AirTalk’s weekly political roundtable recaps the big stories you might’ve missed over the weekend and looks ahead to the week to come in political news at the national and state level. Here’s what we’re watching this week:
2020 candidates check-in
Biden declared his run last week, raised $6.3M in first 24 hours, tried to smooth things over with Anita Hill, has rally today at 2p ET in Pittsburgh, gets firefighters’ union endorsement
Beto kicked off CA campaign on Saturday, calls for $5 trillion to fight climate change
Elizabeth Warren lays out plan for eliminating student loans
Who’s in the Dem debates and who is in danger of not qualifying
As Congress returns to Washington, D.C. after a two week break, AG Barr expected to testify on Wednesday (Senate Judiciary), Thursday (House Judiciary), but threatening not to testify before House
As White House stonewalls subpoenas, House Dems grapple with how to respond
Trump’s speech at NRA convention on Friday (apparently he said he’d never ratify an arms treaty and renewed his promise to repeal ACA)
Rod Rosenstein speaks on his role in Mueller probe
FBI warns of Russian interference in 2020 race
Trump, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe met Friday to try and hammer out a trade deal
Trump admin wants to raise debt limit
Trump sticking with Stephen Moore for Fed post, despite misogynistic comments
White House Correspondents’ Dinner was Saturday night
Former Indiana Senator Richard Lugar dies at 87
With guest host Kyle Stokes
Guests:
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist and founder and chief executive officer of Rodriguez Strategies. He is also a former senior Obama advisor in 2008; he tweets
Sean T. Walsh, Republican political analyst and partner at Wilson Walsh Consulting in San Francisco; he is a former adviser to California Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger and a former White House staffer for Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush