Axios

Attorney General Jeff Sessions would not answer questions about the presidential power to issue pardons today while testifying before the House Judiciary Committee.

Why it matters: President Trump has the authority to pardon anyone (except in an impeachment conviction), whether or not they have already been charged with a crime — such as Paul Manafort or Rick Gates, and that power is absolute, extending to his family and members of his administration. Read more on the facts of presidential pardons.

The Cook Political Report, a respected newsletter that analyzes political races, lowered Roy Moore's chances of victory Tuesday, stating that there is "so much uncertainty surrounding the vote" that the best way to describe it is as a "Toss Up." In the days since the Washington Post published allegations of child sexual abuse against Moore, what had appeared a certain win for Republicans has been thrown into doubt.

Go deeper: The latest developments and where we go from here.

President Trump is breaking a nearly 20-year tradition by choosing not to meet personally with the eight American Nobel laureates this year before they head to Sweden for the awards ceremony, per STAT.

Get smart: Trump proved a long time ago that he wouldn't be bound by the precedents set by past presidents. His decision not to meet with the Nobel winners — which a White House spokesman said was a result of Trump's busy foreign travel schedule — follows several other similar choices, including forgoing Ramadan dinner and not having a White House pet.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions today to Congress: "Frankly I had no recollection of this meeting until I saw these news reports. I do now recall that March 2016 meeting at the Trump Hotel" that Papadopoulos attended.

Why this matters: Sessions testimony comes after Congress learned George Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to the FBI for lying to federal agents, told other Trump campaign officials — including Sessions — about his efforts to set up a meeting with Russian officials. Sessions chaired the March meeting during which Papadopoulos brought it up, but has previously insisted under oath that he was "not aware" of communication between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Three UCLA basketball players, who were arrested in China on suspicion of shoplifting last week, are headed back home today, hours after President Trump said he asked Chinese President Xi to help their case, per Reuters.

Staff for Delta Airlines confirmed that the players had boarded a flight from Shanghai to Los Angeles.

What Trump told Xi over dinner in Beijing, per a pool report: "What they did was unfortunate. When I heard about [what happened] two days ago, I had a great conversation with President Xi... He was terrific, and they're working on it right now."

Best-selling author Michael Wolff has spent months inside President Trump's West Wing (often unsupervised!), listening to senior officials pour out real-time accounts of their internal battles, maneuvering and frustrations. The result is a juicy, explosive book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," to be published Jan. 9 by Henry Holt.

What we're hearing: My conversations with the West Wing show there's already a frenzy inside to figure out who told Wolff what. Wolff tells me key players have been barraging him with calls, trying to figure out what his sources said about them: "It's the fundamental dynamic of this White House — people divided against each other."

President Trump said last week that the shooting that left 26 people dead at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas was "a mental health problem," not a gun problem. In doing so, he made mental health an issue whether mental illness was the underlying factor in the church shooting or not.

Why it matters: It's clear that Americans across party lines want some sort of change that will prevent the sickening frequency of mass shootings — there have been 388 in 2017 alone — that continue to shake our country. By suggesting that mental health should be focus of the debate, rather than gun control, Trump invited a closer look at his record — which includes budget cuts that have been criticized by mental health groups.

Several Republican senators, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have called on Roy Moore to drop out of the Alabama Senate race over allegations of child sexual assault. Sen. Cory Gardner is now the first to say he should be expelled from the Senate even if he wins next month.

Why it matters: The choice to expel Moore by members of his own party would be a truly historic — almost unprecedented — move.

The options

If McConnell decides that Moore is too big of a political liability to add to his GOP caucus, he has two potential options for denying him entry:

Refusing Moore his seat: McConnell and the Republican majority could simply refuse Moore his seat in the Senate under Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution, which allows that "each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members." But that option has a big problem:

• It almost certainly would not survive a legal challenge thanks to the 1969 Supreme Court decision in Powell v. McCormack, which held that the House of Representatives could not refuse to seat an elected member as long as he or she met all of the constitutional requirements. While that decision applied to the House, the constitutional language for both houses is the same, meaning that it's basically guaranteed that Moore would eventually be allowed to take his seat in the Senate.

Expelling Moore upon arrival: Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution also allows both houses of Congress to "with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member." That means McConnell would have to get 19 of his own members on board to get rid of a Republican senator. That could happen immediately after Moore is seated in the Senate chamber.

• One catch: Republicans might be wary of leaving a Senate seat open for a few months until another special election could be held as their tax plan hangs in the balance.

The big picture: No senator has been expelled since the Civil War with 14 out of 15 prior expulsions having been for support of the Confederacy. Sen. Harrison Williams of New Jersey almost certainly would have been expelled in 1982 for his bribery convictions during the Abscam scandal, but he resigned before that could happen.

Jurors in the corruption case against Democratic New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez told District Judge William Walls that they are unable to reach a unanimous decision in the case and asked for guidance. Walls told them to go home and start afresh tomorrow with deliberations.

