memeorandum: Lawmakers, US allies seek assurance that Trump won't rashly launch nuclear strike (CNN)

8:10 AM ET, November 14, 2017

Top Items:

Locals Were Troubled by Roy Moore's Interactions with Teen Girls at the Gadsden Mall — Roy Moore, the Republican Senate candidate and former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, was born in Gadsden, a small city flanked by Interstate 59 and the Coosa River, an hour northeast of Birmingham.

Anna Claire Vollers / al.com:

Gadsden locals say Moore's predatory behavior at mall, restaurants not a secret — Roy Moore's penchant for flirting with teen girls was “common knowledge” and “not a big secret” around Gadsden, according to some area residents. — The Senate candidate has denied any wrongdoing in the wake …

Discussion: The Hill, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress and CBS News

al.com:

Our view: Roy Moore grossly unfit for office — New sexual misconduct allegations against Roy Moore — Roy Moore simply cannot be a U.S. Senator. Even if his party and many of its adherents still think it possible, it is unthinkable — for his state, and his country.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Mediaite, Raw Story and Washington Post

Jacqueline Thomsen / The Hill:

Volvo pulls its ads from Hannity after Moore coverage — Volvo has pulled its advertisements from Sean Hannity's show on Fox News after his coverage of sexual misconduct allegations made against Roy Moore. … Volvo is the latest advertiser to pull its ads from “Hannity” …

Discussion: Axios, RedState, twitchy.com and The Daily Caller

Leada Gore / al.com:

50 pastors sign letter of support for Roy Moore — Kayla Moore, wife of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, shared a letter on Facebook indicating support from more than 50 Alabama pastors. — Moore's wife Kayla posted the letter to her Facebook page Sunday after days of controversy surrounding …

Discussion: National Review, The Hill, Washington Examiner, RedState, The Daily Caller, CNN and Right Wing Watch

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

GOP MULLS MOORE PROBLEM — TRUMP heads home — SESSIONS floats Clinton special counsel — REBECCA BERG joins CNN, JIM COMEY signs with Washington Speakers Bureau — ELI STOKOLS and ELENA SCHNEIDER engaged — DRIVING THE DAY — PRESIDENT TRUMP is on his way back to Washington after 12 days in Asia.

Discussion: FOX31 Denver, CBS San Francisco and New York's PIX11

Carl Hulse / New York Times:

Past Sex Scandals Show McConnell Is Willing to Take a Tough Line — WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell has a well-documented history of showing little tolerance for sex scandals that he fears could tarnish the image of the Senate and his party. — He was a major force behind the effort …

Discussion: Morning Consult, The Gateway Pundit, Political Wire, The Daily Beast and Washington Monthly

Elliot Smilowitz / The Hill:
Cruz pulls support from Moore: Allegations merit ‘criminal prosecution’ if true

Discussion: Business Insider, Mediaite, Vox Popoli and The Daily Caller

Alex Seitz-Wald / NBC News:
Amid Roy Moore Scandal, the Last Thing Alabama Democrats Want Is Help

Discussion: NBC News, Politico and New Republic

CBS News:
New accuser steps forward in Roy Moore case

Discussion: The Last Tradition, The Hill, The Savage Nation, Patterico's Pontifications, Activist Mommy, The Federalist and Vox

New York Times:
Roy Moore Is Accused of Sexual Misconduct by a Fifth Woman

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:
Senate Republicans repudiate Roy Moore's candidacy and urge him to leave the race

Discussion: New York Magazine, The Daily Beast, Politico, al.com, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, Florida Politics and Shareblue Media

George F. Will / Washington Post:
Roy Moore is an embarrassment. Doug Jones deserves to win.

Discussion: New York Times, CNN, Axios and Salon

Henry J. Gomez / BuzzFeed:
The Republican National Committee Hasn't Yet Dumped Roy Moore

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Gizmodo, Bloomberg and ABC News

Matt Zapotosky / Washington Post:

Sessions considering second special counsel to investigate Republican concerns, letter shows — Attorney General Jeff Sessions is entertaining the idea of appointing a second special counsel to investigate a host of Republican concerns — including alleged wrongdoing by the Clinton Foundation …

Discussion: Joe.My.God., Reuters, Daily Kos, Power Line, New York Magazine, Raw Story and WTVR-TV

New York Times:

Justice Dept. to Weigh Inquiry Into Clinton Foundation — WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said Monday that prosecutors were looking into whether a special counsel should be appointed to investigate political rivals President Trump has singled out for scrutiny, including Hillary Clinton.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Mediaite and Just Security

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Sessions faces grilling about Russia's outreach to Trump campaign

Discussion: ABC News and The Daily Signal

Brooke Singman / Fox News:
Sessions directs prosecutors to ‘evaluate certain issues’ …

Discussion: TheBlaze, The Gateway Pundit, IJR, The Daily Caller and Washington Times

Julia Ioffe / The Atlantic:

The Secret Correspondence Between Donald Trump Jr. and WikiLeaks — Just before the stroke of midnight on September 20, 2016, at the height of last year's presidential election, the WikiLeaks Twitter account sent a private direct message to Donald Trump Jr., the Republican nominee's oldest son and campaign surrogate.

