Top Items:
Mike Allen / Axios:
Trump lawyers want second special counsel appointed now — President Trump's legal team believes Attorney General Jeff Session's Justice Department and the FBI — more than special counsel Robert Mueller himself — are to blame for what they see as a witch hunt.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Washington Post, CNBC, The Guardian, Fox News, New York Magazine, NBC News, Talking Points Memo, Taylor Marsh, The Week and USA Today
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The Guardian:
Robert Mueller is closing in on Trump. Congress must protect his investigation — Mueller is coming. — The investigation into Trump campaign coordination with Russia appears to be closing in on the president. The three indictments earlier this month of Trump campaign chairman …
Michael Tomasky / The Daily Beast:
Will the Senate Still Protect Robert Mueller From Donald Trump's Ax? … Remember the first round of gossip about whether President Trump would fire special prosecutor Robert Mueller, back during the summer? Republican senators were quick to say what a grave error this would be.
Discussion:
CNN, Hullabaloo, Salon and Washington Post
Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
Inside Trump's legal team: Trying to protect the president from Mueller's ‘killers’
Inside Trump's legal team: Trying to protect the president from Mueller's ‘killers’
Discussion:
Roll Call
Peter Holley / Washington Post:
‘Brothers in arms’: The long friendship between Mueller and Comey
‘Brothers in arms’: The long friendship between Mueller and Comey
Discussion:
RedState
Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
Speaker at Moore event says he accidentally went with Moore to a brothel with child prostitutes — Roy Moore, who is running for U.S. Senate in Tuesday's special election, is facing multiple allegations of child sex abuse. He has largely avoided the campaign trail since these allegations first surfaced.
Discussion:
New Republic, No More Mister Nice Blog, Eschaton, The Root, Shakesville and Shareblue Media
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Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:
Roy Moore Emerges From Hiding for Election Eve Rally, and Good Lord, Was It Weird — Have you ever traveled down a dirt path in rural southeast Alabama in December and arrived at a barn in the woods to find Steve Bannon, Representative Louie Gohmert, Sheriff David Clarke, Roy and Kayla Moore …
Discussion:
Politico, The Guardian, BillMoyers.com, Taylor Marsh, Daily Kos and VICE News
Andy Metzger / WBUR:
Baker Backing Democrat Jones In Alabama Senate Race — Gov. Charlie Baker supports the Democrat running for U.S. Senate in Alabama against Roy Moore, the controversial Republican who has been dogged by multiple accounts that he made sexual advances towards teenage women well into his adult years.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Axios, National Review, CANNONFIRE, Political Wire and Balloon Juice
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Eli Rosenberg / Washington Post:
‘How is my daughter a pervert?’: Alabama dad's plain-spoken rebuke of Roy Moore strikes a nerve
‘How is my daughter a pervert?’: Alabama dad's plain-spoken rebuke of Roy Moore strikes a nerve
Discussion:
Shareblue Media, Vox, Refinery29, KTLA, Mashable, Splinter, The Week, Mediaite and NBC News
Alexandra Petri / Washington Post:
Some good reasons to vote for Roy Moore
Some good reasons to vote for Roy Moore
Discussion:
CNN, Vox, Right Wing Watch, New York Post and Hullabaloo
Bloomberg:
NFL Harassment Suit Alleges Groping by Top Executive, Ex-Players — Former employee says ex-producer sent several nude photos — NFL Network says employees suspended pending investigation — A former executive producer at the National Football League's TV network and ex-players including Marshall Faulk …
Discussion:
New York Times, TVNewser, USA Today, The Right Scoop, The Daily Caller, Deadspin, CBS Boston, AOL, TheBlaze, ProFootballTalk, CBS Los Angeles and NBC News, more at Mediagazer »
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Emma Baccellieri / Deadspin:
NFL Network Suspends Marshall Faulk, Ike Taylor, Heath Evans After Sexual Harassment Lawsuit — NFL Network has suspended Marshall Faulk, Ike Taylor and Heath Evans while investigating claims of sexual harassment from a lawsuit filed by one of their former colleagues.
Discussion:
ProFootballTalk
Alan Feuer / New York Times:
Suspect in Times Square Bombing Leaves Trail of Mystery — On the surface, Akayed Ullah seemed to be an ordinary member of a Bangladeshi enclave in Brooklyn. He often prayed at a mosque in an unassuming brownstone in the Kensington section of the borough, where a few thousand of his countrymen reside.
Discussion:
CNN, AOL, Althouse, theGrio, Power Line, The Daily Caller, Axios, Business Insider, The Daily Beast and Hollywood Life
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Aaron Katersky / ABC News:
NYC bombing suspect wrote on Facebook before his alleged attack, ‘Trump you failed to protect your nation’: Complaint
NYC bombing suspect wrote on Facebook before his alleged attack, ‘Trump you failed to protect your nation’: Complaint
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, IJR and Mediaite
San Francisco Chronicle:
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee dead at 65 — San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee died early Tuesday morning at age 65, his office said. — The sudden news came in an email from the office at 2:23 a.m. It read: “It is with profound sadness and terrible grief that we confirm that Mayor Edwin M. Lee passed away …
Discussion:
CBS San Francisco, Business Insider and The Week, more at Techmeme »
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Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Tawdry Tales Depict a Texas Congressman's Frat House on the Hill — WASHINGTON — When Lauren Greene, a former communications director for Representative Blake Farenthold, sued him claiming sexual harassment, among her complaints was that he “disclosed that a female lobbyist had propositioned him for ‘a threesome.’”
