Megyn Kelly expressed disbelief, horror, and sympathy in an exclusive first interview with Comet Ping Pong owner James Alefantis following the Pizzagate scare that erupted two weeks ago. Alefantis and the staff of his restaurant were targeted by a gunman after a viral fake news story suggested Bill and Hillary Clinton ran a child sex ring out of their D.C. pizza parlor; no one was injured.

"When people talk about fake news, you know, a lot of folks just roll their eyes, like 'oh, you know, whatever, people will figure it out.' The truth is, they don't always figure it out," Kelly told Alefantis. "And someone could have been killed inside of your restaurant for no good reason other than people like Alex Jones fanned a conspiracy theory that even the D.C. police say has no basis in fact."

"This has real consequences," Alefantis agreed. "My staff lives in fear. My staff are the bravest people I've ever met … Imagine someone coming to your work place with an assault rife."

"And to be accused of being a pedophile because you have emails that talk about pizza," Kelly said, in utter disbelief. "When you run a pizza parlor. I mean, they're like, 'the word 'pizza' seems out of place' — it's really gone down the rabbit hole."

Kelly also gave Alefantis an opportunity to explain an Instagram photo that conspiracy theorists had cited as evidence of the sex ring, but not without offering this preface: "You're a Democratic donor. There's nothing illegal about that. It doesn't make you a pedophile or somebody who's part of a child sex ring." Watch below. Jeva Lange

In his final press conference of the year, President Obama on Friday insisted his administration handled Russia's hack of the Democratic National Committee "the way it should have been handled." Obama revealed that when he met one-on-one with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the summer, he told Putin to "cut it out" with regard to the cyberattacks. After that interaction, Obama said, he "did not see further tampering of the election process," but by then "everybody had the information" thanks to the press and WikiLeaks.

While Obama refused to say whether that information lost Hillary Clinton the election, he did not shy away from taking shots at the media for covering "every little juicy tidbit of political gossip, including John Podesta's risotto recipe," that related to Clinton. "I don't think she was treated fairly during the election," Obama said of Clinton. "I think the coverage of her and the issues was troubling."

Moving forward, Obama urged President-elect Donald Trump to focus on appropriately handling cybersecurity issues, rather than on making them a "political football." "That concerns me, and it should concern all of us," Obama said, referring to the DNC hack.

In the wide-ranging press conference, a notably somber Obama also grappled with the Republican voters' growing approval of Putin, Democrats' still "raw" feelings over Trump's win, and the ongoing bloodshed in Syria. "I always feel responsible," Obama said of conflicts both at home and abroad. "I ask myself every single day: Is there something I could do every day to save lives and make a difference?" Becca Stanek

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) has signed a law to strip Gov.-elect Roy Cooper, a Democrat, of some of his gubernatorial powers in what The Associated Press deemed an "extraordinary move." Cooper had threatened to sue if the Republicans took such measures, calling the power play "unconstitutional" and saying GOP lawmakers would "see me in court, and they don't have a good track record there."

Republican lawmakers had introduced the bills in a surprise special session Wednesday, in hopes of stripping powers from Cooper before he takes office in January; Cooper narrowly unseated McCrory in a bitter election that the incumbent only conceded nearly four weeks after votes were cast, ending four years of unified Republican control in the state. Republicans want to strip the governor of control over local election boards and the right to appoint University of North Carolina trustees, and are seeking to cut to 300 from 1,500 the number of state employees who serve at the governor's pleasure in an effort to protect hundreds of McCrory appointees.

"Most people might think this is a partisan power grab, but it's really more ominous," Cooper told Politico. Jeva Lange

FBI Director James Comey and the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper have reportedly backed the CIA's claims that Russia tried to swing the U.S. election in favor of President-elect Donald Trump, The Washington Post reports. "Earlier this week, I met separately with FBI [Director] James Comey and DNI Jim Clapper, and there is strong consensus among us on the scope, nature, and intent of Russian interference in our presidential election," CIA Director John O. Brennan reportedly said in an internal message sent to the agency's staff.

The CIA and the FBI declined to comment to the Post. Trump has repeatedly dismissed reports that Russia meddled with the election: "If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary [Clinton] lost?" he tweeted Thursday.

