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The Daily 202: Anti-Trump backlash fuels a Democratic sweep in Virginia and
elections across the country
By James Hohmann November 8 at 7:24 AM
Play Video 1:29
Heres what happened in Virginias 2017 election

0:00

Democrat Ralph Northam won the Virginia governors race over Republican Ed
Gillespie on Nov. 7. Here are some other takeaways from the states election.
(Video: Amber Ferguson/Photo: Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)
With Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve

THE BIG IDEA: Tuesday was the best day for Democrats politically since Barack Obama
won reelection in 2012. Remember, conservatives scored significant victories in the
November 2014, 2015 and 2016 elections. Democrats desperately needed some wins
after they went all-in on a House special election in Georgia this spring and lost.
Last night, they got them.

Voters came out in droves. They braved the rain and the cold to send a message to
President Trump. The results across the country represent nothing less than a
stinging repudiation of Trump on the first anniversary of his election.

-- Democrat Ralph Northam was elected governor of Virginia Tuesday by an

unexpectedly large margin of nine percentage points. He won more votes than any
previous candidate for Virginia governor.

Republican Ed Gillespie could not escape Trumps unpopularity, despite his best
efforts to thread the needle. Four in 10 Virginia voters yesterday approved of the
job that the president is doing, according to preliminary exit polls. Gillespie
received over 9 in 10 votes from Trump approvers, but among the larger group of
Trump disapprovers, Northam had nearly as large an advantage: 87 percent.

Trumps impact on the race was also clear from other questions in the exit polling:
34 percent of voters said expressing opposition to Trump was a reason for their
vote, with almost all of this group favoring Northam, per our in-house pollster
Scott Clement. Half as many (17 percent) sought to express support for the
president, while 47 percent said Trump was not a factor in their choice.

-- Women made the difference. White women with college degrees a group that split
evenly in the 2013 Virginia governors election favored Northam by 16 points over
Gillespie in preliminary exit polling, 58 percent to 42 percent. Northams margin
is more than twice as wide as the margin Hillary Clinton won those voters by last
year, 50 percent to 44 percent.

Married women voted for Northam by 10 points according to preliminary exit polls,
54 percent to 44 percent. In the 2016 presidential election, Trump eked out a one-
point lead with this group, 48 percent to 47 percent. Married women consisted of 30
percent of Virginia voters this year, about the same share as in 2016 and 2014.
(Check out our interactive exit poll graphic here.)

Play Video 0:36

Virginia GOP state congressman: This was a referendum on the president
State Rep. Scott W. Taylor (R - Va) said the divisive rhetoric helped contribute
to why Democrats won big in the Virginia election on Nov. 7. (Dalton Bennett/The
Washington Post)
-- Rep. Scott Taylor, a Republican who represents Virginia Beach, said both
Democrats and Republicans registered their disenchantment with Trump. I don't know
how you get around that this wasn't a referendum on the administration, I just
don't, he told reporters. Some of the very divisive rhetoric really prompted and
helped usher in a really high Democratic turnout in Virginia.

Ed couldnt escape being a proxy for Trump, which killed him, added Tom Davis,
the former GOP congressman who represented Northern Virginia. Its a huge drag on
the ticket, he told Paul Schwartzman. It motivated the Democratic base. Democrats
came out en masse in protest. This was their first chance to mobilize the base. The
lesson here is that Republicans have to get their act together. Ed did as well as
he could do with the hand he was dealt.

-- Tweeting from South Korea, Trump quickly distanced himself from Gillespie who
he had embraced earlier in the day:

Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for. Dont forget,
Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy doing record numbers,
we will continue to win, even bigger than before!

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2017

-- But Democrats prevailed last night from sea to shining sea, up and down the
ballot:

Maine, where Trump won an electoral vote last year, became the first state to
expand Medicaid via ballot initiative. Despite active opposition from the
Republican governor and an influx of outside money, the measure passed by a nearly
20-point margin. This will mean health-care coverage for an estimated 70,000 low-
income residents.
Democrat Phil Murphy, a former banker and first-time candidate, won the New Jersey
governors race by 13 points over Chris Christies lieutenant governor. Thats on
par with Clintons margin a year ago, but its a remarkable turnabout from four
years ago when Christie got reelected with a 22-point margin of victory. It means
that Democrats will have unified control of the Garden States government.
By winning a special election, Democrats took control of the Senate in Washington
State. This gives the party full control of all three states on the West Coast: a
blue wall of sorts.
-- Democrats didnt just run up the score on blue turf, though:

In Georgia, Democrats picked up three seats in the state legislature replacing

Republicans who stepped down to lead the state forestry commission, become a judge
and run for governor.
In New Hampshires largest city, Manchester, the incumbent Republican mayor went
down. Joyce Craig is the first Democrat elected mayor there in 14 years.
In the beating heart of Floridas crucial Interstate 4 corridor, the former
Republican mayor of St. Petersburg unexpectedly failed in a comeback bid after his
Democratic opponent tied him to Trump and defined him as a denier of climate
change.
In North Carolina, the Republican mayor of Fayetteville lost his bid for a third
term. In Charlotte, despite being heavily outspent, Democrat Vi Lyles will become
the citys first African American female mayor.
-- For the first time, Democrats were winning because of Obamacare not in spite
of it. Maine approving Medicaid expansion by such a margin should be a warning sign
for Republicans to tread very carefully when it comes to their continuing efforts
to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

In Virginia, the network exit poll asked respondents which one of five issues
mattered most in deciding their vote for governor: 39 percent said health care, far
more than any other issue. And health-care focused voters favored Northam by a
giant 77 percent to 23 percent margin in preliminary exit polls. Gillespie won
handily among those who named taxes and immigration as their top issue. The
candidates split among those who picked gun policy.

Play Video 1:12

This transgender woman just made political history
Democrat Danica Roem defeated incumbent Del.?Robert G. Marshall (R) on Nov. 7 and
became Virginias first openly transgender elected official. (Claritza Jimenez/The
Washington Post)
-- To understand the true magnitude of the Democratic victory, look to the down-
ballot races in Virginia. Democrats, many of them unknown first-time candidates,
are poised to pick up at least 14 seats in the House of Delegates. Unofficial
returns showed Democrats unseating at least 11 Republicans and flipping three seats
that had been occupied by GOP incumbents who didnt seek reelection. Four other
races were so close that they qualify for a recount, and results will determine
control of the chamber. Democrats needed to pick up 17 seats to gain control of the
House of Delegates. No one thought going into last night that it was seriously in
play.

