memeorandum: Trump is cracking — President Trump is back in the United States … (Jennifer Rubin/Washington Post)

11:50 PM ET, November 12, 2018

Top Items:

Trump is preparing to remove Kirstjen Nielsen as Homeland Security secretary, aides say — President Trump has told advisers he has decided to remove Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and her departure from the administration is likely to occur in the coming weeks, if not sooner …

Discussion: The Week, Splinter, Raw Story and Mediaite

David Edwards / Raw Story:
White House confirms Trump will not visit Arlington cemetery on Veterans Day as rain is expected

Discussion: Shareblue Media, HuffPost and Talking Points Memo

Cheyenne Haslett / ABC News:

Trump, without evidence, calls Florida ballots ‘massively infected,’ demands end to recounts — Just after returning from his trip to Europe, President Donald Trump on Monday morning turned back to the increasingly bitter battle over recounts in the Senate and governor's races in Florida …

Discussion: Raw Story, Reuters, No More Mister Nice Blog, Townhall, Vox, The Daily Beast, Shareblue Media and Balloon Juice

Richard L. Hasen / Slate:

What's Happening in Florida Is a Nightmare. 2020 Could Be So Much Worse. — With Florida set this week to undertake a massive and massively politicized recount in the critical races for governor and senator, the way that election fight has played out so far has been an absolute nightmare.

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, @politifact, Washington Post, Associated Press, BuzzFeed News, RedState, HuffPost and LifeZette

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

Trump is cracking — President Trump is back in the United States — and back to attacking democracy. He tweets: … We should note that this is the talk of authoritarians; it shows contempt for the office of the president, whom the Constitution designates to “to take care” that the nation's laws are faithfully executed.

Discussion: CBS Miami, Mic, Salon and Raw Story

Jonathan Allen / NBC News:
Gillum bets future on defending Floridians' right to vote

Discussion: The Nation and twitchy.com

New York Times:
In North Korea, Missile Bases Suggest a Great Deception

Discussion: Beyond Parallel, Washington Post, The Daily Beast, ABC News, Shareblue Media, IJR, New Republic, Task & Purpose, WPIX 11 New York, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller, The American Conservative, Outside the Beltway, Raw Story, VICE News and The Week

Chris Sommerfeldt / New York Daily News: President Trump effectively demands soldiers stationed abroad be excluded from voting in Florida midterms

Dominic Holden / BuzzFeed News:
Republican Gov. Rick Scott Was Just Sued Over His Role In The Florida Recount

Discussion: Washington Press, VICE News and Talking Points Memo

Washington Post:
Republicans fan unfounded worries about voter fraud in Florida and other close contests

Discussion: WFTV

Simon Romero / New York Times:

Kyrsten Sinema Declared Winner in Arizona Senate Race — PHOENIX — Representative Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat and former social worker, scored a groundbreaking victory in the race for a Senate seat in Arizona, defeating her Republican opponent after waging a campaign in which she embraced …

Discussion: Advocate, Jezebel, Boing Boing, The Daily Caller, Splinter, Washington Free Beacon, Balloon Juice and Mediaite

Arizona Republic:

Sinema vs. McSally … Democrat Kyrsten Sinema's unbreakable hold on Maricopa County, along with overwhelming support for her from Martha McSally's Tucson-based congressional district, gave her an electoral edge Republicans could not erase in the race for Arizona's open U.S. Senate seat.

Discussion: NPR, TheBlaze, Breitbart, HuffPost, Vox, Roll Call, Jamie Dupree - AJC, The Last Refuge and The Week

Khorri Atkinson / Axios:

Kyrsten Sinema has flipped Jeff Flake's Senate seat to the Democrats — Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema has picked up an insurmountable lead over Republican opponent Rep. Martha McSally, handing Democrats a seat Republicans have held since 1994, the AP projects.

