Senate Republicans got what they so desperately needed early Saturday when an ugly process and a series of last-minute concessions put them within reach of a significant legislative victory in the form of major tax legislation.
But it remained to be seen whether the result — a convoluted measure that would cut corporate taxes and have mixed benefits for individual taxpayers — will spare Republicans from an emerging political backlash that was evident in Democratic election victories around the country last month.
Democrats said Republicans were sacrificing their core claim as the party of lower taxes for middle income Americans, while populist voters allied with President Trump may be unimpressed with deep cuts to the corporate tax rate, added protections for multimillion-dollar inheritances and other breaks for the rich.
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Protesters opposed to the Republican tax plan rallied outside the Capitol on Thursday.CreditZach Gibson for The New York Times
Jimmy Kimmel has set his sights on U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore.
The late-night host fired off a tweet on Thursday afternoon in response to a Breitbart article that Moore shared moments earlier with his nearly 68,000 Twitter followers. The Republican candidate called out Kimmel in his tweet saying, “@jimmykimmel If you want to mock our Christian values, come down here to Alabama and do it man to man. #ALSen.”
Without missing a beat, Kimmel tweeted back, “Sounds great Roy – let me know when you get some Christian values and I’ll be there!”
The homeless Mexican immigrant who was pilloried by then-candidate Donald Trump after he was accused of fatally shooting a woman on a San Francisco pier was found not guilty of murder on Thursday.
Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, 45, was acquitted in a case that galvanized anti-immigration forces and forced San Francisco officials to defend their “sanctuary city” policy.
Kathryn Steinle, 32, died in her father’s arms when she was shot on July 1, 2015, while they and a family friend were strolling along Pier 14 in the city’s tourist-friendly Embarcadero district.
“We’re just shocked — saddened and shocked … that’s about it,” Jim Steinle, Kate’s father, told the San Fracisco Chronicle. “There’s no other way you can coin it. Justice was rendered, but it was not served.”
Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty on Friday in federal court to a charge of making false statements to the FBI about his communications with Russia.
Flynn had contacted the Russians at the urging of two top transition officials, according to a court document. Two people familiar with the matter say one of the officials referenced in the document is Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser.
In pleading guilty, Flynn became the first senior White House official to agree to cooperate with the special counsel’s investigation into Moscow’s meddling into the 2016 presidential election.
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Flynn pleads guilty to lying to FBI, enters plea deal with Mueller team
Music mogul Russell Simmons said in a statement Thursday that he was stepping down from the entertainment and clothing companies he founded after another sexual harassment allegation against him.
Writer Jenny Lumet said in a Hollywood Reporter column published Thursday that Simmons sexually violated her in 1991. In her detailed account, Lumet said Simmons offered her a ride home from a New York City restaurant, but took her to his apartment instead.
“Alone in the elevator, you pressed me into the corner with your body, your hands and your mouth,” she wrote.
Lumet said Simmons then had sex with her without her consent.
Two additional women have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), including an Army veteran who says she was groped while deployed overseas and a former elected official who told a news outlet that he tried to kiss her.
The women’s accounts bring the number of accusers against the senator to six as of Thursday.
Army veteran Stephanie Kemplin, 41, of Maineville, Ohio, told CNN that in 2003 she was posing with the then-comedian for a photo in Kuwait, where he was visiting troops with the USO, when he cupped her breast.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Thursday that he will support the Senate tax reform bill.
“After careful thought and consideration, I have decided to support the Senate tax reform bill,” he said in a statement. “I believe this legislation, though far from perfect, would enhance American competitiveness, boost the economy, and provide long overdue tax relief for middle class families.”
The controversial bill would mostly cut taxes for corporations and wealthy Americans. A vote on its final passage could happen as early as Thursday.
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Alex Wong via Getty Images
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) speaking at an event in Arlington, Virginia, earlier this month.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that veteran Democratic Rep. John Conyers (Mich.) should resign in response to multiple sexual misconduct allegations from former female staffers.
“Congressman Conyers should resign,” she said during a news conference on Capitol Hill.
Calling the allegations “serious, disappointing and very credible,” Pelosi told reporters that “the brave women who came forward are owed justice.”
It was a reversal from earlier this week, when Pelosi defended Conyers, calling him “an icon” on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” She refused to say then whether he should resign or whether she believed the women who have come forward with the allegations. She later issued a revised statement affirming that she believed one of the accusers, Melanie Sloan, an attorney who worked for Conyers on the House Judiciary Committee.
The tax plan has been marketed by President Trump and Republican leaders as a straightforward if enormous rebate for the masses, a $1.5 trillion package of cuts to spur hiring and economic growth. But as the bill has been rushed through Congress with scant debate, its far broader ramifications have come into focus, revealing a catchall legislative creation that could reshape major areas of American life, from education to health care.
Some of this re-engineering is straight out of the traditional Republican playbook. Corporate taxes, along with those on wealthy Americans, would be slashed on the presumption that when people in penthouses get relief, the benefits flow down to basement tenements.
Some measures are barely connected to the realm of taxation, such as the lifting of a 1954 ban on political activism by churches and the conferring of a new legal right for fetuses in the House bill — both on the wish list of the evangelical right.
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A job fair in Atlanta in last year. While Republicans promote their tax plan as a way to encourage job growth and economic expansion, its constraints on state and local taxation could restrict spending on health care, education, transportation and social services.CreditBob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, via Associated Press
President Trump tweeted on Friday that reports he would soon fire Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson were “fake news,” and that “I call the final shots.”
The tweet came just hours after Mr. Tillerson called reports that the White House wants him to resign “laughable,” even as one of his closest aides planned to leave the department.
In his tweet, Mr. Trump wrote, “He’s not leaving and while we disagree on certain subjects, (I call the final shots) we work well together and America is highly respected again!”
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Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson spoke during a meeting with the the prime minister of Libya, Fayez al-Sarraj, on Friday.CreditAlex Wong/Getty Images
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
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Alex Wong via Getty Images
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James' World 2 