The results marked the most sweeping shift in control of the legislature since the
Watergate era, writes Fenit Nirappil. The biggest battleground for the House was
Prince William, a Washington exurb where people of color constitute a majority of
the population. A diverse group of five Democratic challengers hoped to channel
demographic changes and Democratic energy to take seats held by white men and all
won.

Virginias most socially conservative state lawmaker was ousted from office by a
Democrat who will be one of the nations first openly transgender elected
officials. The race pitted Danica Roem, a 33-year-old former journalist who began
her physical gender transition four years ago, against Robert G. Marshall, a 13-
term incumbent who called himself Virginias chief homophobe and earlier this
year introduced a bathroom bill that died in committee. Discrimination is a
disqualifier, Roem said in her victory speech, per Antonio Olivo.

This is a tidal wave, said David Wasserman, who tracks U.S. House races for the
nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Its hard to conclude anything other than
that Democrats are the current favorite for control of the House in 2018.

One ominous sign for congressional Republicans: Northam won the district held by
Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) in the D.C. suburbs by 13 points.

Several other Democrats who won these down-ballot races are going to have national
profiles: In southwest Virginia, former television news anchor Chris Hurst whose
girlfriend was fatally shot during a live broadcast in 2015 toppled Republican
incumbent Joseph Yost.

The results are a big validation for outgoing Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who is
term-limited and could use the gains as a rationale to run for president in 2020.
He was surprised by the scale of the pick-ups. I always say youre going to get it
back because you have to say that politically, but in my mind I was thinking six to
eight [seats gained] would have been a great night for the Democrats, he told one
of my colleagues.

Virginias General Assembly has a well-earned reputation as an old boys club, but
the composition of the body changed bigly last night: All 14 of the seats that
Democrats flipped are held by GOP men. Ten of their replacements will be women.

Supporters of Ralph Northam cheer as he speaks at his victory rally at George Mason
University in Fairfax. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)
MORE ON TURNOUT:

-- Trump proved to be just the boogeyman that Democrats have needed to galvanize
their liberal base for an off-year election when Obama was not on the ballot: 28
percent of voters identified as liberals in preliminary exit polls, up eight points
from the 2013 governors race and two points from last year. Democrats composed 41
percent of the electorate, up four points from 2013 and one point from last year.
Republicans were 31 percent of the electorate, a record low in two decades of exit
polls.

-- Turnout was the highest in 20 years for a gubernatorial race, five percentage
points and 10 percentage points higher than the last two. Northams vote margin in
Hampton Roads was more than 4,000 votes bigger than Clintons last year, a surprise
since so many more people vote in presidential elections. Northams military
background and hometown on the Eastern Shore may have provided extra momentum in
that region, Dan Keating and Kevin Uhrmacher explain. Northams margin in Central
Virginia around Richmond was similarly more than 4,000 votes bigger than Clintons
there. His margin in Northern Virginia did not top Clintons, but it was bigger
than [Obama] won it by in either of his winning campaigns. Gillespie was not able
to mount anywhere close to Trumps margins in the Republican areas. Consider this
amazing statistic:

In 2014, Gillespie won Loudoun County (DC exurbs) by 456 votes.

He lost it today by 23,432 votes.

Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) November 8, 2017

Heres a cool visualization of how turnout changed by region compared to the
previous governors race:

(The huge liberal turnout in Northern Virginia is especially remarkable when you
consider that a massive rainstorm was pummeling the D.C. suburbs during rush hour
last night.)
-- Nonwhite voters turned out at presidential election rates in Virginia,
surprising the experts who were trying to model the election on both sides. African
Americans accounted for 21 percent of voters, according to the exits, the same as
in 2016. When McAuliffe won four years ago, nonwhite voters accounted for 28
percent of the electorate. On Tuesday, they made up 33 percent of those who voted.
That 5 percent is pivotal because black voters favored Northam by a 73-point margin
and Hispanics favored Northam by 33 points.

From The Upshot:

Turnout in precincts where Hispanic *or* Asian voters represent at least 20% of the
population is 15 percent higher than our pre-election estimates.

Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) November 8, 2017

Obama went to Richmond last month for his first campaign rally since leaving the
White House to help gin up African American turnout. Off-year elections, midterm
elections Democrats sometimes, y'all get a little sleepy. You get a little
complacent, the former president said in his speech. And so as a consequence,
folks wake up and they're surprised 'How come we can't get things through
Congress? How come we can't get things through the state house? Because you slept
through the election!

Well, Democrats werent sleeping yesterday.

Gillespie suffered mightily from the utter failure of the Republicans in

Washington to do what they said theyd do, said former Virginia attorney general
Ken Cuccinelli (R), who lost the governors race four years ago. Trump is Trump,
he told our Marc Fisher last night. Lets not kid ourselves that hes going to
make any changes. Its up to the Republicans in Congress. If they cant deliver to
their voters, those voters simply wont come out, and that should scare the bejesus
out of the Republicans in Washington.

Seattle Mayor-elect Jenny Durkan, right, joins supporters waving signs on Tuesday.
(Ted S. Warren/AP)
A NIGHT OF FIRSTS:

Seattle elected its first openly lesbian mayor and the first woman since the 1920s.
(The Advocate)
St. Paul, Minn., elected its first black mayor. (Star Tribune)
In Minneapolis, voters elected the citys first transgender council member. Andrea
Jenkins, who is black, becomes the first transgender woman of color elected to
public office in a major U.S. city. (Strib)
Justin Fairfax, who was elected lieutenant governor in Virginia, is the first
African American elected to a statewide office in the commonwealth since L. Douglas
Wilder won as governor in 1989.
OTHER RESULTS:

The Republican mayor of Provo, Utah, was elected in a special election to fill the
vacant seat of Jason Chaffetz, who resigned so he could become a talking head on
Fox News. John Curtis ran as the pragmatic leader of Utahs third-largest city, per
Mike DeBonis. Democrat Kathie Allen, a physician and first-time political
candidate, had 26 percent, while Jim Bennett, who ran as nominee of the United Utah
Party and is the son of former Republican Sen. Robert F. Bennett, had 9 percent.
Bill de Blasio easily won a second term as mayor of New York City. (Dave Weigel)
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh was reelected by a 30-point margin. (Boston Globe)
Progressive lawyer Larry Krasners improbable bid to become Philadelphias district
attorney proved victorious. The Philly Inquirer reports: [T]he 56-year-old was
assailed from the start of his campaign by critics as unsuitable for the job as
an attorney best known for taking on civil rights cases and suing the Philadelphia
Police Department. It was for some of the same reasons that he drew support from
activists demanding criminal justice reform from an office they deemed unfair[.]
Play Video 1:05
Virginia governor election: A referendum on Trump's leadership?
Political analysts said the Virginia governor election on Nov. 7 is about more than
the two candidates, it's also a referendum on the leadership of President Trump.
(Reuters)
MORE WAPO TEAM COVERAGE:

-- Republicans seek new path after failure of Gillespies Trumpism without

Trump, by Michael Scherer and David Weigel: It was not clear that a further
embrace would have produced any better results. In the short term, the defeat is
likely to broaden a deepening divide between traditional Republicans, who have lost
influence among grass-roots GOP voters, and the new populist conservatives who have
embraced the polarizing approach of the president. In the aftermath of defeat, some
Republicans called for staying the course. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) argued that the
solution for the Virginia Republicans woes was running Corey Stewart, a former
Trump campaign adviser who lost the primary to Gillespie, in the 2018 Senate
campaign against Tim Kaine.

