Take a look at the week in politics from December 9 to 16.
Doug Jones and his wife, Louise Jones, wave to an audience on election night in Birmingham, Alabama, on Tuesday. Jones became the first Democrat in a generation to win a US Senate seat in Alabama, beating Republican Roy Moore amid of accusations that Moore sexually assaulted or abused teenage girls decades earlier.
Republican US Senate candidate Roy Moore waits to take the stage on election night in Montgomery, Alabama, on Tuesday. Moore refused to concede the special election, saying his campaign is waiting for ballots to be certified. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said it is “highly unlikely” that Jones would not be certified as the winner of the election.
Federal Communications Commissioner Chairman Ajit Pai takes a sip from a mug during a meeting Thursday in Washington, where the Republican-led panel repealed Obama-era net neutrality protections. The move was supported by the telecommunications industry but technology companies and consumer advocacy groups have loudly protested the repeal.
President Donald Trump waves at reporters as he departs the South Lawn of the White House via Marine One in Washington on Saturday, December 16, to spend the weekend at Camp David in Maryland.
A group of women who have publicly accused President Donald Trump of sexual harassment and assault exit a news conference in New York. The women detailed their accounts of being groped, fondled and forcibly kissed by Trump. Rachel Crooks, left, who has accused Trump of kissing her on the mouth without her consent in 2005, called on Congress to “put aside party affiliations and investigate Trump’s history of sexual misconduct.”
President Donald Trump cuts red tape while standing between stacks of paper representing pages of regulation between 1960 and the present day. Trump touted his administration’s effort to cut down on regulation. In January, he signed an executive order requiring agencies to slash two regulations for every new regulation put into place.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein speaks to the House Judiciary Committee in a hearing on Wednesday. Rosenstein said he believes there’s no good cause for firing special counsel Robert Mueller and praised his work in the Russia investigation.
Sen. Kirsten Gilibrand walks down a staircase on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. The Democrat from New York called President Donald Trump’s tweet in which he used suggestive language to attack her a “sexist smear.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan conducts his weekly news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington on Thursday. Ryan has had soul searching conversations about his future with friends, some of his close friends tell CNN. Those close to Ryan say they believe it is possible that he could leave Congress after the 2018 midterm elections, if he can achieve his goal of passing the GOP-backed overhaul of the US tax system.
The casket of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee is carried into City Hall on Friday, December 15, in San Francisco. Lee died early Tuesday at a hospital after suffering a heart attack at a grocery store the night before, leaving the city in shock and dealing with the logistics of selecting a new leader. Lee, in office since 2011, was the city’s first Asian-American mayor.
Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith speaks at a news conference after the announcement Wednesday that she was selected to replace Al Franken in the US Senate. Franken announced December 7 that he would resign over allegations that he touched women inappropriately.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo attends a news conference with New York City officials Monday after a man wearing a homemade pipe bomb set off the explosive in a walkway below the Port Authority Bus Terminal, wounding five people. Authorities said the explosion was an isolated attempted terrorist attack. The suspect pledged allegiance to ISIS and said he acted in response to Israeli actions in Gaza, according to a law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation.
Supporters of Roy Moore, the Republican candidate for US Senate in the race to replace Jeff Sessions, pray at an election night gathering in Montgomery, Alabama, on Tuesday. Moore lost to Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate, after a brutal campaign marked by accusations of sexual abuse and child molestation against the Republican. Moore refuses to concede to Jones, despite urging from President Trump and Steve Bannon.
Donald Trump Jr. arrives at the Senate Hart Office Building in Washington for a closed-door meeting with the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday. The meeting was part of the committee’s ongoing investigation of allegations of Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election. Trump Jr.’s attorney, on behalf of his client, sent a letter Tuesday to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence requesting an investigation into leaks from his client’s interview with the committee earlier this month.
Brittany Brent, front, stands with other silent protesters during the opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the Museum of Mississippi History in Jackson, Mississippi, on Saturday. They were protesting the Mississippi state flag while President Donald Trump spoke inside the museum. African-American legislators, including US Reps. Bennie Thompson and John Lewis, a civil rights icon, did not attend the museum opening because of Trump’s presence.
President Donald Trump visits the new Mississippi Civil Rights Museum on Saturday. Trump’s attendance at the museum opening was met with criticism from civil rights and community leaders who blasted his White House record, including his efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and enact a travel ban, saying such moves are incongruous with the work of the civil rights movement.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont speaks Wednesday during a House and Senate conference meeting on the Republican-led tax reform bill at the Capitol in Washington. President Donald Trump promised Americans a “giant tax cut for Christmas” in a speech that the White House billed as his closing argument for a tax overhaul that congressional Republicans finished negotiating Wednesday.
Late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel holds his son, who recently had his second heart surgery, during his show on Monday. Kimmel thanked the doctors who took care of his baby while making a plea that federal funding for CHIP — the Children’s Health Insurance Program — be extended so that other children can get health services.
Registration manager Ralph Jones and other workers recount the votes cast in the Atlanta mayoral runoff at the Fulton County Elections Preparation Center on Thursday. The Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections ordered the recount of votes in the December 5 runoff. DeKalb and Fulton counties certified their election results Monday, and candidate Mary Norwood asked for the recount after the results showed her opponent, Keisha Lance Bottoms, winning by a margin of less than 1 percent.
President Donald Trump holds up a figurine handed to him by Apollo 17 astronaut Jack Schmitt after signing a policy directive to send American astronauts back to the moon, and eventually Mars, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Monday.
“The directive I am signing today will refocus America’s space program on human exploration and discovery,” Trump said. “It marks an important step in returning American astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972 for long-term exploration and use. This time we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprint — we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars and, perhaps someday, to many worlds beyond.”
Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Rabbi Abraham Shemtov and National Economic Director Gary Cohn light the menorah during the annual National Menorah Lighting in celebration of Hanukkah, on the Ellipse near the White House on Tuesday.
First lady Melania Trump continued a holiday tradition Wednesday by visiting military families and sorting gifts at a Toys for Tots event at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, where she delivered a reflective message on her initial year as first lady.
“On a personal note, as my first year as first lady comes to an end, I have had the privilege to witness the spirit and resilience of so many people in our country. After this year’s devastating hurricane season, I hope everyone watching at home will consider giving back through programs like Toys for Tots,” she said, delivering brief remarks at a podium surrounded by wrapped holiday gifts and children’s bikes.
Vice President Mike Pence meets with 12-year-old Noeh at the White House on Wednesday. Noeh is an Iraqi Christian boy whose home was destroyed by Islamic State militants in the Nineveh Plains of Iraq.
Large paintings of first lady Melania Trump and President Donald Trump are seen alongside Southern Boulevard in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, where the first family occasionally spends weekends and holidays, is nearby.