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Houston Chronicle, Politico and Splinter
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Abby Livingston / The Texas Tribune:
Amid sexual harassment controversy, U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold faces tough re-election
Amid sexual harassment controversy, U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold faces tough re-election
Discussion:
Roll Call, Off the Kuff and The Week
Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
This is the list of ‘eyewitnesses’ the White House says exonerate Trump — On Monday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders promised that she would produce a list of eyewitnesses to exonerate President Trump from allegations of sexual harassment and assault.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The White House, Washington Post, New York Daily News, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Raw Story, Vox, TheBlaze, Mother Jones, CNN and ABC News
Leonard Greene / New York Daily News:
Why Melania, Ivanka and Jared's mayoral election votes didn't count — Good thing last month's mayoral election wasn't close because if New Yorkers needed the Trump family to decide the outcome, they would have been out of luck. — President Trump and his family of New Yorkers …
Discussion:
Splinter
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
What The Hell Is Happening With These Alabama Polls? — Somebody's going to be wrong in Alabama. — We've already urged caution when interpreting polls of Alabama's special election to the U.S. Senate, which will be held on Tuesday. Some of that is because of the media's usual tendency …
Discussion:
The Hill, The Week, Index, Change Research, New York Times, Political Insider, Jamie Dupree - AJC, Weekly Standard, Axios, The Atlantic, The Gateway Pundit, The Moderate Voice, Mashable, Politico, New York Magazine, ThinkProgress, Townhall.com, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Daily Caller, National Review, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, CBS News, The Mahablog, IJR, AOL, Business Insider, TheBlaze, Outside the Beltway, Political Wire, Monmouth University and WHNT-TV, more at Mediagazer »
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Joseph Bernstein / BuzzFeed:
Inside Steve Bannon's #War Against Twitter — For more than a year before he became Donald Trump's campaign manager, Steve Bannon sought to wage war against Twitter, tasking Milo Yiannopoulos and other Breitbart News employees to look into editorial, financial, and legal ways they could harm the Jack Dorsey-led social network.
Philip Bump / Washington Post:
A running list of the eyewitnesses who prove Trump's innocence on sexual misconduct — President Trump is frustrated. He sees the 2016 election as having vindicated him on any number of things: his often-acidic politics, his disparagement of traditional campaign tactics …
Discussion:
The Week, ThinkProgress and The Daily Beast
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Travis M. Andrews / Washington Post:
Sean Spicer announces book to ‘set the record straight’ about Trump's campaign, presidency
Sean Spicer announces book to ‘set the record straight’ about Trump's campaign, presidency
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, Politico and The Week
Zephyr Teachout / New York Times:
I'm Not Convinced Franken Should Quit — I care passionately about #MeToo. Women are routinely demeaned, dismissed, discouraged and assaulted. Too many women's careers are stymied or ended because of harassment and abuse. In politics, where I have worked much of my adult life, this behavior is rampant.
Discussion:
Governor Arne Carlson, IJR and The Daily Caller
Shane Savitsky / Axios:
Trump and Gillibrand face off on Twitter — New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand called on President Trump to “ immediately resign ” yesterday, prompting a disparaging Twitter response from POTUS this morning: — Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone …
Discussion:
ABC News, Washington Post, Mother Jones and Associated Press
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Ashley Parker / Washington Post:
Trump seeks to dismiss sexual harassment allegations as ‘fake news’
Trump seeks to dismiss sexual harassment allegations as ‘fake news’
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, New Republic, Vox, Roll Call, Talking Points Memo, NBC News and Mother Jones
Connor Sheets / al.com:
State Supreme Court stays order directing Alabama not to destroy voting records — Update - 9:05 a.m. Dec. 12, 2017: Late Monday night, the Alabama Supreme Court stayed the Montgomery County Circuit Court's order earlier that day directing Alabama election officials to preserve digital ballot images during Tuesday's Senate election.
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Timothy Cama / The Hill:
Emails: Disney annoyed by Obama push to use ‘Frozen’ brand — Emails unearthed by The Hill show Disney's leadership was frustrated and annoyed by an Obama administration official's public statements suggesting it was considering using characters in the popular film “Frozen” to teach children about climate change.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
Washington Post:
Congress could finalize deal to reconcile House and Senate tax bills as soon as today, top Republican says — Lawmakers are on the verge of striking a tentative agreement that would reconcile tax bills passed separately by the House and Senate, and an announcement could come later Tuesday …