First Run News

HOUSTON — The leading Democratic presidential candidates split sharply over the issue of health care in a debate Thursday night, exposing the gulf between former vice president Joe Biden’s careful moderate politics and the transformational liberal ambitions of Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Biden, facing all of his closest competitors for the first time in a debate, quickly took the initiative to challenge Warren and Sanders for supporting a “Medicare for All”-style health care system that would displace the existing forms of privat

WASHINGTON — Ten Democrats seeking the presidency sparred Thursday night in a sprawling debate that put all qualifying contenders on the same stage for the first time. Here’s a look at how some of their claims from Houston stack up with the facts: Joe Biden: ‘‘We didn’t lock people up in cages, we didn’t separate families.’’ THE FACTS: His comment about cages is wrong. The ‘‘cages’’ — chain-link enclosures inside border facilities where migrants have been temporarily housed, separated by sex and age — were built and used by the Obama a

Beto O’Rourke has already backed mandatory buybacks for assault weapons, but at Thursday’s Democratic debate, he left no ambiguity about what that would mean. ‘‘Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47,’’ he said. Less than an hour later, O’Rourke received what he described as a ‘‘death threat’’ from a fellow Texas politician.

Julián Castro on Friday defended his testy exchange with Joe Biden at Thursday night’s debate over health care that seemed to jab at the former vice president’s age, saying he would not do anything differently. “I mean, he has been around for a long time, OK,” Castro said on CNN Friday morning after he was hit with strong criticism from pundits and on social media.

Former vice president Joe Biden emerged Friday from his best debate performance of the campaign on steadier ground at the top of the Democratic presidential field after a summer that saw him losing some of his lead in the polls. But he remained a wobbly front-runner after demonstrating yet again his propensity for gaffes and rambling answers — including one odd reference to a record player — that have fueled questions about his age and mental acuity. Still, with Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren rising in recent weeks, Biden showed on the debate stage in Ho

Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and former U.S.

The letter, published by the New York Times, is a push for court orders to seize firearms, as well as for universal background checks. The missive says: The letter is signed by 145 companies, included Bain Capital, Credit Karma, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Doordash, GAP, Levi Strauss & Co., Pinterest, Reddit, Royal Caribbean, Twitter, Uber, and Yelp. The letter comes after Walmart, Kroger, Walgreens, and Meijer all

Fox News reported Thursday that a source close to McCabe’s legal team said that they have received an email from the Department of Justice (DOJ), which reportedly said that the agency rejected their appeal. The email reportedly read, “The Department rejected your appeal of the United States Attorney’s Office’s decision in this matter.

The party-line 24-17 vote occurred after two hours of debate between Democrats and Republicans about the so-called inquiry’s parameters. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) tried to clear up any misconceptions as the committee approved guidelines for stumbled over how to explain what they’re doing. “Some call this process an impeachment inquiry. Some call it an impeachment investigation. There is no legal difference between these terms, and I no longer care to argue about the nomenclature,” Nadler said as he opened the meeting.