memeorandum: Trump thought it was ‘low class’ for Pence to bring pets to VP residence: report (Avery Anapol/The Hill)

12:35 PM ET, December 6, 2017

Top Items:

Court records suggest Roy Moore dated wife while she was still married — Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore's account of when he began dating his wife Kayla would place the start of their courtship before her divorce from her first husband, according to court documents.

Discussion: Mediaite, AOL, Bloomberg and Joe.My.God.

Maegan Vazquez / CNN:

Bannon on Romney: ‘You hid behind your religion’ to avoid Vietnam — Bannon hits Romney for avoiding Vietnam — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — Washington (CNN)Steve Bannon bashed Mitt Romney Tuesday night for, as he put it, hiding behind his religion to avoid getting drafted into the Vietnam War.

Discussion: RedState, The Daily Beast, Hot Air, fox13now.com and Shareblue Media

Lachlan Markay / The Daily Beast:

Trump Has Privately Decided the Sexual-Assault Allegations Against Roy Moore Are Bunk … President Donald Trump has privately told confidants over the past week that he firmly believes Roy Moore's innocence and feels no hesitation at all about endorsing the embattled Alabama Senate candidate …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, The Daily Caller, Political Wire, No More Mister Nice Blog, Politico and The Week

Julia Manchester / The Hill:
Conway defends Trump's Moore endorsement: ‘The president has tremendous moral standards’

Discussion: Politico, CNBC, CBS News, The Week, The Daily Caller, CNN, IJR and Talking Points Memo

New York Times:
Trump's Endorsement of Roy Moore Points Up a G.O.P. Problem: Chaos

Associated Press:
The Latest: Moore campaign complains about super PAC ad

Discussion: Politico

NBC News:
Here's how Trump, Moore and Bannon have transformed the GOP

Discussion: Washington Post, New Republic and NBC News

Rick Wilson / Washington Post:
If Sen. Orrin Hatch won't retire, Mitt Romney should shove him aside

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Guardian, The Gateway Pundit, New York Magazine, Roll Call, Joe.My.God., New Republic, IJR and WHNT-TV

The White House:
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, 12/5/2017, #37

Discussion: Daily Kos

Heather Caygle / Politico:

Another woman says Franken tried to forcibly kiss her — A former Democratic congressional aide said Al Franken tried to forcibly kiss her after a taping of his radio show in 2006, three years before he became a U.S. senator. — The aide, whose name POLITICO is withholding to protect her identity …

Kirsten Gillibrand:

Senator Franken Should Step Aside — I have been shocked and disappointed to learn over the last few weeks that a colleague I am fond of personally has engaged in behavior towards women that is unacceptable. I consider Senator Franken to be a friend and have enjoyed working with him in the Senate …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, New York Times, Daily Kos, Political Wire, Washington Times and Balloon Juice

Brian Faler / Politico:

‘Holy crap’: Experts find tax plan riddled with glitches — Republicans' tax-rewrite plans are riddled with bugs, loopholes and other potential problems that could plague lawmakers long after their legislation is signed into law. — Some of the provisions could be easily gamed, tax lawyers say.

Discussion: The Week and Daily Kos

Eun Kyung Kim / TODAY.com:

The Silence Breakers are TIME's 2017 Person of the Year — TIME has named The Silence Breakers, the individuals who set off a national reckoning over the prevalence of sexual harassment, as its 2017 Person of the Year. — The magazine's editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal revealed …

Discussion: Vox, Talking Points Memo, IJR, KFOR-TV, VICE, Washington Post, FOX31 Denver, New York's PIX11, NPR, Washington Free Beacon, Joe.My.God., WFLA-TV and The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:
Time picks women who sparked ‘#MeToo’ movement as ‘Person of the Year’

Discussion: ABC News, RedState, Washington Post, TVNewser, Politico, Shareblue Media, bizpacreview.com, 89.3 KPCC and Mediaite

New York Times:

Weinstein's Complicity Machine — HARVEY WEINSTEIN BUILT his complicity machine out of the witting, the unwitting and those in between. He commanded enablers, silencers and spies, warning others who discovered his secrets to say nothing. He courted those who could provide the money …

Los Angeles Times:

Several homes burning in Bel-Air as fire closes the 405 Freeway and forces evacuations — Several homes in Los Angeles' Bel-Air neighborhood were burning Wednesday morning as a wind-driven wildfire prompted a full closure of the 405 Freeway as well as mandatory evacuations in an area of multimillion-dollar homes.