President Obama earlier Friday vowed to retaliate against Russia for its meddling in last month's election, while Clinton in a speech to donors Thursday put the blame squarely on the Russian cyberattack — and FBI Director Comey's letter to Congress regarding her email investigation — for her loss. Jeva Lange

Students at the University of Pennsylvania pulled down the English Department's portrait of William Shakespeare, replaced him with African-American author and feminist Audre Lorde, and demanded "a more inclusive mission" for the literature curriculum, the New York Post reports.

The English Department had voted to relocate and replace the Shakespeare portrait years ago to represent more diversity, but that apparently had never happened. In an email later sent to the student body, the department's head Jed Etsy vowed to form a "working group" to "declare and defend [its] departmental mission in the current political climate." Nonetheless, the portrait of Lorde will apparently remain up until further notice.

"We invite everyone to join us in the task of critical thinking about the changing nature of authorship, the history of language, and the political life of symbols," Esty wrote. The Week Staff

This is Lefty:

Lefty is a one-antlered white-tailed deer that got stuck in the Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem after swimming across the East River two weeks ago in search of a mate. Alas, "brother, there ain't no love in Harlem for this deer," said Charles Coleman, 57, who lives near the park where Lefty took up residence. "He ain't going to find any hanky-panky here. He went looking for love in all the wrong places."

So on Thursday, the city of New York captured Lefty with plans to put him down, Harlem Patch reports. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, upon hearing about Lefty's fate, stepped in: "The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation advised the City of New York that there are alternatives to euthanasia that they can consider, including relocation," a statement from the governor's office read.

With that, Lefty was elevated from mere local celebrity to a pawn in the great proxy wars between Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. "Mr. Cuomo has a history of meddling in the city's affairs and has often sought to outmaneuver Mr. de Blasio on his home turf, much to the mayor's consternation," The New York Times explains. So naturally, the city promptly fired back: "Moving the deer to a new place would likely have caused the animal a great deal of suffering and would have been inhumane on many levels," a spokesperson for the city said. "Relocated deer have very low long-term survival rates."

Cuomo stepped in again Thursday night, saying the state government would personally transport the deer out of the city. The city refused the assistance before midnight and reiterated that Lefty would go the way of Bambi's mother.

A mournful hush fell after that. Then, just after noon Friday, the New York City Mayor's Office press secretary, Eric Phillips, tweeted that Lefty would be saved after all:

Of course, there is still time if anyone else wants to throw their opinion into the ring. Jeva Lange

A very sad update, 2:10 p.m.:

An American underwater drone was captured by a Chinese warship in international waters in the South China Sea on Thursday, an anonymous defense official reported to USA Today. A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed the report Friday.

The drone does not have any military capabilities and is used to gather unclassified information such as water temperature and salinity levels. It belongs to the U.S. Navy but was launched from an oceanographic ship crewed by civilians. When the incident occurred Thursday, the drone was about to be recovered by the American oceanographic ship; instead, a Chinese Dalang III class warship approached within 500 yards of the U.S. boat and launched a smaller vessel that retrieved the drone from the water and brought it back to the Chinese warship.

The Chinese warship then left the scene, although the U.S. oceanographic ship radioed to demand the drone back. The Chinese reportedly acknowledged they had gotten the message from the Americans but did not reply to it.

China has asserted ownership and influence over the South China Sea, although the U.S. and other nations have insisted the waters are international. The U.S. government has issued a diplomatic protest over the stolen drone and demanded it be returned. Jeva Lange

While speaking to a group of campaign donors in Manhattan on Thursday night, Hillary Clinton blamed her election loss squarely on FBI Director James Comey's letter to Congress about the ongoing investigation into her email use and the Russian hacking allegedly sanctioned by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Comey's letter swayed voters in swing states to "make their decisions in the final days" against her, Clinton said, while Putin's actions constituted an "attack against our country" by targeting the "integrity of our democracy and the security of our nation."

In her first public remarks since the reports this week regarding Russia's interference in the presidential race, Clinton said she sees a "direct line" between Putin's "personal beef" with her, stemming from her questions in 2011 about the integrity of Russia's parliamentary elections, and her loss to Donald Trump last month. Becca Stanek