Discussion: Mother Jones, ABC News, Talking Points Memo and CNN

NBC News:
Democrat Kyrsten Sinema wins Arizona Senate race after nail-biter against Martha McSally

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNN and ABC News

Associated Press:
Democrat Kyrsten Sinema wins Arizona US Senate seat

Discussion: RedState, Washington Press and Daily Wire

Rachel Leingang / Arizona Republic:
Sinema vs. McSally

Discussion: Townhall, LifeZette, Political Wire and The Daily Caller

Ali Dukakis / ABC News:

Special counsel witness says he expects to be charged in Mueller probe — The former Infowars Washington bureau chief, who recently testified before a federal grand jury in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election …

Discussion: Washington Times, Mediaite and Axios

Shannon K. Crawford / ABC News:

Michael Cohen, President Trump's former personal attorney, mysteriously arrives in Washington, D.C. — Michael Cohen, President Trump's former personal attorney and close associate, arrived in Washington, D.C., Monday morning, accompanied by one of his own criminal defense lawyers.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Wall Street Journal: Conservative Activist Jerome Corsi Says He Expects to Be Indicted in Mueller Probe

Dan Mangan / CNBC: Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen takes the train to Washington to talk to special counsel Robert Mueller's team

Washington Post: Conservative author and Stone associate Jerome Corsi said he expects to be indicted by special …

The Hill:
Stone associate says he expects to face Mueller indictment in next couple of days

Discussion: The Guardian and Splinter

Anna Schecter / NBC News:
Roger Stone pal Jerome Corsi says Mueller is planning to indict him

Discussion: Mother Jones, BuzzFeed News, Vox, The Week and CNBC

New York Times:

‘Tell Your Boss’: Recording Is Seen to Link Saudi Crown Prince More Strongly to Khashoggi Killing — WASHINGTON — Shortly after the journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed last month at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, a member of the kill team instructed a superior over the phone to …

Discussion: Political Wire, The American Conservative, Mediaite and Middle East Eye

Steve Peoples / Associated Press:

No ‘blue wave,’ but Democrats' midterm success sinking in — NEW YORK (AP) — No it wasn't a blue wave. But a week after the voting, Democrats are riding higher than they thought on Election Night. — As vote counting presses on in several states, the Democrats have steadily chalked …

Peter Overby / NPR:

Democrats Say Their First Bill Will Focus On Strengthening Democracy At Home — Democrats will take control of the U.S. House in January with big items topping their legislative to-do list: Remove obstacles to voting, close loopholes in government ethics law and reduce the influence of political money.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Political Wire and Unfogged

Adam B. Schiff / Washington Post:
Matthew Whitaker, we're watching you

Discussion: VICE News, demwritepress.com and Raw Story

Ryan Goodman / Just Security:
Whitaker's Unofficial Role as Adviser to Trump Campaign is a Clear Red Line

Discussion: Washington Post, Hot Air and Mediaite

James Fallows / The Atlantic:

Can Marine One Fly in the Rain? — Why, exactly, did Donald Trump not join Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, and Justin Trudeau at Saturday's commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the original Armistice Day? I don't know, and I don't think anyone outside the White House does at this point.

Alex Horton / Washington Post:
Trump skipped a U.S. cemetery visit abroad. The French army trolled him for avoiding the rain.

Discussion: Raw Story, Vox, Hot Air, The Guardian, Townhall and Mother Jones

WGN-TV:

Officer shoots, kills armed security guard outside south suburban bar — Share Update: … For the latest updates on this story, click here. — ROBBINS, Ill. — Witnesses say a Midlothian police officer responding to a shooting inside a south suburban bar shot and killed the wrong person early Sunday morning.