-- The shape of Northams victory gave Democrats both hope and pause, writes Marc
Fisher. He drew larger portions of the vote than Clinton did in every region of
Virginia, outperforming her especially among young people and white women with
college degrees, according to preliminary exit polls. But Northam failed to make
gains in Democratic weak spots such as with rural and less-educated voters.

-- From The Washington Posts opinion page:

The Editorial Board: A triumph of decency over dread.

Dana Milbank: Trump was on the ballot in Virginia. He lost.
Jonathan Capehart: Trump thumped in Virginia bigly.
Jennifer Rubin: Virginia shows that anti-Trump Republicans and Democrats still
have a pulse.
WHAT SMART COMMENTATORS ARE SAYING ELSEWHERE:

The Richmond Times-Dispatchs Jeff Schapiro: Northam, with the strongest

performance for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate since Gerald L. Baliles in
1985, has strengthened his partys grip on the crucial and growing suburban
vote, largely isolating Republicans in the thinly populated, Trump-friendly
countryside.
New York Times columnist Frank Bruni: Just when we needed a sign that his America
is not all of America, Virginia came to the rescue and gave us a vivid one. And I
guarantee you that the Republicans up for re-election in 2018 saw it, shuddered and
will spend the next weeks and months trying to figure out just how much trouble
their party is in and precisely how to repair it[.]
The Wall Street Journals Janet Hook and Joshua Jamerson: The [Democratic Partys]
activists showed they can help even a low-key campaigner like Mr. Northam, who was
second choice for many progressives who supported his primary rival, former Rep.
Tom Perriello.
CNNs Chris Cillizza: [T]he simple fact when you look at turnout patterns in
places like Chesterfield and Loudoun, is that lots of Virginia voters including
some decent chunk of establishment GOPers jumped at the chance to send Trump a
very clear message that they didn't like what he was selling. They didn't like it
at all.
Washington Examiners David Drucker: For GOP, Virginia reveals dangers of Trump
and a do-nothing Congress.
The Atlantics David A. Graham: [Gillespie] went out of his way, and broke with
his longstanding political profile, to embrace what Trump stood for, and lost
anyway.
National Reviews Jim Geraghty: [T]he key lesson of the night goes far beyond
Gillespie. Right now, the Republican partys brand in Virginia is dirt. Throw in
the failure to make New Jersey even remotely competitive, and tonight is about as
bad as it can get for the GOP a sense of dj vu from the results across the
country 2006 and 2008.
Politicos Bill Scher: [O]nce the thrill of victory fades, the sharp internal
divisions (among Democrats) that surfaced in the final days of the campaign wont
be easily set aside. Every skirmish among Virginias Democrats related to the big
existential questions that remain about the Democratic Partys national direction.
And the precise way Northam won is unlikely to produce consensus among the
squabbling factions.
HOW THE RETURNS PLAYED ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

-- Yes, Virginia went for Clinton last year. Yes, the demographics are changing.
But it was anything but inevitable that Northam would win.
From the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia:

Dear Pundit Friends, please stop attributing this D landslide in VA to "changing

demographics". VA hasn't changed that much since last Nov. 8 (Hillary by 5%). The
bigger explanation is a backlash to Trump and Trumpism, pure and simple. #VAGov

Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) November 8, 2017

-- Gillespies embrace of divisive wedge issues kept the race close, but it was not
enough. Democrats were gleeful and expressed hope that Republicans elsewhere will
be less inclined to replicate the tactics in 2018.

From a former senior adviser to Barack Obama:

At least Ed Gillespie still has his dignity.

Oh wait, never mind. He sold his soul to Trumpism.

Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) November 8, 2017

From Obamas former chief speechwriter:

In case there was any doubt: the Resistance is real.

Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) November 8, 2017

From the MSNBC host:

Another question: how do Republicans react to Gillespie losing? Does this give them
pause about running as Trumpist, anti-immigrant neo-confederates?

Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 8, 2017

The New Republic's senior editor pinned Gillespie's defeat on a certain Confederate
general:

Once again, Robert E. Lee turns out to be a loser.

Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) November 8, 2017

From a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee:

Now we have to build a statue of Ed Gillespie, otherwise how will future

generations know who lost this election? https://t.co/EsyENT6tKe

Patrick Burgwinkle (@Burgwinkle) November 8, 2017

-- Many establishment Republicans were relieved that Gillespie's embrace of
Trumpism did not work. From the chief strategist for Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), a
possible 2020 challenger to Trump:

Another thing GOP candidates: to thine own self be true. Don't go down the path of
these nationalist loons and lose both the election & your honor. #TwoPaths

John Weaver (@JWGOP) November 8, 2017

-- But many on the right said that their losses were so bad because Republicans
have not kept their promises, especially on immigration. From Ann Coulter:

If @realDonaldTrump doesn't keep his campaign promise to build a wall & deport
illegals, what happened to VA will happen to the entire country.

Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) November 8, 2017

One headline right now on Breitbart News? The Republican Swamp Got the Loss they
Wanted, Now Theyre Going to Try to Tame Us. For his part, Jerry Falwell Jr., the
president of Liberty University, blamed the loss on the growing dominance of the
suburbs outside Washington in Virginia politics and offered a novel idea:

DC should annex NOVA and return the governance of VA to Virginians! The founders
intended DC to include all fed employees who are conflicted

Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) November 8, 2017

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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING:

Play Video 3:01

Trump's speech in South Korea, in 3 minutes
President Trump gave North Korea a stern warning during his remarks before South
Korea's National Assembly in Seoul on Nov. 7. (Melissa Macaya/The Washington Post)
TRUMP IN ASIA:

-- Trump harshly denounced North Korea and its nuclear ambitions during a speech to
the South Korean National Assembly. Ashley Parker and David Nakamura report: In a
35-minute speech here, for which he received a standing ovation, Trump offered a
tough and blunt message to Pyongyang and dictator Kim Jong Un: Do not
underestimate us. And do not try us. We will defend our common spirit, our shared
prosperity and our sacred liberty. But the president drew no red lines for what
would prompt the United States to use military force, nor did he offer any
additional ideas on how to coax North Korea to the negotiating table.

