WASHINGTON — Sixty seconds for answers, a television audience of millions and, for some candidates, a first chance to introduce themselves to voters. The back-to-back Democratic presidential debates beginning Wednesday are exercises in competitive sound bites featuring 20 candidates hoping to oust President Donald Trump in 2020. The hopefuls range widely in age, sex...
Border Official Resigns Amid Uproar Over Migrant Children
HOUSTON — The acting head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection resigned Tuesday amid an uproar over the discovery of migrant children being held in pitiful conditions at one of the agency’s stations in Texas. Acting Commissioner John Sanders’ departure deepened the sense of crisis and added to the rapid...
Analysis: Trump Moves Show Him to Be Unreliable Partner
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's abrupt decision against military strikes may have prevented open military conflict with Iran, but it also showed him anew to be an unpredictable, unreliable, partner at home and abroad. Trump won his job partly on his claims to be a great dealmaker. But the celebrity...
Impact of Trump's Tariffs on Americans Explained
President Donald Trump's international trade war might have made sense from an American perspective in the 19th century. Certainly, Trump is to be commended for trying to protect U.S. patents, trade secrets, and intellectual properties. China, as we know, doesn't always play by the rules. He's also trying to support...
Biden: Congress Should Immediately Make 'Dreamers' Citizens
Weighing in on immigration before the first Democratic debates, Joe Biden is proposing that Congress grant immediate citizenship to "dreamers" — the more than 800,000 U.S. residents who were brought to the country illegally as children. The former vice president and Democratic polling leader introduced some of his immigration priorities...
Iranians Say Their 'Bones Breaking' Under US Sanctions
TEHRAN, Iran — As the U.S. piles sanction after sanction on Iran, it’s the average person who feels it the most. From a subway performer’s battered leather hat devoid of tips, to a bride-to-be’s empty purse, the lack of cash from the economic pressure facing Iran’s 80 million people can...
Census, Redistricting Top Remaining Supreme Court Cases
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court enters its final week of decisions with two politically charged issues unresolved, whether to rein in political line-drawing for partisan gain and allow a citizenship question on the 2020 census. Both decisions could affect the distribution of political power for the next decade, and both...
Amid Tough Talk, Trump Says He Could Be Iran’s ‘Best Friend’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Saturday that military action against Iran was still an option for its downing of an unmanned U.S. military aircraft, but amid heightened tensions he dangled the prospect of eventually becoming an unlikely “best friend” of America’s longtime Middle Eastern adversary. Trump also said “we...
Trump Claims Rising Support From Latino Voters. There's No Proof of That.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is claiming his policies to stop illegal immigration are helping his standing with Latino voters, and he is taking undue credit for uniting families who were separated at the border. Trump made the statements in a sometimes combative interview airing Thursday on the Spanish-language network...
Senate Votes to Block Saudi Arms Sales as Trump Vows Veto
WASHINGTON — The Senate has voted to block the Trump administration from selling arms to Saudi Arabia, launching a new challenge to President Donald Trump's alliance with the country amid rising tensions in the Middle East. Trump has promised to veto the measures. The White House said stopping the sales...