What’s the significance of this new Sam Clovis story and how does it advance our understanding of Trump and Russia? Here’s my backgrounder (sub req).

When I first saw this, I was stunned. A big piece of the Russia puzzle. In a little watched campaign video from Sam Clovis’s failed 2014 Senate run, Clovis stated staunchly pro-Russian views about the Ukraine crisis. This was on March 17th, 2014, a day before the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and more than a year before Donald Trump even announced his candidacy. At one point in the video Clovis says that “Russia, [by] placing forces on the ground in Ukraine, will help assist them in moving back into the Russian empire.” Read our report here.

Yesterday I appeared on a panel about digital publishers who are ‘pivoting to video’. I’ve written about this before. But in case you’re new to it, there have been numerous cases over the last six months to a year in which digital publishers have announced either major job cuts or in some cases literally fired their entire editorial teams in order to ‘pivot to video.’ The phrase has almost become a punchline since, as I’ve argued, there is basically no publisher in existence involved in any sort of news or political news coverage who says to themselves, my readers are demanding more of their news on video as opposed to text. Not a single one. The move to video is driven entirely by advertiser demand.

House Tax Bill would trigger a $25 billion cut to Medicare.

You’ve probably seen the new Fox poll which has Doug Jones with an eight point lead over Roy Moore in Alabama. I’m skeptical. This isn’t a criticism of the particular poll. I’m just skeptical whether Roy Moore has suffered that much of a decline. This doesn’t mean Democrats shouldn’t put everything they have into winning this race. They should. They should be all in. But I think we are fooling ourselves if we think that Jones has now opened up a substantial lead over Moore. Winnable? Yes. But I don’t think Jones has anything like an eight point lead.

Keep an eye on this …

A gold trader who is close to Turkish President Recep Erdogan is now cooperating with federal prosecutors in a money-laundering case, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter, and legal experts say prosecutors may be seeking information about any ties between the Turkish government and former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn.

More here.

Josh’s Reading List #6 (sub req).

Somehow Jared Kushner didn’t think there was any need to turn over to the Senate an emailed document about a “Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite.”

President Trump’s Obamacare sabotage campaign triggers even more renewal/enrollment confusion. Here’s the story.

Late this afternoon, two more women came forward with stories about Judge Roy Moore. Not long after that, Moore (or whoever is running his campaign account) tweeted this.

Dear Mitch McConnell,

Bring. It. On.

— Judge Roy Moore (@MooreSenate) November 16, 2017

Over the last 48 hours, Republicans have been abandoning Roy Moore in droves. Last night on his Fox News show, Moore dead-ender Sean Hannity put Moore under a 24-hour deadline to prove his innocence or drop out of the race. In this climate it’s now widely assumed that should he be elected Moore either will be or should be expelled from the Senate over the multiple accusations of pursuing and in some cases assaulting teenage girls in the 1980s.

This is a very questionable idea.

A few moments ago on MSNBC, Roy Moore’s lawyer Trenton Garmon brought in host Ali Velshi’s “diverse” background as a partial explanation of why Moore dated underaged girls. The clear gist seemed to be ‘who are you to judge since they do this in your country too.’ For the record, Velshi is from Canada.

Lol: Moore Lawyer to Ali Velshi: They have child marriage where you're from (Canada), right? pic.twitter.com/hGF588dIR7

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) November 15, 2017