At a House hearing to discuss whether the 2017 GOP tax law — the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) — is a “help or a hindrance to Main Street,” small business owners disagreed over whether the law will benefit them in the long run. Justin Conger, owner and president...
Resumed Federal Executions Raise Death Penalty's 2020 Stakes
WASHINGTON — The question to Michael Dukakis, the Democratic presidential candidate in 1988, was brutally personal. "If Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?" Bernard Shaw, a CNN anchor, asked, referring to the Massachusetts governor's wife. Dukakis said he wouldn't favor...
What Comes After Mueller? Investigations, Lawsuits and More
WASHINGTON — After months of anticipation, Congress finally heard testimony from former special counsel Robert Mueller. So what now? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Mueller's appearance was "a crossing of a threshold," raising public awareness of what Mueller found. And Democrats after the hearing said they had clearly laid out the facts...
Walters: Trump and California at It Again
President Donald Trump and the Democrats who dominate California politics are locked into a rather bizarre, symbiotic relationship. Almost daily, they fire political and legal bullets at each other across 2,728 miles – by highway – of American soil, each knowing that no matter how strange the missives may appear...
Democrats Questioning Robert Mueller to Focus on Obstruction
WASHINGTON — Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee who will question former special counsel Robert Mueller next week plan to focus on a narrow set of episodes laid out in his report, an effort to direct Americans' attention to what they see as the most egregious examples of President Donald...
How to Beat Trump? Democrats Divided as He Rams Race Onto Ballot
LOS ANGELES — Joe Biden was at a soul food restaurant in Los Angeles on Thursday when he blasted President Donald Trump's "racist" taunts at a rally the night before. "This is about dividing the country," the early Democratic front-runner, who has been criticized for his own handling of race, told...
Trump vs. Democrats: 'Racist' and 'Socialist' Lines Drawn for 2020
WASHINGTON — With tweets and a vote, President Donald Trump and House Democrats established the sharp and emotionally raw contours of the 2020 election campaigns. In the process, they have created a fraught political frame: "racists" vs. "socialists." Trump's aggressive condemnation of women of color in Congress has allowed House...
Buttigieg, Biden Represent Democrats' Generational Divide
LACONIA, N.H. — Amy McInerney at first saw Joe Biden as Democrats' best hope to beat President Donald Trump — an experienced politician with the potential to peel off some of Trump's working-class supporters. Then she heard Pete Buttigieg speak. "I felt like Pete more represented my generation," said McInerney,...
'Many People Agree With Me': Trump Digs in on Racist Tweets
WASHINGTON — Unbowed by searing criticism, President Donald Trump on Monday emphatically defended his tweet calling on four Democratic congresswomen of color to go back to their "broken and crime infested" countries. Condemnation of his comments "doesn't concern me because many people agree with me," he declared. Trump responded to...
Soria: Why I'm Taking on Fellow Democrat Costa for Congress
It doesn’t matter to Esmeralda Soria that she is running for a House seat against a fellow Democrat, and an eight-term incumbent at that. “My goal is to convince every single person in our community, beyond our Democratic party, that I am the candidate that will best represent them in...