On Politics: ‘Sorry’ Is Not Enough, Anita Hill Says

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/26/us/politics/anita-hill-joe-biden.html

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Good Friday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today.

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• Weeks before starting his presidential run, Joseph R. Biden Jr. called Anita Hill to express regret over “what she endured” testifying at Justice Clarence Thomas’s Senate confirmation hearings in 1991. But Ms. Hill said she left the conversation feeling unsatisfied and declined to characterize his words as an apology. She’s not convinced that Mr. Biden truly accepts the harm he caused her and other women.

• The former vice president’s announcement video was broad and oratorical. Notably absent: policy, biography, ideology.

• Perhaps more than any other presidential front-runner in modern history, Mr. Biden begins his bid confronting deep skepticism that he can capture his party’s nomination. Here are five questions looming over his candidacy.

• In the aftermath of the Mueller report, the White House has taken the extreme stance that it will not respect subpoenas or demands for information from various House committees. That has serious implications for Congress’s future ability to conduct oversight of any administration.

• As Democrats fret over impeachment, Senate Republicans who would be on the jury in an impeachment trial see nothing of import in the Mueller report and its tales of obstruction.

• The Pentagon’s inspector general has cleared acting Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan of allegations that he promoted his former employer, Boeing, and disparaged its competitors for military contracts.

• Muslim voters are becoming a more significant part of the electorate, but many are worried that the criticism of Representative Ilhan Omar might have broad consequences for their communities, including a heightened sense that they are not welcome in the halls of power.

• A panel of three federal judges ruled on Thursday that 34 congressional and state legislative districts in Michigan are unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders. The judges ordered state lawmakers to redraw maps in time for elections in 2020.

• Florida is set to adopt one of the strictest laws in the nation against so-called sanctuary cities and counties. The legislation would require local law enforcement to cooperate with the federal immigration authorities and penalize officials who fail to do so.

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Today’s On Politics briefing was compiled by Isabella Grullón Paz in New York.

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