Recap: Menendez has been charged with participating in a bribery scheme involving a wealthy doctor. Over the weekend, a former juror in the case who was excused for a pre-approved vacation told the press she thought Menendez was innocent but the jury was undecided. Judge Walls decided that statement did not have a great impact on the remaining jurors' decision-making.

White House Advisor Reed Cordish said today he wasn't actually offering government approval to Elon Musk when they discussed Boring Company plans to connect New York and Washington, D.C. with an underground Hyperloop tunnel.

Musk made waves when he tweeted that he'd received "verbal approval." "I think what you heard was verbal government excitement," Cordish said he told Musk, as he recounted while speaking at an Internet Association event in San Francisco.

Why it matters: Regardless of whether Musk overstated the government's commitment to his project, Cordish said the Trump administration is talking with Musk and his company. "That's innovation...if we could tunnel from Washington D.C. or New York or even Boston," he said. "We'll all work together for actual government approval."

Also: Cordish said the Trump administration's relationship with tech companies isn't as strained as it seems.

A three-judge panel from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that Trump's third iteration of the travel ban can be partially implemented, per The Washington Post. This will block some travelers from Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Chad, Somalia, North Korea, and Venezuela who don't have bona fide ties to people in the U.S.

What's next: The court battle over the ban isn't over. This ruling allows the government to partially implement the ban ahead of oral arguments, which are expected next month.

While many tech CEOs dropped their formal advisory roles with the Trump administration after Charlottesville, the dialogue both ways continues even amid areas of disagreement, White House adviser Reed Cordish said Monday.

The bottom line: Tech isn't going to agree with everything Trump has to say, nor vice versa. But there are areas of commonality, especially around tax and business issues.

During his stop in Beijing last week, President Trump personally requested that Chinese President Xi Jinping look into the shoplifting case against three UCLA basketball players accused of stealing sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store in Hangzhou, per The Washington Post. The players include LiAngelo Ball, the brother of Los Angeles Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball and a member of the media-savvy Ball family.

Why it matters: China is notorious for its slow justice system and lack of protections for foreigners, but Trump's intervention seems to have worked, as charges against the players have reportedly been reduced, though they may be forced to remain in China for a few more weeks.

Go deeper: LaVar Ball used Trump's playbook to conquer sports media.

Of President Trump's nominees to federal court, 91% have been white people, 81% have been men and 75% have been both — the highest rate in almost 30 years, according to an analysis by AP.

Why it matters: The Trump administration has had a record number of vacancies to fill, and these are lifetime appointments. The people he nominates will have a lasting impact on the U.S., and will be a major part of Trump's legacy. George H. W. Bush was the last president to nominate a similar number of white, male people.

Go deeper: Trump's history with racial controversies.

Eaton Workshop, a new hotel designed for liberal activists, is set to open in spring 2018 in Washington, reports Bloomberg, calling it "the world's first politically motivated hotel."

In an era of increased activism and "conscious consumers," Eaton Workshop, which is being built just blocks from The Trump International Hotel, plays on the political unrest that has intensified since Donald Trump was elected president. The hotel's founder, Katherine Lo, describes it as "a non-profit, but better."

More details:

• Lo told Bloomberg that there will be a focus on community outreach. Eaton Workshop will host a series of progressive lectures and fireside chats, and partner with local artists and museums.
• All day long, a montage of footage from the presidential elections of 2012 and 2016 will be broadcast on a series of vintage-style TV screens in the hotel's lobby.
• The 209-room building will be the brand's flagship hotel, and locations are also planned for Hong Kong, San Francisco and Seattle in the next few years.

Key quote: "We plan to have new ideas in the minibar — an activist toolkit, for example, that includes sheets with information to help you call your congresspeople," Lo told Bloomberg. "And if we'd been open during this year's Women's March, I could have seen us putting poster boards and markers in the rooms."

Joe Biden said he's uncertain about vying for a 2020 bid after his failed attempts in 1998 and 2008, but he is eager to find fresh meat to run on the Democratic ticket, per AP.

Key quote: "I've done it a long time. I'm just not sure it's the appropriate thing for me to do," he said in an interview with Snapchat's Good Luck America, set to be published Tuesday. "We gotta turn this ship around. And I'd much prefer to be helping someone turn it around than being the guy trying to turn it around."

In the new issue of New York magazine, Frank Rich cautions liberals about getting too ecstatic over last week's election. As we've been telling you, this is Trump's GOP. The full article publishes at 8am ET, but we've got a few early excerpts:

President Trump did not publicly discuss human rights or rebuke Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's endorsement of extrajudicial killings in The Philippines' drug war during a bilateral meeting at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.

What happened: During the public portion of the meeting, Trump and Duterte both ignored repeated questions from the press pool about human rights as Duterte told the pool that the meeting "was not a press statement." Duterte then jokingly called the reporters in the room "spies," eliciting a laugh from Trump.