This is newsroom l. A. We begin with u. S. Politics. Both parties continuing to struggle with allegations of Sexual Harassment. Another woman has accused democratic senator al franken of inappropriate sexual behavior. And the Trump Administration seems to be walking back criticism of Alabama Senate candidate roy moore, and the u. S. President is refusing to make any public statements about moore, despite a woman giving a detailed account of how moore abused her when she was 14. He laid out some blankets on the floor of his living room and proceeded to seduce me, i guess you would say. And during the course of that, he removed my clothing. He left the room and came back in wearing his white underwear. And he touched me over my clothing, what was left of it. And he tried to get me to touch him, as well. And at that point, i pulled back and said that i was not comfortable. For more joining us here in l. A. , our panel. Good to have you all with us. Okay. Roy moore is yet to refute any detail of the allegations from his first accuser. But his Campaign Issued a statement the last couple of hours proving, the claims by another accuser is totally fake news. According to a waitress, employees were required to be 16. Nelson says she was 15 when she started. Two former waitresses said the dumpsters were on the side of the building, not the back. A regular customer said he never saw judge moore go in there. Another waitress said she never saw moore there, as well. She never recalled mrs. Nelson working there. So case closed. Beverly nelson, her argument shot to pieces. Seven others to go. Lets remember there are people who said that he was casing the malls basically, and wasnt allowed to go back to one of the malls specifically. The question is, the Republican Party seems to be moving to a place where theyre giving their tas it support to this person so they can have another republican in the senate. Why would a Campaign Issue a ridiculous Statement Like this . This is a lot of hand waving and attempts to distract attention elsewhere. This is not something that they want to be litigating. This is not something republicans want them litigating. At this point in time, republicans want this over as quickly as possible. So in my mind, i think republicans may be better off if roy moore loses. They wont have to talk about this guy and answer these allegations for the next six, nine, twelve months. This sis indicative of how this is going to go. It doesnt even matter, because the allegations are serious and real, and thats what matters. Jessica, if thats the best youve got in terms of trying to destroy someones argument, it almost seems incriminating. Almost . I would say it is incriminating. The idea that this is where we are in a u. S. Senate campaign, that we have someone facing a mountain of credible accusations, dealing with not just Sexual Harassment, like thats not bad enough. Not just sexual misconduct, but pedophilia, and his best response is, this is where the dumpsters were located and the restaurant closed at this time. I mean, this is a very small response to just a building mountain of evidence. And i think that, you know, i have two words hail mary. This is just a desperate attempt to say please, voters, i want to say that theres a conspiracy against me, and you should really believe. This is just part of their campaign to try and discredit all of the accusers who have come forward with very similar and troubling stories. Going back, he was interviewed by sean hannity. He said he generally did not date underage women. You touched on this, matt. It seems that the white house, that these allegations, they dont really even matter, because tax cuts are at stake. Listen to Kellyanne Conway on fox and friends. Doug jones in alabama, folks, dont be fooled. Hell be a vote against tax cuts. Hes weak on crime, weak on borders, hes strong on raising taxes, terrible for property openers. So vote roy moore . Hes not saying anything and the media are trying to boost him. So vote roy moore . Im telling you we want the votes in the senate to get this tax bill through. I dont know why they engage in the silly word games. Just say vote for roy moore. This is quite the turn around for Kellyanne Conway who was saying a few days ago saying there is no senate seat worth a child. Now its vote roy moore. If their quest for tax reform, theyre forgetting that doug jones, a southern democrat, would vote for tax reform. I just have to say theres one very good thing in this tax reform package. It lowers the tax on alcohol. I think after listening to all this stuff, were all going to need a scotch. It does seem there are a growing number of republicans from the president on down, they seem to be taking this line, let the voters of alabama decide. Weve been hearing the last couple of days, we heard it again on sunday from Sarah Huckabee sanders during the white house grief ibriefing. The president wants people in the house and the senate that support his agenda. But as i said, as the hatch act prohibits me from going any further, we think this is something that the people of alabama should decide. Look at whats happening in washington. It does seem like theyre laying the ground work to welcome roy moore into the senate. Yeah. Its one thing to say that the voters of alabama ought to make that decision. I think that is a fair thing to say. The problem is, the white house i think feels pressured. I feel like they dont feel like they can go one step further and say how they feel people ought to vote or not. Because the white house, theyre in the position to do that. President s issue endorsements all the time and retract endorsements all the time. I think its very difficult for them to leave it at that. I think people are noticing that there is this gap of information. And the problem is, their line seems to change from daytoday. Yesterday on some of the sunday shows, they were saying the president is not going to campaign for roy moore, that should give you an indication of where the president stands. This morning, its we need the vote for tax cuts. So when we say the people are looking to the presidency, normally we do, in this case the president doesnt have the moral authority that previous president s have had. Jessica, could donald trump, who carried alabama by 28 points, bring this to some kind of conclusion . I think that the voters of alabama would listen to him. And i think that President Trump knows that, and thats why theyre kind of skirting this issue. It starts with like so many things from the Trump Administration, it starts with one story, which is well let the voters of alabama decide, and then it shifts and then Kellyanne Conway saying we need that win for the tax reform and we need that vote. Look at all these other policy considerations, like crime and environmental regulations. So i really think you should vote for roy moore. Now, i think that the white house clearly believes that they have a role to play here. And even though this president is so different from most president s in many ways, he still has an enormous platform and a lot of support, particularly somewhere like alabama. If he really wanted to say something, and i think theres about two weeks until the election and we could see President Trump come out and say something. But this may be the long game for the white house, ready to open their arms for senator roy moore. Going to move to al franken accused by another woman. He told cnn, he pulled me in really close. As my husband took the picture, he put his hand full fledged on my rear. Al franken says he doesnt remember this incident and feels badly that she felt disrespected. Matt, again, you know, two women have come out. Whether its 2 or 20, should franken resign . I dont think he should resign. Number two, i dont think its 20. Theres going to be an investigation. I think the senate the first woman leeann tweeden, i believed her story. I think al frankens behavior was inappropriate and hes apologized. But i think were in danger of conflating things. We have a president accused by 15 different women. The al franken story is a bad story, but its not the same thing. I think al franken should step aside. We shouldnt be in the business of hit gating between different accusations. All these accusations are deeply problematic. They have behavior thats just wrongful, inappropriate and we should be judging it fairly and in the same way regardless of political party. We are out of time. But thank you so much. Appreciate it. Next on cnn newsroom, more Sexual Harassment accusations, this time against charlie rose. And more senior officials will be interviewed. What that means for the timing and direction of the special counsels investigation. You wont see these folks they have businesses to run. They have passions to pursue. How do they avoid trips to the post office . Stamps. Com mail letters, ship packages, all the services of the post office right on your computer. Get a 4 week trial, plus 100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. Go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again. Accused of obstructing justice to theat the fbinuclear war, and of violating the constitution by taking money from foreign governments and threatening to shut down news organizations that report the truth. If that isnt a case for impeaching and removing a dangerous president , then what has our government become . Im tom steyer, and like you, im a citizen who knows its up to us to do something. Its why im funding this effort to raise our voices together and demand that elected officials take a stand on impeachment. A Republican Congress once impeached a president for far less. Yet today people in congress and his own administration know that this president is a clear and present danger whos mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons. And they do nothing. Join us and tell your member of congress that they have a moral responsibility to stop doing whats political and start doing whats right. Our country depends on it. Cbs has suspended charlie rose after eight women accused him of Sexual Harassment, including groping and sexual advances. Pbs halted distribution of his tack show. Rose said in part, it is essential that these women know i hear them and that i deeply apologize for my inappropriate behavior. Im greatly embarrassed. I behaved insensitively at time, and i accept responsibility for that. But i do not believe all of these allegations are accurate. Im joined now by an associate professor at okay occidental klem. Really, from the angle of the women who come out and stand by the men who are accused. So to my mind, when you hear men come out and stand with the accused, we heard something of the like, Harvey Weinstein and kevin spacey deserve a second chance, at least opening the door for them coming back. Mo you hear that and thats one thing, its men but its totally Something Else when you hear women come out and stand in defense of these men who have these accusations of wrongdoing. Im thinking donna karen, who made comments about what women wear. Kayla moore, the wife of Alabama Senate candidate roy moore. What goes through your mind when women take that position . Well, its a bit of a betrayal in the sense that if youre a Woman Working anywhere in any industry, you have probably suffered or witnessed Sexual Harassment. At the end of the day, we all know this is prevalent, and to have women like lina dunham come out and stand by someone who has been accused of Sexual Harassment, i think it strikes a particular chord. Kn now is the time that victims and survivors are feeling empowered to come forward. So if you are a woman supporting a man accused of Sexual Harassment, the best that you can do is stay silent on the matter, because to come out and do otherwise at this point is essentially to side with predators. During