BOSTON — When Elizabeth Warren needed a glowing introduction to her speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, her former law school student, Rep. Joe Kennedy III, was there to provide it. When she needed someone to introduce her to the teeming crowd when she launched her presidential campaign earlier this year, Kennedy once again was the choice.Yet as Kennedy embarks on the biggest race of his career, a primary challenge to Sen. Ed Markey next year, Warren won’t be returning the favor. In a contest that will force the Massachusetts political class to choose sides, Warren has endorsed Markey.The awkwardness is hard to miss.In standing by her Senate colleague, Warren is lining up with much of the state’s Democratic establishment. Markey, who has served in Congress since the 1970s, has the backing of the majority of the congressional delegation and the state Legislature. Few of them are anxious to

http://www.politico.com/

The Senate is essentially outsourcing its legislative duties to a divided White House and the whims of President Donald Trump, as it makes its first sustained attempt at overhauling gun laws in years. It’s a clear reaction from senators being burned so often and so badly by Trump. After having tried to guess where the president might land on a given policy dispute only to see him derail their plans, this time, they’re taking no chances of reliving the trauma. “First time ever in history when the president sets the agenda every day when he tweets at 4 in the morning,” said Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), who is retiring at the end of the year and saw his work on an immigration bill fall apart last year after Trump came out against it. “Pelosi will drive some trains, Mitch will drive others. And the president is going to drive ones

http://www.politico.com/

Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed changing federal law to specify that a sitting president can be indicted, even as she indicated she was no closer to moving to impeach President Donald Trump. In an interview with NPR published Friday, Pelosi argued that despite a Justice Department legal opinion asserting the contrary, “there is nothing any place that says the president should not be indicted.” That longstanding opinion from DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel took center stage in the political universe beginning this spring, when former special counsel Robert Mueller released his report detailing the findings of his investigation into Russian election interference and whether Trump obstructed justice in the probe. Mueller specifically cited the OLC opinion in his report, saying he would not have brought an indictment against the president regardless of what his probe uncovered and never intended to determine whether Trump committed a crime. Mueller’s ambiguity touched off a

http://www.politico.com/