Discussion: Mashable

Washington Post:
Ferocious wildfires rage across Southern California as new fire breaks out in Los Angeles

Discussion: CNN, Gizmodo, robertscribbler and Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times:
Ventura County wildfire rages over 50,000 acres, reaches Pacific Ocean as it jumps 101 Freeway

Discussion: NPR, CNN, KTLA, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, Mashable, Joe.My.God. and The Week

Paul Sperry / New York Post:

Double-crossing FBI agent must be held accountable — FBI investigator Peter Strzok not only let Hillary Clinton off the hook, he may have used Democratic Party opposition research as an excuse to spy on Trump campaign advisers. — Strzok became such a political liability …

Discussion: Power Line and Fox News

Noah Bookbinder / USA Today: Firing Mueller would be hard for Trump — and Congress should make it impossible

CREW:
Why Trump Can't Easily Remove Mueller—and What Happens If He Tries

Discussion: ACS Blog

Josh Lederman / Associated Press:

Doctors identify brain abnormalities in Cuba attack patients — WASHINGTON (AP) — Doctors treating the U.S. Embassy victims of mysterious, invisible attacks in Cuba have discovered brain abnormalities as they search for clues to explain the hearing, vision, balance and memory damage, The Associated Press has learned.

Discussion: IJR, New York Times, The Daily Caller, AOL, The Week and Shakesville

Diana Falzone / Fox News:

Corey Feldman's 1993 audio files naming alleged sexual predators found by Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office — Has Corey Feldman been vindicated? — The former child actor claimed in October that he had given the names of sexual predators in Hollywood to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office …

Discussion: RedState, AOL, IJR and Raw Story

Philip Pullella / Reuters:

Respect ‘status quo’ of Jerusalem, says Pope in response to Trump move — VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis, speaking hours before U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement on Jerusalem, called on Wednesday for the city's “status quo” to be respected, saying new tension in the Middle East would further inflame world conflicts.

Discussion: RedState and The Daily Caller

CNN:
White House: Jerusalem embassy move a ‘recognition of reality’

Jenna Lifhits / Weekly Standard:
Democrats Divided Ahead of Trump's Expected Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's Capital

Discussion: The Daily Caller, IJR, Splinter, NTK Network, Business Insider, BloombergQuint, Reuters, Washington Free Beacon and Washington Monthly

CNNMoney:

How a joke, and Mike Cernovich, got Sam Seder booted from MSNBC — In 2009, Sam Seder told a vulgar joke on Twitter that would eventually cost him a job he didn't yet have — and make him a target of a movement that didn't yet exist. — MSNBC said Monday that it will not renew Seder's contract …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and Common Dreams

Phil Van Stockum / Politico:

I Saw the Kate Steinle Murder Trial Up Close. The Jury Didn't Botch It. — I was an alternate juror in the Kate Steinle murder trial in San Francisco. I didn't get a vote, but I saw all of the evidence and the jury instructions, and I discussed the verdict with the jury after it was delivered.

Discussion: abc7news.com

Christopher Ingraham / Washington Post:

The richest 1 percent now owns more of the country's wealth than at any time in the past 50 years — The wealthiest 1 percent of American households own 40 percent of the country's wealth, according to a new paper by economist Edward N. Woolf. That share is higher than it has been at any point since …

Discussion: Discourse.net and Bloomberg

NBC News:

Donald Trump Jr. asked Russian lawyer for info on Clinton Foundation — Donald Trump Jr. asked a Russian lawyer at the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting whether she had evidence of illegal donations to the Clinton Foundation, the lawyer told the Senate Judiciary Committee in answers to written questions obtained exclusively by NBC News.

Discussion: Washington Post, ABC News, NBC News, Business Insider, CNBC, Talking Points Memo, The Guardian, Raw Story, Little Green Footballs, Balloon Juice, Mediaite and The Atlantic

Alan Blinder / New York Times:

Atlanta Mayoral Race Poised to Move to a Recount — ATLANTA — For the second time in eight years, the mayoralty of the South's most influential city is likely to head to a recount. — Fewer than 800 votes separated Keisha Lance Bottoms and Mary Norwood after local officials tallied …

Discussion: The Root and Shareblue Media

New York Times:

Consumer Bureau's New Leader Steers a Sudden Reversal — The defanging of a federal consumer watchdog agency began last week in a federal courthouse in San Francisco. — After a nearly three-year legal skirmish, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau appeared to have been victorious.

Discussion: BillMoyers.com

Kimberly Kindy / Washington Post:

Conyers faced mounting sexual misconduct allegations as he weighed his future — As Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) this week weighed calls for his resignation from a Michigan hospital bed, more women were coming forward with accounts of sexual misconduct by the lawmaker.

Discussion: The Hill, Axios, IJR, The Daily Caller, Washington Free Beacon, twitchy.com and Instapundit

Avery Anapol / The Hill:

Trump thought it was ‘low class’ for Pence to bring pets to VP residence: report — An adviser to President Trump reportedly said Trump was “embarrassed” by the Pence family's desire to bring their pets with them to Washington, D.C. — The adviser told The Atlantic Trump told his secretary …

Discussion: Friendly Atheist, Sputnik International, Shareblue Media and IJR

Kelly Weill / The Daily Beast:

Harvey Weinstein Accused of Racketeering to Cover Up Sexual Assaults of Women … Harvey Weinstein and the Weinstein Company are the subjects of a new class-action lawsuit in federal court that alleges they engaged in a pattern of racketeering to cover up his alleged serial sexual assaults.