a time where it is very obvious that this predatory behavior is normal, especially in male dominated industries. Lets dig deeper into the comments of kayla moore. Take a listen. Even after all the attacks against me, against my family, against the foundation, and mow against my husband, he will not step down [ cheers and applause ] so kayla moore. You referenced lina dunham, the actress, writer and tv producer, Murray Miller has been accused of rape by an actress who says she was raped when she was just 17. Lina dunham and jenny kono, the cofounder of the newsletter, put out this statement. Let me read you some of what she said. She said this during the windfall of deeply necessary accusations over the last few months in hollywood, we have been thrilled to see so many womens voices heard. She goes on to say while our first instincts is to listen to every story. But this sadly is one of the 3 of assault cases that are misreported every year. We stand by murray, and that is all well be saying about that at this time. What does that say, the statements made by kayla moore and put out by lena dunham, she said she got it wrong, putting out that defense for Murray Miller. What does it say about how we choose to respond to accusations when they involve people we love or hike . Or like . I think its difficult to acknowledge there are some men in our hives who might be sexual predators. I would argue with bill clintons multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, Hillary Clinton stood by him in the 90s and in fact refuted a lot of those allegations. We have someone in the white house who has 19 allegations of sexual misconduct, ranging from Sexual Harassment to sexual assault. And yet we see the first lady standing by him. I think its really difficult for us to process how were supposed to respond to this, especially given the fact that we live in a culture where we dont hold people accountable. So only 2 of rapists will see a day in jail. Most cases go unreported. These are the only crimes where we treat the victim as though she is on trial. A lot of women, we dont have good mechanisms of accountability socially or in the workplace. So when this comes up, we end up quite torn, if its somebody whom we love, and i really wish that we had a culture where we held people accountable, because i think it would be much clearler for people to say absolutely not, im not going to stand by someone like that. Shes put out tweets saying women dont lie about this kind of thing. I do want to read something to you. There was a really great column written for the sydney morning herald. I thought it was fascinating. Let me read some of this to you and get your thoughts. She said, one of the core tenants held by rape culture and practitioners is that Sexual Violence is something that occurs on the fringes of our communities. Perpetrated by men who are easily identified by their personalities and the giant sign around their neck that screams here be a rapist. In america, 70 of all rapists are known to their victims. They have families, colleagues, and friends, all of them would consider them to be a good person. So this notion that if you dont look i guess what you consider to be a rapist, like a bad person, in the minds of those close to you and everyone else, you couldnt possibly have done it. Yet at the end of the day, 11 of men in u. S. Society will engage in some sort of sexually predatory behaich youviobehavio. I think its really telling that a lot of my male friends are saying i knew that Sexual Harassment happened. I knew that sexually predatory behavior happens, just not this frequently and women had normalized it. At the end of the day, we have a culture that does not take this behavior seriously. We live in a culture where theres maassumed male access t female bodies. And our cultural reinforces that on the tv and movies of women being sexual subjects. Thats widespread in our culture, and at the end of the day, we have to look at the sickness of what it means to sexually objectify 51 of our population and think thats toing to command the level of respect we need to be safe in our culture. Thank you for joining me. Six months into the special counsels investigation of russias involvement in the election, and some within the house, reportedly even the president himself, are optimistic it will be wrapped up around the end of the year. But that seems hard to explain, given investigators plan to interview Senior Administration officials in the coming weeks. Including hope hicks, the Current White House communications director, who is seen as one of the president s most trusted confidants, an almost constant presence by his side during last years campaign. According to the washington post, one republican operative in frequent contact with the white house, described muellers team working through the staff like pacman. Professor, good to see you. Thank you. Apart from hope hicks, investigators plan to talk to white House Counsel don mcgahn, josh a fell, jared kushner. Theyve already spoken to steven miller, reince priebus, sean spicer. So what does this all now say about the timetable and the direction of muellers investigation . Well, the direction is quite clear. Its upwards. This is very similar to what happened in the investigation of richard nixon. You work your way up through the staff members, through the persons close to the president. But ultimately, it boils down to the president. Look, the future of america is not going to rise and fall on whether hope hicks or any of these other people go to jail, get convicted. It is donald trump who is the most powerful person in the world, who holds the American Nuclear codes in his hands. So all of this only matters to the extent that it works its way up to whether or not donald trump has committed impeachable offenses. And by the way, the special counsel can impeach the president. He can only recommend that to the u. S. House