / New York Times:

After a Disciplined Week in Asia, Trump Unloads on Critics — HANOI, Vietnam — For the last week on the road, President Trump had been measured, disciplined and studiously scripted as he picked his way through the geopolitical minefields of Asia. — Then came the weekend.

Discussion: Refinery29

Noah Bierman / Los Angeles Times:

Trump's chief of staff: ‘I do not follow the tweets’ — Hours after President Trump provoked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Twitter, suggesting he is “short and fat,” the White House chief of staff said he tells aides not to react to Trump's comments on social media.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Raw Story, Mediaite, IJR, Joe.My.God. and Washington Free Beacon

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Trump Is Rapidly Reshaping the Judiciary. Here's How. — WASHINGTON — In the weeks before Donald J. Trump took office, lawyers joining his administration gathered at a law firm near the Capitol, where Donald F. McGahn II, the soon-to-be White House counsel, filled a white board …

Vivian Wang / New York Times:
Trump Nominee for Federal Judgeship Has Never Tried a Case

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Derek Hunter / Townhall.com:

Is There Nothing Republicans Can't Screw Up? — If you'd told me last year that complete Republican control of Congress and the White House would lead to nothing getting done, I would have laughed at you. Of course, last year I would have laughed at the idea of complete Republican control of government …

Dave Lawler / Axios:

Brady guarantees state and local deductions won't be eliminated — Rep. Kevin Brady, chairman of the Ways and Means committee, was unequivocal when asked on “Fox News Sunday” whether he could guarantee that deductions for state and local taxes would not be eliminated in the final tax plan: “I can,” he said.

Discussion: Politico

Drew Hinshaw / Wall Street Journal:

Polish Nationalist Youth March Draws Thousands in Capital — Crowd of mostly young people carries banners that read ‘Europe Will Be White’ and ‘Clean Blood’ — WARSAW—Tens of thousands of Poles marched across downtown Warsaw on Saturday, in an independence-day procession organized …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Refinery29, New York Magazine and Al Jazeera English

Ekow N. Yankah / New York Times:

Can My Children Be Friends With White People? — My oldest son, wrestling with a 4-year-old's happy struggles, is trying to clarify how many people can be his best friend. “My best friends are you and Mama and my brother and ...” But even a child's joy is not immune to this ominous political period.

Discussion: twitchy.com and The Gateway Pundit

Andrew Glass / Politico:

Ellis Island immigration center shuts down, Nov. 12, 1954 — On this day in 1954, the federal government shut down the Ellis Island immigrant reception station in New York Harbor. — From 1892 to 1924, the facility processed some 12 million immigrants. Nowadays, some 40 percent of Americans …

Discussion: ImmigrationProf Blog

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:

Bannon Put a Target on His Back. McConnell's Answer: ‘Ha-Ha.’ — WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell, the taciturn Republican leader, watched stoically from across the Capitol two years ago as Speaker John A. Boehner resigned rather than contend with mounting troubles …

Alec Luhn / Telegraph:

US embassy hires security firm of former Russian spy who worked with Putin — The US embassy in Moscow is to be guarded by a company owned by a former head of KGB counter-intelligence who worked with British double agent Kim Philby and young Vladimir Putin, after cuts to US staff demanded by Russia.