Biden consoles daughter of ailing Arizona Sen. John McCain

Former Vice President Joe Biden sought to console the daughter of ailing Sen. John McCain after she began crying while discussing her father's battle with brain cancer on ABC's "The View." Meghan McCain, a panelist on the program, told Biden on Wednesday she hadn't been able to get through his new memoir, "Promise Me, Dad," which centers on the 2015 death of his son, Beau, from an aggressive tumor called glioblastoma.

GOP hopes Alabama loss is wakeup call for Trump White House

President Donald Trump managed to endorse two different losing candidates in the same Senate race, a setback that is highlighting an experience deficit within the White House political team. "As the leader of the party, I would have liked to have had the seat," Trump acknowledged Wednesday, a day after a special Senate election in Alabama led to the election of Democrat Doug Jones.

Congress secures tax deal, Trump backs 21-percent corporate rate

Congressional Republicans have reached a deal on final tax legislation, the U.S. Senate's top Republican tax writer said on Wednesday, with President Donald Trump saying he would back a sharply lowered corporate tax rate of 21 percent. The 21 percent rate would be slightly above a proposed 20-percent rate that Trump supported earlier, but still far below the present headline rate of 35 percent, a deep tax cut that U.S. corporations have been seeking for years.

‘Civil rights champion’ wins senate seat over accused child molester

Doug Jones, the Democrat who pulled off a stunning upset victory in Alabama's nail-biter Senate contest on Tuesday, is considered a champion for civil rights in a state that played a seminal role in the 1960s movement for racial equality. Jones' supporters erupted in cheers and jubilation as it became clear their portly, balding candidate had become the first Alabama Democrat to win a US Senate seat in 25 years.

Republicans strike deal on tax package

Republican negotiators on Wednesday said they've managed to strike a deal on a $1.4 trillion tax-cut package and that they'll be prepared to send it to President Trump 's desk next week. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch told reporters that House and Senate lawmakers working to reconcile the two chambers' versions have reached an agreement.

GOP finger-pointing starts right after Moore defeat in Alabama

The Republican finger-pointing started minutes after GOP candidate Roy Moore lost to a Democrat in deep-red Alabama's Senate race, with nervous party members fearing more of the same in the 2018 election might take away their majorities in Congress. "Congratulations to the Bannon wing of the @GOP for gifting a seat to @SenateDems in one of the reddest states," Republican Representative Carlos Curbelo of Florida wrote on Twitter Wednesday, referring to Moore backer Steve Bannon, the anti-establishment ally of President Donald Trump.

House, Senate leaders reach deal on sweeping tax package

House and Senate GOP leaders forged an agreement Wednesday on a sweeping overhaul of the nation's tax laws, paving the way for final votes next week to slash taxes for businesses and give many Americans modest tax cuts starting next year. Top GOP aides said lawmakers had reached an agreement in principle on the final package.

Harper: When Moore is Less

The defeat of Roy Moore in Tuesday's special election in Alabama, to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions, was a welcome development. But Democrats should not rush to congratulate themselves and draw too many unwarranted conclusions about the implications for the upcoming midterm elections.

Why did Roy Moore lose? It was more than just allegations

The easy, immediate and accurate analysis of Roy Moore's loss in Tuesday's election for the U.S. Senate is that the allegations made against him cost him the race. Without those allegations of sexual misconduct, which Moore repeatedly denied, he certainly would have sailed to victory.

Democrats just won Alabama – and their clearest path yet to taking back the Senate

Supporters celebrate after media began to call the election for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Doug Jones, at his election night party in Birmingham, Alabama, Dec. 12, 2017. Democrats didn't just win Alabama on Tuesday night.

Republicans accuse Justice Department of bias after release of FBI officials’ text messages

FBI officials' text messages were released Tuesday describing the possibility of a presidential victory by Donald Trump as "terrifying" and saying that Hillary Clinton "just has to win." Accusations of bias, primed by the newly released texts from FBI officials, took centre stage Wednesday when Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who appointed Mueller as special counsel, began testifying before the House Judiciary Committee.

The aftermath of Alabama

Quin Hillyer, a conservative columnist who once had a stint at the D-G, offers a tough post mortem in the New York Times: Donald Trump and Steve Bannon are politically impotent. The president and his former grand strategist threw considerable weight behind Roy Moore, the polarizing Republican Senate candidate in Alabama.

Gillibrand got a fight she wants after Trump’s fiery tweet

In this July 25, 2016, file photo, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY., speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Gillibrand got a fight she wants after President Donald Trump attacked her in a provocative tweet that claimed she'd begged him for campaign contributions and would "do anything" for them.

Democrat Jones defeats Moore in stunning upset

In a stunning victory aided by scandal, Democrat Doug Jones won Alabama's special Senate election on Tuesday, beating back history, an embattled Republican opponent and President Donald Trump, who urgently endorsed GOP rebel Roy Moore despite a litany of sexual misconduct allegations. It was the first Democratic Senate victory in a quarter-century in Alabama, one of the reddest of red states, and proved anew that party loyalty is anything but sure in the age of Trump.

‘An uphill fight’: What’s next for Senator-elect Doug Jones?

Democrat Doug Jones celebrates his Election Night victory on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017, at the Sheraton Hotel in Birmingham. (Joe Songer When Doug Jones is sworn in as Alabama's newest senator, he will arrive to Washington, D.C. as a "darling" of national Democrats.