The Brookings Institution released an analysis of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren's student debt-forgiveness plan, illustrating that it would help higher income earners or those who have post-graduate degrees.
Details: Warren has proposed a plan that would cost $640 billion to erase the debt of 75% of Americans who grapple with ongoing student loan obligations.
Joseph Robinette Biden is running for president for the 3rd time in 4 decades, with an announcement video focused on President Trump's response to the racist march in Charlottesville.
What they're saying: "Biden’s sister and longtime political confidante, Valerie Biden Owens, described Trump’s comments as a 'blow' to the man who had served as the No. 2 to America’s first black president," the AP reports.
Attorney General Bill Barr will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 1 and House Judiciary Committee on May 2 to testify about special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, both panels have confirmed.
Why it matters: Democrats have accused Barr, the nation's top law enforcement official, of playing defense for President Trump by spinning Mueller's conclusions in a favorable light 3 weeks before the public was able to view a redacted version of the special counsel's report. Barr also made the controversial decision of clearing Trump of obstruction of justice, despite Mueller explicitly deciding not to.
Former Vice President Joe Biden has spoken with Anita Hill and expressed his regret about how she was treated during Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' confirmation hearing in 1991, according to a Biden campaign spokesperson.
"Vice President Biden has spoken with Anita Hill. They had a private discussion where he shared with her directly his regret for what she endured and his admiration for everything she has done to change the culture around sexual harassment in this country."
The other side: In an interviewwith the New York Times, Hill said: "I cannot be satisfied by simply saying I’m sorry for what happened to you. I will be satisfied when I know there is real change and real accountability and real purpose."
House Democrats are launching an investigation President Trump's "unprecedented" decision to remove much of the top leadership at the Department of Homeland Security.
Details: The letter — from House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson and Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings — suggests White House senior aide Stephen Miller pushed for the resignation of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen because she pointed out legal barriers to Trump's plan to reimplement child separation. Democrats are asking acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan to turn over any communications regarding the departure of top officials and all communications with Miller.
A Massachusetts judge and court officer were charged with federal obstruction of justice by the Boston U.S. Attorney's Office for helping an undocumented immigrant elude arrest in April 2018, according to an indictment unsealed on Thursday.
Details Judge Shelley Joseph and court officer Wesley MacGregor allegedly devised a plan after the prosecutor and the suspect's defense attorney said they thought U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement targeted the wrong person. The government alleges that MacGregor used his security access card to release the suspect out of the back exit of the courthouse.
North Korea issued the U.S. a $2 million hospital bill before releasing then-comatose American student Otto Warmbier, according to 2 anonymous sources familiar with the situation who spoke to the Washington Post's Anna Fifield.
The bottom line: President Trump reportedly ordered a U.S. envoy tasked with retrieving Warmbier to sign an agreement to pay the medical bill, but it remains unclear if the administration actually paid it, or if it was a matter of discussion during the 2 summits between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The bill reportedly remained with the Treasury Department through 2017.
Former Vice President Joe Biden has hired Symone Sanders, a political strategist and the former press secretary for Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign, as a senior adviser, AP reports.
Why it matters: Sanders, a well-known CNN political analyst who left Bernie's campaign in June 2016, has been highly sought after by several 2020 campaigns and signed on with Biden's campaign after a meeting a few weeks ago, according to AP. Her voice will add diversity to a crew of top advisers largely dominated by older, white men, AP notes.
For all the energy the U.S. has spent determining whether Donald Trump broke any laws when he enthusiastically welcomed hacking efforts against his 2016 opponent, the nation has done little to prevent candidates from doing the same thing in 2020.
Why it matters: The election is only a year and a half away, and Russia's methods of election interference demonstrated some degree of success. If a candidate were hell-bent on benefitting from hacking undertaken by hostile actors, either foreign or domestic, we have put no new barriers in place to stop such efforts.
If New York officials succeed in getting Trump financial records, it will trouble Trumpworld far more than any congressional fight.
Driving the news: Deutsche Bank has begun providing records to New York Attorney General Letitia James in response to a subpoena for documents related to loans made to President Trump and his business, CNN's Cristina Alesci reports.
Former Vice President Joe Biden is planning a 2020 campaign launch schedule for the next month bookended by events in Pennsylvania — with visits to key early-voting states in between.
The big picture: Biden's Pittsburgh and Philadelphia events, set to take place on Monday and May 18, respectively, will be specifically dedicated to what he's calling "the core values of his campaign" — "reclaiming the soul of the nation, rebuilding the middle class, the backbone of America and uniting Americans."
Former Vice President Joe Biden formally kicked off his 2020 presidential campaign on Thursday, ending months of speculation about whether or not he would jump into the crowded Democratic field.
Former Democratic Sens. Heidi Heitkamp and Joe Donnelly, who both lost their 2018 re-election races in North Dakota and Indiana, respectively, are launching the One Country Project to help their party win back rural voters ahead of the 2020 cycle.
Why it matters: Their team looked at rural votes by county and state from 2000 to 2018 and found that if Democrats don't break their performance with rural voters, they're projected to once again win the popular vote but lose the electoral college in 2020.
President Trump's White House appears to have figured out the secret of congressional oversight: there's not much Democrats can do if they say no to everything.
The big picture: The millions of voters who elected a Democratic House in November are about to find out how hard it is for one party — with just one chamber of Congress and without the cooperation of the other party — to investigate a president who's determined to run out the clock.