Discussion: Washington Post, abc7chicago.com, Chicago Sun Times, HuffPost, Daily Wire, ThinkProgress, WQAD-TV, Washington Press, Vox, KAJ-TV, The Root, TheBlaze, Mediaite, VICE News, gofundme.com and Raw Story

Scott Wilson / Washington Post:

Death toll rises to 42 in California's Camp Fire, making it the deadliest wildfire ever in the state — BREAKING: Death toll rises to 42 in California's Camp Fire, making it the deadliest wildfire ever in the state. — PARADISE, Calif. — The thing about Paradise is that people expected to live out their lives here in the hills.

Discussion: New Republic and Chico Enterprise-Record

New York Times:

Facebook Failed to Police How Its Partners Handled User Data — Facebook failed to closely monitor device makers after granting them access to the personal data of hundreds of millions of people, according to a previously unreported disclosure to Congress last month.

more at Techmeme »

Mark Niesse / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Georgia secretary of state tells election officials to count absentee ballots — Georgia Secretary of State Robyn Crittenden instructed county election officials Monday to count absentee ballots even if they lack a voter's date of birth, as long as the voter's identity can be verified.

Discussion: Raw Story, Daily Kos and Splinter

Janko Roettgers / Variety:

Fox News Twitter Account Remains Dark for Fourth Day Over Tucker Carlson Protest — Fox News continued its Twitter boycott for a fourth day on Monday in an apparent attempt to protest how the social media platform handled tweets surrounding a recent rally against Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Daily Wire and The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »

Don Thompson / Associated Press:

Democrats Gain Veto-Proof Majority in California Legislature — Democrats win two Senate seats in California's Central Valley, gain veto-proof supermajorities in state Legislature. — SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Democrats have won two Republican-held California state Senate seats in the Central Valley …

Jason Lewis / Wall Street Journal:

Who Lost The House? John McCain — His July 2017 vote killed ObamaCare repeal and made Democratic lies impossible to refute. — The Republican Party lost its House majority on July 28, 2017, when Sen. John McCain ended the party's seven-year quest to repeal ObamaCare.

Discussion: Associated Press, Washington Post, LifeZette, Vox, Splinter, Mediaite, WTVR-TV, IJR, Politico, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire and The Daily Caller

New York Times:

They Were Stopped at the Texas Border. Their Nightmare Had Only Just Begun. — After crossing the Rio Grande, three immigrant women were picked up by a Border Patrol agent. Their relief soon turned to terror. — MCALLEN, Tex. — The Border Patrol agent, she remembers …

Discussion: Jezebel

Jack Crowe / National Review:

Kat Timpf Chased Out of Brooklyn Bar — Fox News personality and National Review contributor Kat Timpf was forced to leave a bar in Brooklyn over the weekend after a woman she had never met became enraged upon learning she worked in conservative media. — Timpf, who has twice previously …

Discussion: TheBlaze, Conservative News Today and twitchy.com

Chris Kitching / Mirror.co.uk:

Men burnt alive by mob after false WhatsApp messages accuse them of child kidnap — WARNING - DISTRESSING CONTENT: The men were dragged out of a jail cell and killed as hundreds cheered — Two innocent men were dragged out of a jail cell and burned alive by a cheering mob as rumours of child abductors spread rapidly on WhatsApp.

Tasneem Nashrulla / BuzzFeed News:

Baraboo High School Students Did The Nazi Salute In Their Prom Photo And Police Are Investigating — A Wisconsin school district and local police are investigating an incident in which male high school students appeared to be doing the Nazi salute in their prom photo.

Discussion: Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Week, Washington Press and Splinter

New York Times:

Bipartisan Sentencing Overhaul Moves Forward, but Rests on Trump — WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators has reached a tentative deal on the most substantial rewrite of the nation's sentencing and prison laws in a generation, giving judges more latitude to sidestep mandatory minimum sentences …

Sabrina Eaton / Plain Dealer:

Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio is weighing a presidential run — WASHINGTON, D. C. - After comfortably winning re-election to his U.S. Senate seat last week in a state that President Donald Trump won comfortably two years ago, Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is weighing a run for president.