Your Friday Evening Briefing

Assange, Wildfires, Disney | View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Friday, November 16, 2018 [NYTimes.com »]( [Your Friday Evening Briefing]( By JEAN RUTTER AND MARCUS PAYADUE Good evening. Here’s the latest. Daniel Leal-Olivas/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images 1. The Justice Department secretly filed [criminal charges against Julian Assange]( the WikiLeaks founder, our reporters learned. The move could have implications both for Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election — and for press freedoms. WikiLeaks [published thousands of emails]( from Democrats during the 2016 presidential race that were stolen by Russian intelligence officers. The hacks were a major part of Moscow’s campaign of disruption. Charges centering on the publication of information of public interest — even if it was obtained from foreign agents — would create a precedent with profound implications for the press. How did Mr. Assange, above, and WikiLeaks, get to this point? [We trace the legal timeline](. _____ Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times 2. Is Mike Pence loyal? President Trump has [privately repeated that question]( so many times that he has alarmed some of his advisers, our reporters have learned. The advisers told us those kinds of questions usually indicate the president has grown irritated with someone. And the answers Mr. Trump gets have varied, depending on whom he asked. But Mr. Trump has not openly suggested dropping Mr. Pence from the ticket in 2020. He’s even extended him the invitation. Separately, Defense Department officials say that, after nearly two years in office, Mr. Trump has not fully grasped [the role of the troops he commands]( nor the responsibility he has to lead. _____ Saul Martinez/Getty Images 3. Florida’s Senate race churns on, and now ballots are being recounted by hand. Elections workers are examining tens of thousands of problematic ballots — those with no vote cast in a key race, or too many votes — to try to determine what voters intended. Florida’s Republican governor, Rick Scott, and the Democratic incumbent, Bill Nelson, were separated by just 12,603 votes out of more than 8.1 million cast after the machine recount results were reported on Thursday. Above, volunteers in Palm Beach, Fla. The governor’s race escaped a second recount, with the Republican Ron DeSantis ahead of the Democrat Andrew Gillum. The race is effectively over, but Mr. Gillum has declined to concede and court fights continue over additional uncounted ballots. Separately, Brian Kemp, the Republican who was backed by President Trump, was poised to become Georgia’s next governor after the state certified its election results. _____ Jenna Schoenefeld for The New York Times 4. “It is all gone.” More than 80,000 people have been forced to evacuate in the California wildfires. We asked readers to let us know how they escaped, what they took with them and what was left behind. [We heard from dozens who fled]( — many with family members, some with just the clothes they were wearing. Above, a family sheltering with friends in Chico, Calif. The official death toll from the fires is at 63, with more than 600 people missing. Specialists are combing the incinerated areas for human remains. “I have no way of predicting what those final numbers are going to look like,” one official told us. And after a week of fires, [the air itself is a danger]( in Northern California — it’s currently the [dirtiest in the world]( even worse than heavily polluted Chinese and Indian cities. We’ve created a map showing [how the cloud of smoke and ash has spread]( the state. _____ Sarah Silbiger/The New York Times 5. CNN’s White House correspondent will get his press pass back. A federal judge on Friday ordered the White House to [restore credentials to Jim Acosta]( who was barred last week after a testy exchange with President Trump at a news conference. The ruling was narrow, the judge said. “I have not determined that the First Amendment was violated here,” he said. But that and other legal issues could be addressed in court at a later date. The White House press secretary said the administration would temporarily reinstate Mr. Acosta, above, and would “develop rules and processes to ensure fair and orderly news conferences.” “There must be decorum at the White House,” she wrote. _____ Patrick Semansky/Associated Press 6. “This is a credibility issue.” Catholic leaders say that last summer’s steady stream of revelations about sexual abuse by priests [is taking an unmistakable toll](. Lifelong Catholics are renouncing their membership, while others are withholding contributions or attending Mass dressed in black to show they are in mourning. In August, a [grand jury]( in Pennsylvania found that 300 priests had abused more than 1,000 children over 70 years. At least a dozen other states have opened investigations, and the federal government has [ordered bishops]( not to destroy documents related to abusive priests. But the bishops are deeply divided over how to proceed, and during a meeting this week in Baltimore, the Vatican ordered them to delay voting on any proposed corrective measures. Above, at a rally outside the meeting. _____ Sara D. Davis/Getty Images 7. A criminal justice reform agreement, hailed this week in Washington as a landmark bipartisan moment, [falls well short of that]( experts told us. The bill, endorsed by President Trump, shortens sentences for crack cocaine, affecting a few thousand inmates. It slightly increases the number people eligible to sidestep mandatory minimum sentences. And it reduces the three-strikes penalty to 25 years, from life. Advocates disagreed about whether the bill was a good first step or a cop-out. “How expansive the bill is is in the eye of the beholder,” one said. “This is not the end of the road, but this is as much as we can get done this year.” _____ Reuters 8. Who killed Jamal Khashoggi? Using evidence gathered over weeks of investigation, our journalists created [a video timeline]( that reconstructs, hour by hour, the disappearance of Mr. Khashoggi, a journalist who was critical of the Saudi government. They examine the movements of a hit team with links to the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and the contradictory explanations provided by the kingdom for Mr. Khashoggi’s death in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul 45 days ago. Above, Salah Khashoggi, his son, receiving mourners in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Separately, friends and supporters [held funeral prayers]( for Mr. Khashoggi over an empty marble slab at one of Istanbul’s holiest mosques, declaring him a martyr. His body is still missing. _____ Ym Yik/EPA, via Shutterstock 9. The Disney universe is about to get much bigger. The company’s theme park division has emerged as a surprisingly strong moneymaker, Disney officials told us, even as video streaming has challenged other parts of the business. And Disney is spending billions — more than it did to buy Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm combined — to expand all six of its resorts and its cruise line. “Frozen” and Marvel rides are coming to multiple resorts. Above, in Hong Kong. A company executive called the growth plan “enhancement on steroids.” _____ Josh Haner/The New York Times 10. Finally, this is your periodic reminder that it’s not all bad news out there. Scientists found that taking good care of grasslands, soils and forests in the U.S. could significantly offset greenhouse gas emissions and protect against flooding. A museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, is helping to unlock genetic secrets that could save endangered species. And the Leonid meteor showers [will be at their peak tonight](. This is the [Week in Good News](. Have a celestial weekend. Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing. [Sign up here]( to get it by email in the Australian, Asian, European or American morning. 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