The Fixs Callum Borchers annotated the address here.

-- Trump also attempted to make a surprise visit to the DMZ but was forced to turn
back because of bad weather. Our colleagues report: President Moon Jae-in had been
expected to join Trump at the border, in what White House press secretary Sarah
Huckabee Sanders billed as a historic moment the first time leaders of both the
United States and South Korea would have visited the DMZ together. The trip was
kept under great secrecy, with Sanders alerting reporters traveling with the
president to the surprise visit by holding up a piece of paper on which DMZ had
been scrawled and announcing, This is where were going.

-- Trump now heads to China, a country where social media platforms like Twitter
are banned, David Nakamura notes: President Xi Jinping has overseen a deepening
crackdown on the Internet, using the great firewall to stifle self-expression in
the name of bolstering the already tight grip over society by the Communist Party.
Foreigners are generally still able to tweet via their cellphones, and Trump is
expected to continue his daily dose of high-octane missives over the three-day
state visit, but its what he might chose not to say that could send a more subtle
but equally important message. Trumps predecessor, Barack Obama, spoke out in
support of free speech in two visits to China. But Trump has shown little inkling
for confronting Xi on the issue[.]

Play Video 1:15

Trump withdraws the U.S. from the Paris climate accord
President Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement
on June 1, after saying he would "cancel" the deal while on the campaign trail.
(Reuters)
GET SMART FAST:??
Syria said it will join the Paris climate accord putting the United States
literally at odds with every other country in the world when it comes to fighting
climate change. Meanwhile, experts seized on the moment to rebuke Trumps
withdrawal from the accord, accusing the president of isolating the U.S. on the
world stage in an embarrassing and dangerous position. (Brady Dennis)
A juror in the corruption trial of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) asked the judge to
define the word "senator." Bloombergs David Voreacos and Neil Weinberg report:
U.S. District Judge William Walls declined to answer the question[.] Walls told
jurors that they should rely on their individual and collective memories to
determine how to define a senator. The jurors question, odd as it may have seemed,
may have related to whether Melgen could have been considered a Menendez
constituent. Defense attorneys said during the trial that Menendez regarded it as
part of his Senate work to look after the interests of people beyond his home
state.
Disney will no longer ban the Los Angeles Times from attending advance screenings
of its movies following an investigation of the company by the publication. The ban
prompted intense backlash and boycott threats from prominent critics
organizations, news outlets and reporters. (New York Times)
Former MLB all-star Roy Halladay died after a single-engine plane he was flying
crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. Halladay, 40, was a two-time Cy Young Award winner
who received his pilots license after retiring 2013. He is survived by his wife
and two children. (Marissa Payne and Des Bieler)
Twitter doubled its character count for all users (including the president). After
a month of testing, Twitter announced that the new 280-character limit made users
more likely to tweet and increased engagement. (Hayley Tsukayama)
Chicago community organizers worry about the effect that Barack Obamas
presidential library will have on the South Side. Neighbors fear that the 20-acre
center will turn their community into one huge tourist attraction. (Krissah
Thompson)
A new article from the American Journal of Medicine offers clues about the 1849
death of Polish composer Frederic Chopin whose heart, per his request, was
pickled in a jar, smuggled past Russian authorities and encased in the stone pillar
of a Warsaw church. (The rest of his body was buried in Paris). Now, after careful
examination, researchers believe Chopin died of tuberculosis complications. (New
York Times)
Sheep can recognize human faces about as well as monkeys or humans, according to
a new study from the University of Cambridge. Neuroscientists there successfully
trained the woolly creatures to recognize human celebrities by face in a matter of
seconds suggesting some serious (and surprising!) sheep smarts. (Ben Guarino)
In Japan, you can pay an actor to impersonate a relative, spouse, co-worker or
acquaintance for any conceivable situation and for any length of time. In a
bizarre, fascinating interview, Family Romance founder Ishii Yuichi discussed his
burgeoning business, the complicated nature of human relationships and one of his
longest-running gigs: pretending, for eight years, to be the father of a 12-year-
old girl. (The Atlantic)
Play Video 1:32
How did the Texas gunman purchase a firearm?
The Air Force said it failed to follow procedures and alert federal law enforcement
about Devin Kelley's violent past, which allowed him to obtain firearms. Kelley
killed at least 26 churchgoers in Sutherland Springs, Tex., on Nov. 5. (Video:
Elyse Samuels/Photo: Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post)
TEXAS MOURNS:

-- Texas church gunman Devin P. Kelley escaped from a mental health facility in
2012 after he was caught sneaking guns onto an Air Force base and threatening his
military superiors. Eva Ruth Moravec and Mark Berman report: The report said that
officers with El Paso police were dispatched to a bus terminal after [Kelley's]
escape from a behavioral facility about seven miles away in New Mexico. Officers
wrote that they were told Kelley was a danger to himself and others at the time
and noted that he was also facing military criminal charges. Kelley was court-
martialed that same year and convicted of abusing his wife and her son. This
revelation came as authorities continued to seek a fuller portrait of Kelley and
also probed a breakdown in military protocols that failed to flag a domestic
violence conviction meant to keep him from buying firearms.

Meanwhile, more chilling details of Kelleys methodical church massacre continued

to emerge:

Officials say Kelley was inside the church for a lengthy period of time, moving
around freely as he gunned down people gathered for Sunday morning services. One
woman who was wounded during the carnage described Kelley firing at churchgoers who
tried to leave, shooting round after round at those cowering or wounded on the
churchs floor.
David Brown, whose mother, Farida, was shot in her legs, said she described Kelley
firing four shots into the torso of a woman on her left[:] With every shot, she
was crying, Brown said of the woman. She was just staring at my mom while she
tried to comfort her."
-- One Florida school is now offering parents the option of purchasing bulletproof
panels for students to place in their backpacks in the case of a school shooting.
The slim, custom-made armor plates weigh less than a pound, protect against a
variety of bullets and are available for purchase on the school's website along
with mascot t-shirts and other spirit apparel. Id rather be prepared for the
worst than be stuck after saying Wow, I wish we wouldve done that, the schools
head of security said in an interview. (Travis M. Andrews)

Play Video 3:55

Cornyn announces plan for legislation on background checks after Texas shooting
After a gunman killed at least 26 people at a Texas church, Sen. John Cornyn (R-
Tex.) on Nov. 7 said theres an opportunity for us here to work on a bipartisan
basis on legislation to improve the enforcement of background checks. (The
Washington Post)
-- It's something: Senators demanded that government agencies properly enforce
existing gun-control laws. Karoun Demirjian reports: The Senates second-highest-
ranking Republican announced Tuesday that he was planning to file legislation aimed
at forcing federal agencies to upload required information about infractions into
the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), and incentivizing
state governments to do the same. Their record of compliance is lousy, its
lousy, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) complained on the Senate floor[.] Sen. Jeff
Flake (R-Ariz.) also announced Tuesday that he was joining forces with Sen. Martin
Heinrich (D-N.M.) to prevent anyone convicted of domestic violence be it in
criminal or military court from buying a gun[.]

