1. Trump Fumes as Mueller Probe Enters New Phase with Charges
Channel 5: Trump has become increasingly concerned that the Mueller probe could be moving beyond Russia to an investigation into his personal dealings, two people familiar with the president's thinking said. Trump expressed irritation Monday morning that he was being tarnished by his former aides.
In the hours after the indictment, the president angrily told one confidant that Manafort had been a campaign "part-timer" who had only helped steer the convention and got too much credit for Trump's ability to hold onto the nomination. Trump dismissed the money-laundering charges against Manafort as typical political corruption that did not reflect on his campaign, one of the persons said. The president also insisted that the charges predated Manafort's time on the campaign and that he should not be held responsible for any prior misdeeds by Manafort.
Trump took to Twitter to argue that allegations against Manafort were from "years ago" and asserted there was "NO COLLUSION" between his campaign and Russia. But the indictment against Manafort and Gates details allegations stretching from 2006 all the way to 2017.
And Trump's insistence that there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia was complicated by the revelation that campaign adviser George Papadopoulos was answering questions from prosecutors after admitting he lied about his unsuccessful attempts to broker a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
2. Court partially blocks Trump's transgender military ban
The Hill: A federal court has blocked President Trump in part from changing the military's transgender policy as a case against his ban works its way through court.
A judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Monday that Trump's directive changing the transgender policy back to what it was before June 2016 and banning new transgender recruits from enlisting cannot be enforced while the case is being reviewed in court.
However, the judge denied the plaintiff's motion to block the ban on funds for gender reassignment surgery. In a 76-page memo accompanying the ruling, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their case arguing the transgender ban violates their Fifth Amendment right to due process.
“The court finds that a number of factors—including the sheer breadth of the exclusion ordered by the directives, the unusual circumstances surrounding the President’s announcement of them, the fact that the reasons given for them do not appear to be supported by any facts, and the recent rejection of those reasons by the military itself — strongly suggest that Plaintiffs’ Fifth Amendment claim is meritorious,” she wrote.
The plaintiffs in the case, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), celebrated the injunction Monday as a "complete victory."
3. Kelly defends Confederate statues: 'History's history'
The Hill: White House chief of staff John Kelly says it is a mistake to pull down Confederate-tied symbols and scrub markers of historical importance, arguing that it is a "dangerous" practice to retroactively project current attitudes onto past events.
In an interview Monday night on Fox News, Kelly said "history's history" after being asked by host Laura Ingraham what he thought about removing the plaques memorializing both George Washington and Robert E. Lee at a church in Alexandria, Va., in order to be more inclusive in the community.
"I think we make a mistake, though, and as a society and certainly as, as individuals, when we take what is today accepted as right and wrong and go back 100, 200, 300 years or more and say...'what Christopher Columbus did was wrong,'" Kelly said on the premiere of Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle."
"You know, 500 years later, it’s inconceivable to me that you would take what we think now and apply it back then," he continued. The retired general said it is "dangerous" to scrub away the nation's imperfect marks, saying the moral values of the day may be judged differently by future generations.
"I mean, human history, our culture is an evolving thing. There will be 100 or 200 years from now people that criticize us for what we do and I guess they’ll tear down, you know, statues of people that we revere today," Kelly said.
4. 'House of Cards' cancelled as fallout continues for Spacey
Associated Press: The fallout facing Kevin Spacey widened Monday following an accusation that he allegedly made sexual advances on a teen boy, with Netflix pulling the plug on his hit show "House of Cards" and "deeply troubled" producers of the political thriller arriving on set to comfort cast mates.
Executives from Netflix and the show's producer, Media Rights Capital, said they arrived in Baltimore, where the show is shot, on Monday afternoon to make sure actors and crew "continue to feel safe and supported." Spacey was not scheduled to be on set on Monday.
Though the decision to end the series was announced on Monday, the decision to end the series was made several months ago, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the decision.
Spacey is the latest Hollywood man to be named in widening allegations of sexual harassment and abuse in entertainment, media and other industries. The avalanche of allegations began earlier this month after the New York Times published a story alleging that producer Harvey Weinstein had sexually harassed numerous women.
5. No Howling Wind, but a Biting Chill this All Hallows' Eve
Channel 5: That's because this Halloween will be chilly, with metro-area temperatures hanging out around a ghoulish mid-30s during prime trick-or-treating hours. In fact the temp is unlikely to get much higher than 34 at any point Tuesday in the Twin Cities. It will likely drop below freezing beginning about 8 p.m.
For chill-averse revelers, candy can still be had via indoor trick-or-treating at area malls or other such venues. A wave in the jet stream moves in early Wednesday, which could mean accumulated snow early in the day before it changes to rain in the afternoon and tapers off Wednesday evening. A more-calm Thursday makes way for a moisture-laden system that moves in Friday, and the cycle of on-again, off-again precipitation this week continues.