Matthew Nussbaum / Politico:
Pence denies knowing about Trump Jr. WikiLeaks contacts

Discussion: CNN, The Atlantic, The Gateway Pundit, Just Security and Business Insider

Richard Javad Heydarian / Washington Post:

This is how a superpower commits suicide — Richard Javad Heydarian is an author focused on Asian geopolitics. He previously taught political science at De La Salle University and Ateneo De Manila University and served as a policy advisor at the Philippine House of Representatives.

Bloomberg:

Trump Kept One Eye on Re-Election in Asia With His Push for Deals — President hit up leaders along the way to buy American weapons — Asia leaders offer warm words but few concessions to president — President Donald Trump had one question for Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc …

Discussion: Raw Story and New York's PIX11

Susan E. Rice / New York Times:
Susan Rice: Trump Is Making China Great Again

Discussion: NPR

Gary Baum / Hollywood Reporter:

Tom Sizemore Was Removed From Movie Set for Allegedly Violating 11-Year Old Girl — A dozen cast and crewmembers tell THR that the actor was sent home after the girl told her parents about the incident. — Actor Tom Sizemore was told to leave a Utah film set in 2003 after an 11-year-old actress told …

Discussion: Mashable, RedState, Page Six and twitchy.com

Mike Allen / Axios:

Scoop: Hot book by constant West Wing visitor Michael Wolff — Best-selling author Michael Wolff has spent months inside President Trump's West Wing (often unsupervised!), listening to senior officials pour out real-time accounts of their internal battles, maneuvering and frustrations.

Discussion: Political Wire

Elaina Plott / The Daily Beast:
No One Knows What Omarosa Is Doing in the White House—Even Omarosa

Discussion: The Atlantic and Raw Story

New York Times:

Trump Judicial Pick Did Not Disclose He Is Married to a White House Lawyer — WASHINGTON — One of President Trump's most controversial judicial nominees did not disclose on publicly available congressional documents that he is married to a senior lawyer in the White House Counsel's Office.

Discussion: Washington Post, Business Insider, Shareblue Media, Latest from Crooks and Liars, Weekly Standard, Gizmodo, Daily Kos, ThinkProgress, Raw Story, Joe.My.God. and Talking Points Memo

Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed: A Trump Judicial Nominee Appears To Have Written About Politics On A Sports Website And Didn't Disclose It

Josh Dawsey / Politico:

GOP megadonor Adelson publicly breaks with Bannon — Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, the GOP's most prominent mega-donor, is publicly breaking with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon over his efforts to oust Republican incumbents in 2018.

Discussion: Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Raw Story and No More Mister Nice Blog

Media Matters for America:

While Hannity was talking about Keurig, more advertisers distanced themselves from him — Update: More advertisers have dropped Hannity — BLOG ››› November 13, 2017 ››› MEDIA MATTERS STAFF — HELLOFRESH, HUBBLE Contacts, the SOCIETY …

Discussion: Business Insider, Shareblue Media and NBC News

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Keurig CEO: Tweet regarding ‘Hannity’ created an ‘unacceptable situation’

CNN:

Lawmakers, US allies seek assurance that Trump won't rashly launch nuclear strike — Trump: Mutual commitment to denuclearize NK — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — (CNN)A decades-old presidential authority to use nuclear weapons is suddenly coming into question as US allies and some lawmakers …

Federal Bureau of Investigation:

2016 Hate Crime Statistics Released — Report Details Offenses, Victims, Offenders, and Locations of Crimes — Today, the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program released Hate Crime Statistics, 2016, its latest annual compilation of bias-motivated incidents reported throughout the U.S.

Discussion: AOL, NPR, RT, The Root, TheBlaze, Vox, Washington Post, The Hill and RedState

Associated Press:
Hate crimes rose for 2nd year in a row in 2016, FBI reports

Discussion: Politico

Jim VandeHei / Axios:

How American politics went bats**t crazy — There are numerous reasons American politics went off the rails, but there are at least six seminal events in the past 24 years that steered us here. — Sound smart: Politics is growing more personal, polarized and pugnacious.