-- House Democrats tried and failed to force a vote establishing a select committee
on preventing gun violence. Ed O'Keefe reports: The bill would establish a 12-
member committee divided evenly between Republicans and Democrats to study the
causes of mass shootings, look at ways to revamp the gun background-check system,
research how mentally ill people obtain firearms and explore ways to keep domestic
abusers from buying firearms. During scheduled votes on other bills, Democrats
used procedural motions to try to introduce the bill on the floor and get a vote.
It failed overwhelmingly. But the development is likely to spark fresh Democratic
attacks on Republicans for blocking such legislation[.]

-- California Rep. Ted Lieu (D) check out his Twitter account for consistent
anti-Trump rants walked out of Mondays moment of silence for the victims. My
colleagues are doing a moment of silence in the House .?.?. I respect their right
to do that and I myself have participated in many of them, but I cant do this
again, Lieu said in a video. Ive been to too many moments of silences. In just
my short career in Congress, three of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history have
occurred. I will not be silent. What we need is we need action. We need to pass gun
safety legislation now. (Cleve R. Wootson Jr.)

Play Video 1:04

Republicans are trying humor to promote their tax plan
Republicans have been telling jokes to promote their plan to overhaul the tax code.
Its going well. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)
THE BIGGEST LOSER?:

--Calling into a meeting of top economic adviser Gary Cohn and Senate Democrats on
taxes, Trump said the GOP plan was so bad for rich people, Damian Paletta, Mike
DeBonis and Ed O'Keefe report. 'The deal is so bad for rich people, I had to throw
in the estate tax just to give them something,' Trump said, according to multiple
people in the room who heard the president on the phone. The president also said
he had spoken with his own accountant and that he will be a 'big loser' if the
deal is approved as written, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity to share details of the meeting. Others have said Trump would benefit
from a number of provisions in the plan.

--The House is expected to vote on its tax draft next week, but Senate GOPers won't
release their own plan until tomorrow -- and it's not expected to look the same.
Damian, Mike and Ed have more: Senate leaders were exploring postponing the
centerpiece of the effort an $845 billion corporate tax cut until 2019[.] At
the same time, Republican senators were planning to eliminate the state and local
tax deduction, going further than the House, which retained part of the popular tax
break[.] Senators also were debating how to ensure that fewer of the plans
benefits flow to the wealthy and more flow to the middle class. Senate
Republicans do not plan to collapse the seven income tax brackets that families and
individuals pay into four brackets. The Senate plan is expected to keep roughly
seven brackets[.]

Spiking the deficit is also a problem: Senate rules allow legislation to pass with
fewer than 60 votes only if it wouldnt add to the deficit after 10 years[.] If
Republicans cannot find a way to limit the budget impact of the tax plan, they may
be forced to make it temporary, GOP lawmakers say.

--And don't forget, House passage isn't guaranteed. Conservatives and the Club for
Growth's wealthy donors are up in arms. Mike DeBonis and Ed O'Keefe report: [Club
for Growth] is calling on lawmakers to the cut tax rate on income over $1 million,
which the House bill as currently written would leave unchanged at 39.6 percent.
The group also wants the bills authors to make it easier for businesses to claim a
lower 25 percent income tax rate, as well as to speed up their planned repeal of
the estate tax, in a bid to promote economic growth. Meanwhile, groups including
the National Right to Life Committee, Focus on the Family and the U.S. Conference
of Catholic Bishops mobilized to restore an existing tax credit thats worth up to
$13,570 for families who adopt children.

--The House Ways and Means Committee is still expected to approve its plan tomorrow
and advance the bill to a fill House vote next week, Damian, Mike and Ed note.

--The details:

The Wall Street Journals Richard Rubin: Most [U.S. households] are likely to see
lower tax bills under the Republican plan, but millions are at risk of higher taxes
immediately, with the number losing out growing over time, according to analyses of
the plan by Congresss nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.
Steven Mufson: [S]mall-business associations say [the GOP proposals] help big
enterprises, not small ones, and vowed Tuesday to sink the bill in its current
form. The National Football League, Fiat Chrysler, the Koch brothers Georgia-
Pacific subsidiary, The Washington Posts owner and more than 500 Trump entities
would qualify for a substantial tax break under the proposal. But the neighborhood
dry cleaner or dentist would be out of luck.
Renae Merle: What is carried interest and why it matters in the new GOP tax
bill.

Rep. Frank LoBiondo speaks in Trenton, N.J. (Mel Evans/AP)

REPUBLICANS LEAVE THE HILL:

-- Two more House Republicans are retiring: Frank LoBiondo, who represents a
moderate suburban district in New Jersey that will be up for grabs next year; and
Ted Poe, whose Texas seat is safe for Republicans. The announcements cap a growing
wave of exits for Republicans on Capitol Hill, despite majority control of
Washington (read my write up about the trend here).

Mike DeBonis reports that LoBiondo, a 12-term congressman, said he would not seek
reelection next year, citing in a statement the expected loss of key committee
posts and an increasingly bitter political environment. [He said in a statement,]
Regrettably, our nation is now consumed by increasing political polarization;
there is no longer middle ground to honestly debate issues and put forward
solutions. .?.?. While LoBiondo has won [New Jerseys 2nd Congressional District]
comfortably since he was first elected, in 1994, the district is almost evenly
divided between Republicans and Democrats and instantly becomes one of the most
likely seats to switch parties in the 2018 midterms.

Poe is leaving despite having won his solidly red district by 30 points in 2016.
(Politico)

THE WEINSTEIN EFFECT:

-- The Senate took a step toward mandatory training on sexual harassment for
members and staff. Elise Viebeck reports: A bipartisan group of senators led by
Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced a resolution
mandating periodic anti-harassment training for senators, officers, aides and
interns. The eight-page bill also orders the Senate to conduct a regular anonymous
survey to gauge the prevalence of sexual harassment in its offices.

-- Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.) placed her chief of staff on leave after former
staffers accused him of sexual harassment. Politicos Rachael Bade and Heather
Caygle report: The Michigan Democrat suspended Dwayne Duron Marshall after
POLITICO reported Tuesday on four former staffers accounts of how Marshall treated
women in the office. The aides said he made frequent comments about their looks and
engaged in occasional unwanted touching something Marshall firmly denied in a
statement. Three of the four former aides said they had raised the issue to
Lawrence in recent years, though they say they did not use the words sexual
harassment. Lawrence denied that she ever heard anyone complain of being
uncomfortable around Marshall, though she acknowledged in an interview that her
office grappled for a time with managerial style issues.

President Trump, joined by Reince Priebus, Mike Pence, Steve Bannon, Sean Spicer
and Michael Flynn, speaks by phone with Putin. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
THERE'S A BEAR IN WOODS:

-- Jeff Sessions will appear next week before the House Judiciary Committee, where
Democrats plan to grill him about newly unsealed court documents appearing to
contradict his previous sworn testimony about Russian contacts during the
presidential race. Ellen Nakashima reports: Last month at a Senate Judiciary
Committee hearing, Sessions said he had no communications with the Russians, and he
was not aware of anyone else [in the campaign] who did. [But one court document
unsealed last week] showed that in March 2016 [Trump campaign adviser George]
Papadopoulos attended a national security meeting in Washington with Trump [and
Sessions] in which he said he had connections that could help arrange a meeting
between then-candidate Trump and [Putin]. When you appear before our committee,
we intend to ask you about these inconsistencies,' the panels 17 Democrats said in
a letter sent to Sessions on Tuesday. The Democrats stated in their letter that
officials at the highest level in the campaign knew about Mr. Papadopoulos
interactions and hoped to hide those interactions from the public.

-- DRIP, DRIP, DRIP: Carter Page told the House Intelligence Committee last week
that he coordinated his July 2016 Russia trip with top Trump campaign officials
and reported it to other aides after he returned. In sworn testimony, Page told
lawmakers that he informed Sessions about his travels, and probably had told
national campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis before leaving. (He said he definitely
did so on his return.) (Rosalind S. Helderman, Matt Zapotosky and Karoun Demirjian)

NBC reported that Page also sought permission to make the Moscow trip from Corey
Lewandowski then Trump's campaign manager and also notified spokeswoman Hope
Hicks.
-- An employee of former Trump campaign aide Michael Caputo was blocked from
Wikipedia in August after the sites editors said he was caught using multiple
pseudonymous accounts to scrub the page of Caputos ties to Vladimir Putin. The
Daily Beasts Lachlan Markay reports: After the accounts were exposed as what
Wikipedia calls sock puppets multiple accounts run by the same person as part
of a coordinated editing campaign [the employee, Sean Dwyer], admitted he had
financial ties to the subjects of his edits. Its just the latest front in Caputos
battles to save his reputation from, what he sees as, Russian smears. He also says
he has filed an ethics complaint against Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) over comments at
a congressional hearing in March, where the California Democrat accused Caputo of
having been Russian president Vladimir Putins image consultant[.']

-- As U.S. polling places opened last Nov. 8, Russian Internet trolls in St.
Petersburg activated a host of sleeper cell propaganda accounts some created as
far back as 2009 for a final Election Day blitz. The Daily Beasts Kevin Poulsen
reports: They used a combination of high-profile accounts with large and
influential followings, and scores of lurking personas established years earlier
with stolen photos and fabricated backgrounds. [According to a dataset of 6.5
million tweets analyzed by the Daily Beast], [t]hose sleeper accounts dished out
carefully metered tweets and retweets voicing praise for Trump and contempt for his
opponent, from the early morning until the last polls closed in the United States.
VOTE TRUMP to save ourselves from the New World Order. Time to MAKE AMERICA GREAT
AGAIN, read one. Last chance to stop the Queen of Darkness! Vote Trump! urged
another. Evidently anticipating a Trump loss, as nearly everyone did, the trolls
final election mission was to sow doubt about the legitimacy of the vote[.]

Mike Pompeo speaks to the media on Capitol Hill. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

WEST WING INTRIGUE:

-- CIA Director Mike Pompeo recently met, at the urging of President Trump, with a
DNC conspiracy theorist who circulated a theory that last years email hacking was
an inside job rather than the work of Russian government actors. (That theory
runs counter to a long-standing conclusion of the U.S. intelligence community).

CNNs Jim Sciutto and Mary Kay Mallonee report: William Binney, the former NSA
employee-turned-whistleblower who circulated the conspiracy theory, [confirmed]
that he met with Pompeo for about an hour on October 24 Binney, who has theorized
that the theft and release of thousands of DNC emails was actually carried out by a
DNC employee, told CNN that Pompeo began the meeting with him by saying, The
President told me I should talk to you. Intelligence sources [said] that many
people inside the CIA were very uncomfortable with the meeting. Binney said Pompeo
concluded the meeting by telling him he would like Binney to meet with the FBI and
the NSA as well.

In response, the CIA said Pompeo stands by and has always stood by the January
2017 intelligence community assessment that Russia interfered in the election.
-- BUT, BUT, BUT: When it comes to Russia, Pompeo keeps doing controversial things,
says The Fixs Aaron Blake. At an event three weeks ago, Pompeo made a highly
curious remark, saying that the intelligence communitys assessment is that the
Russian meddling that took place did not affect the outcome of the election. This
mirrored a talking point previously offered by Trump but that talking point is
categorically false. The intelligence report said clearly that it wouldn't weigh in
on how much impact Russia may have had, not that it didn't have an impact. That
might be a slip of the tongue from an amateur. But how the CIA director, of all
people, could get something of such importance something that for him should be
completely basic knowledge so wrong sure seemed odd.

-- More problems for Wilbur Ross: The commerce secretary told Forbes that he had $2
billion in trusts evidently to maintain his position on the magazines list of
richest Americans. But it now appears that the trust money never existed. Forbess
Dan Alexander reports: [A]fter examining the financial-disclosure forms he filed
after his nomination to [Trump's] Cabinet, which showed less than $700 million in
assets, Forbes was intent on removing him [from the list] entirely. Ross protested,
citing trusts for his family that he said he did not have to disclose in federal
filings. And after one month of digging, Forbes is confident it has found the
answer: That money never existed. It seems clear that Ross lied to us, the latest
in an apparent sequence of fibs, exaggerations, omissions, fabrications and
whoppers that have been going on with Forbes since 2004.

