‘Start Here’: Wildfires, Florida, Khashoggi. What you need to know to start your day.

FAN Editor

It’s Monday, Nov. 19, 2018. Thanks for choosing to start here.

1. Death toll from California wildfires continues to grow

Over the last few days, as search teams got access areas including Paradise, California, the death toll has continued to climb.

Almost 1,000 people still are missing, officials said.

ABC News’ Marcus Moore in Chico, California, also tells us that there’s concern about sanitary conditions in the tent cities that have popped up for those displaced by wildfires.

2. Rick Scott wins in Florida

On Sunday, incumbent Florida Democratic senator Bill Nelson conceded the race to his republican challenger, former Gov. Rick Scott, after a manual recount concluded.

Elsewhere in the state over the weekend, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum conceded to Republican Ron DeSantis after a machine recount.

ABC News Political director Rick Klein says Democrats are worried that Florida may already be off the map for them in the 2020 presidential election.

3. Trump downplays CIA report of Khashoggi killing

The Saudi Arabian government has said a lot of things since Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi was murdered last month.

But one thing the Saudis have remained crystal clear on is that Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman had nothing to do with it.

A lot of outside observers have found that implausible. Now, according to the Washington Post, the CIA appears be among them.

ABC News Senior Foreign correspondent Ian Pannell says the president continues to signal that he trusts the Saudis, despite saying the U.S. has a copy of audio evidence of the murder.

4. Lessons learned 20 years after Clinton’s impeachment

House Democrats are readying a long list of investigations with their new majority, but will they exercise their constitutional right to impeach the president? There are risks with any impeachment proceedings, the director of the A&E docuseries “The Clinton Affair” warns, because it’s a “deeply political act.”

“I think the political will has to be there to do it,” director Blair Foster tells us. “Otherwise, I think if you move forward with an impeachment and the political will isn’t there, it’s deeply damaging to the country.”

She also notes there are “a lot of parallels” between the events leading up to the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton and the current political climate: “They say, ‘past is prologue,’ and we very quickly realized we were making a series as much about today as we were the events that happened then.”

“The Clinton Affair” premiered Sunday, Nov. 18, on A&E.

Other news:

‘I don’t want you to think I’m picking on you because we’re part of the master race’: A white county commissioner in Kansas has been asked to resign after an inappropriate comment to a black consultant.

‘I think the appointment is unconstitutional’: Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, comments on President Donald Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general.

‘… build a more socioeconomically diverse student body’: Mike Bloomberg gives $1.8 billion to Johns Hopkins University, his alma mater, to assist with financial aid.

‘He knew the best thing to do was act before that’: Did Robert Mueller contribute to an unusually large number of sealed indictments on the federal court docket in D.C.? Is the question.

From our partners at FiveThirtyEight:

Another World Chess Championship Draw — It’s Time For Caruana To Attack

Last ‘Nightline’:

‘Everything we’ve worked for … gone’: Santa Rosa remembers a devastating fire one year later: First responders look back. Residents rebuild. And an 87-year-old woman gets a chance to thank her hero.

On this day in history:

Nov. 19, 1998 — President Bill Clinton’s impeachment hearings begin.

The must-see photo:

Reenactors participate in a Russian Civil War battle reconstruction to mark the 100th anniversary of the battles between Red and White armies after the Bolshevik revolution outside of St. Petersburg, Russia. (photo credit: Dmitri Lovetsky/AP)

For more great photos from around the world click HERE.

Hot on social:

A camel is spotted on the side of the road.

All right, you’re off and running. You can always get the latest news on ABCNews.com and on the ABC News app. Details on how to subscribe to the “Start Here” podcast are below. See you tomorrow!

“Start Here” is the flagship daily news podcast from ABC News — a straightforward look at the day’s top stories in 20 minutes. Listen for free every weekday on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or the ABC News app. On Amazon Echo, ask Alexa to “Play ‘Start Here'” or add the “Start Here” skill to your Flash Briefing. Follow @StartHereABC on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for exclusive content, show updates and more.

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