-- Trump administration officials sound far more hesitant about the Saudi purge of
influential citizens than the president himself. Karen DeYoung reports: Defense
Secretary Jim Mattis, asked if he was concerned that [the] series of arrests had
consolidated national security power in [Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmans] hands,
said he needs more information. Let me get back to you on this one, once weve
settled some back-and-forth sharing of information back to the kingdom, Mattis
told reporters .?.?. At the State Department, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said,
Were continuing to monitor the situation. The Saudis, she said, have assured us
that any prosecutions that take place will be done in a fair and transparent
manner, and we hope that they will hold up to that.

Omarosa Manigault watches during a meeting with parents and teachers in the
Roosevelt Room of the White House. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
-- Trump aide Omarosa Manigault brought her 39-member bridal party to the White
House in April for an extended wedding photo shoot catching many aides and
security personnel by surprise and highlighting the dysfunction that permeates the
Office of Public Liaison, where she is a senior aide. Its unclear whether
Manigault received any formal permission for the shoot. Politicos Josh Dawsey
reports: Even in a White House riven by chaos in the early months, the office
gained notoriety for being a dumpster fire place to work[.] Aides in other
departments didnt know what the office did, and [OPL Director George Sifakis] gave
employees little direction or authority, said several officials. On many days, the
staff didnt know what Sifakis was doing or what they were supposed to be
doing[.] There was no organization, no calendar, nothing. one former official
said.
 Play Video 2:16
Donald Trump's victory speech, in less than three minutes
Early on the morning of Nov. 9, 2016, Republican President-elect Donald Trump
addressed supporters in New York, declaring victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Here are key moments from that speech. (Video: Sarah Parnass/Photo: Jabin
Botsford/The Washington Post)
AMERICA, ONE YEAR LATER REFLECTIONS ON THE 2016 ELECTION:

-- Trump won the presidency a year ago today. Looking back on his victory speech,
Jenna Johnson writes that Trump laid out a vision of his presidency that has yet to
come to fruition. Trump lavished praise on Hillary Clinton, laid out a centrist
agenda focused on infrastructure projects and growing the economy, and told fellow
world leaders that he would seek common ground, not hostility; partnership, not
conflict. Above all, he called for unity as he pledged to represent all Americans.
Now its time for America to bind the wounds of division, Trump said about 3 a.m.
on Nov. 9 in downtown Manhattan. The victory speech was a glimpse of a presidency
that might have been. Instead, one year later, Trump finds himself the most
unpopular president in modern times amid criticism that he has sought to divide
more than unite.

-- GQs Ben Schreckinger, Inside Donald Trump's Election Night War Room: Nobody
saw it coming. Not the pundits or the pollsters, not even the Donald himself As
night falls, supporters of [Hillary Clinton descended] on Manhattan's Javits
Center, for what they expect will be a victory party. Little notice has been taken
of reports that the Clinton campaign has canceled a fireworks display it had
planned. The evening is already energized with the sense that history could soon be
made and celebrated under the Javits Center's glass ceiling. Meanwhile,
something very different was afoot setting the stage for one of the most shocking
and unpredictable nights in modern political history.

Frank Luntz: At 5:01, all the narratives were written: Hillary Clinton was elected
president. It's supposed to be a really closely guarded secret [but people]
prepare their graphics, they prepare all their material. I have a photograph [of a
graphic]: Fox News declares Hillary Clinton elected president.
Chris Wallace: I spoke to President-elect Trump [a month later], and he said that
going into election night, and after his people had read the exit polls, they
thought he was going to lose, too. He thought he was going to lose. That was just
the accepted wisdom.
Kellyanne Conway: [Trump] was calling me, and at about 8:30 or 9 o'clock, I said,
I think it's a good time for you to come down. I said, you know, We're having
pizza and we're just hanging out and we're watching the returns and they're going
to start calling states for you .
SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ:

The mayor of Charlottesville had this to say about the Virginia results:

The eyes of the country are on the Commonwealth of Virginia. As they should be. We
are a wall against Trump and Trumpism.

Mike Signer (@MikeSigner) November 8, 2017

An environmental PAC founded by Tom Steyer hosted a petting zoo at Virginia Tech to
get out the vote:

Goat the VOTE! Petting zoo at the polls at @virginia_tech #GameOnVA

pic.twitter.com/nP6FOcRutG

NextGen America (@NextGenAmerica) November 7, 2017

HuffPost's polling director caught some early exits from Virginia:
whoa...look at these Virginia exits pic.twitter.com/CdckZr261Z

Ariel Edwards-Levy (@aedwardslevy) November 7, 2017

Democrats had a field day with Donald Trump Jr.'s tweets that the election is
actually TODAY:

Don Jr. tweets wrong date for #VAGOV#SonOfAMoron pic.twitter.com/SXNWaPWOHI

Jesse Ferguson (@JesseFFerguson) November 7, 2017

From The Post's Philip Bump:

Northams lead will shrink when all the people Donald Trump Jr. told to vote in
Virginia tomorrow cast their ballots.

Philip Bump (@pbump) November 8, 2017

Don Jr. responded after Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) announced that he would write a
bill with Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) to stop those convicted of domestic
violence from obtaining firearms:

Incredibly proactive considering that law has been on the books since the mid 90s.
https://t.co/li2bSEW0LE

Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) November 7, 2017

Flake fired back at the president's son:

If being proactive means closing the #DomesticViolenceLoophole exploited by the

#SutherlandSprings Texas shooter, you're right. https://t.co/8S89dgaTuK

Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) November 7, 2017

The Arizona Republican later added this context for his bill:

Texas shooter was able to buy a gun because what civilian courts call domestic
violence, military courts call assault. In fact, DOD has only reported ONE case of
domestic violence to fed. background check system since 07.
#DomesticViolenceLoophole Closure Act is commonsense fix pic.twitter.com/pxEOAPZ1HA

Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) November 7, 2017

The White House press secretary briefed reporters after Trump's canceled trip to
the DMZ:

.@PressSec briefs reporters after heavy fog canceled an @realDonaldTrump surprise

visit to the Demilitarized zone (DMZ) pic.twitter.com/HaIKJy4Ivs

Doug Mills (@dougmillsnyt) November 8, 2017

The founder of the liberal blog ThinkProgress posed this question:

Why is the White House press secretary in fatigues? https://t.co/l1ReR7gM4f

Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) November 8, 2017

A former Obama aide criticized Carter Page after his House testimony was released:

Carter Pages House Intel testimony shows Russians paid for his Moscow travel in
2016, when he was a Trump advisor. They know an easy mark.

Ned Price (@nedprice) November 7, 2017

Actress Rose McGowan, who has accused Harvey Weinstein of rape, applauded Ronan
Farrow's latest New Yorker investigation:

Ronan Farrow your words will line the halls of justice

 rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) November 7, 2017
Trump's hometown paper decided to use its new 280-count Twitter privileges to tweet
about the Access Hollywood tape:

"I'm automatically attracted to beautiful [women]I just start kissing them. It's
like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do
it. You can do anything ... Grab them by the p---y. You can do anything."
#280characters https://t.co/ShAnYFOsHk

New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) November 7, 2017

Former congressman John Dingell (D-Mich.) made this point:

99% of you people dont even deserve 140 characters.

John Dingell (@JohnDingell) November 7, 2017

But this classic line requires all 280 characters:

In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially
heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious
felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are
their stories. *DUN DUN*

Law and Order: SVU (@nbcsvu) November 7, 2017

GOOD READS FROM ELSEWHERE:

-- BuzzFeed News, 2017's Most Prolific Online Prankster Is Calling It Quits, by

Ryan Mac: After using a simple email hoax to convince government officials,
celebrities, and CEOs that they were talking to friends or associates and then
publishing those conversations online 39-year-old James Linton says he is
stopping the stunts after the disclosure of his true identity. Now the formerly
anonymous man, better known as email prankster @Sinon_Reborn, hopes to parlay his
antics into a cybersecurity job where he can help combat the same email fraud he
perpetrated.

-- The Daily Beast, Women Expose The Secret Sexual Predators Inside Texas
Politics, by Olivia Messer: [Over a year ago,] women in Texass statehouse
secretly created their own online whisper network to document sexual harassment and
assault in their industry. This spreadsheet, called the Burn Book of Bad Men,
lists 38 men, named by an unknown number of women who contributed anonymously to
the document. Its accusations run the gamut from pay discrimination to creepy
comments and sexual assault.

-- The New York Times, How Business Titans, Pop Stars and Royals Hide Their
Wealth, by Scott Shane, Spencer Woodman and Michael Forsythe: What offshore
services offer to a diverse international elite is secrecy and discretion, along
with the opportunity to minimize or defer taxes. [B]usiness has rarely been
better. The ranks of the superrich are growing fast, fueled by legitimate fortunes
in finance, trade and technology as well as drugs, embezzlement and bribery. And
the offshore finance industry has grown alongside its customers accounts.

HOT ON THE LEFT:

Jeff Sessions DOJ Drops Prosecution Of Woman Who Laughed At Jeff Sessions, from
HuffPost: Justice Department prosecutors have dropped their case against a woman
who laughed at [Jeff Sessions] during his confirmation hearing. Desiree Fairooz was
scheduled to face trial for a second time next week, but a DOJ prosecutor entered a
nolle prosequi filing in the case on Monday indicating the department is dismissing
the charges. Fairooz, a retired childrens librarian and demonstrator affiliated
with the organization Code Pink, let out a laugh during a Senate hearing back in
January after Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said Sessions had a clear and well-
documented record of treating all Americans equally under the law.

HOT ON THE RIGHT:

Racist graffiti painted on car near K-State was a fraud, from Kansas City Star:
An incident in which racist slurs were painted on a car near the Kansas State
University campus last week was a hoax, and the man who painted the slurs has
apologized. Riley County Police reported Monday afternoon that the owner of the
car, Dauntarius Williams, 21, of Manhattan, admitted to investigators he was
responsible for the graffiti. Police said that after learning that Williams had
defaced his own vehicle [they decided not to file charges]. Williams had called
The Star after the incident and said he was a K-State student and was leaving the
university [Racial slurs and other] offensive language Whites Only, Die,
and Date your own kind, were found painted on the car.

DAYBOOK:

Trump is now on to China for his Asia trip.

Pence and the second lady will travel to Texas to visit victims of the Sutherland
Springs shooting, receive a briefing from law enforcement and attend a prayer
vigil.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) remarked of the GOPs push to overhaul the tax code,
My donors are basically saying, 'Get it done or dont ever call me again.'

NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.:

-- It will be cold through Friday in the District. The Capital Weather Gang
forecasts: Drier air settles in today, although a few isolated showers remain
possible. Temperatures climb out of the 30s this morning. But with partly to mostly
cloudy skies and a cool breeze from the north at 5 to 10 mph, highs only make the
upper 40s to low 50s.

-- The Wizards lost to the Mavericks, the worst team in the NBA, 113-99. (Candace
Buckner)

-- The U.S. archivist, a Vietnam War vet, has arranged an exhibit on the war called
Remembering Vietnam that opens Friday at the Archives. Michael E. Ruane reports:
The free exhibit, which runs through Jan. 6, includes some of the most striking
documents relating to the war[.]

-- The D.C. Council preliminarily approved a plan to erect a state of former mayor
Marion Barry. The 8-foot-tall bronze statue would stand outside City Hall. (Paul
Schwartzman)

-- D.C. Public Schools students set another record graduation rate of 73 percent.
(Moriah Balingit)

VIDEOS OF THE DAY:

Trevor Noah mocked Trump's approval of the arrests in Saudi Arabia:

The Post's Glenn Kessler ruled Trump's claim that the estate tax harms farmers and
small businesses is exaggerated:

Play Video 1:49

Fact Check: Does the estate-tax hurt farmers and small businesses?
It's a common GOP talking point that the estate-tax hurts farmers and small
businesses. The Fact Checker's Glenn Kessler explains why this is exaggerated, at
best. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)
Volunteers who live near Sutherland Springs offered aide to the Holcombes, who lost
eight members of their extended family in the shooting:

Play Video 2:46

I like to fix things and you cant fix this: In a time of mourning, an outpouring
of support
After the church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Tex., volunteers from nearby
communities signed up to help one family who lost eight people. (Video: Alice
Li/Photo: Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post)
A teacher in Georgia was captured on video saying that he might shoot a student in
the head:

Play Video 2:13

That's how people like you get shot. Georgia teacher on leave for comments to
student
Physics teacher Paul Hagan has been placed on leave in Rockdale County, Ga., after
threatening comments he made to a student in his classroom. (WSB-TV)
And the Nationals' Racing Presidents visited a local elementary school for
Halloween:

Play Video 3:33

Nationals Racing Presidents surprise Little Presidents
George, Tom, Abe and Teddy visited Abingdon Elementary School on Nov. 6, where
several students dressed as the Racing Presidents for Halloween. (The Washington
Nationals)
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