Los Angeles Times - 01.08.2019

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■■■ ELECTION 2020 ■■■

DETROIT — The at-
tacks on front-runner Joe
Biden were unrelenting and,
at times, personal in a con-
tentious Democratic debate
Wednesday night during
which the former vice presi-
dent delivered pointed re-
torts as he sought to con-
vince voters that he is not an
Obama-era relic, but the
politician to revive the party.
The leading rivals shar-
ing the stage with the more
moderate Biden on Wednes-
day — California Sen. Ka-
mala Harris and New Jersey
Sen. Cory Booker — tangled
with him on issues not just of
policy, but of identity poli-
tics, as the two black law-
makers compete with him
for African American voters,
whose support is crucial to
winning the nomination.
“There are people right
now in prison for life for drug
offenses because you stood
up and used that tough-on-
crime rhetoric that got a lot
of people elected but de-
stroyed communities like
mine,” Booker said to Biden
when the debate turned to
mass incarceration.
“Mr. Vice President has
said that, since the 1970s, ev-
ery major crime bill — every
crime bill, major and minor
— has had his name on it.
And, sir ... this is one of those
instances where the house
was set on fire and you
claimed responsibility for
those laws.”
The tone of attack was no
softer when candidates chal-
lenged Biden on healthcare
and immigration.
“In 2019 in America, for a
Democrat to be running for
president with a plan that
does not cover everyone, I
think, is without excuse,”

DEMOCRATS take the stage Wednesday in Detroit: From left, Michael Bennet, Kirsten Gillibrand, Julián
Castro, Cory Booker, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Andrew Yang, Tulsi Gabbard, Jay Inslee and Bill de Blasio.

Brendan SmialowskiAFP/Getty Images

Biden fields attacks from

all sides, and returns fire

Bitter tone pervades debate on issues substantive and personal

By Evan Halper,
Seema Mehta
and Tyrone Beason

JOE BIDENand Kamala Harris during a sharp exchange. The former vice presi-

dent’s rivals often confronted him to account for words and actions decades ago.

Jim WatsonAFP/Getty Images

[SeeDebate, A1]

WASHINGTON — The

Federal Reserve on Wednes-

day cut interest rates for the

first time since the Great Re-

cession in 2008, a risky move

that clashes with its histori-

cal practice of taking such a

step only when the economy

is in real trouble.

The small, quarter-point

reduction in its key rate is

meant to be preventive med-

icine in the face of global

economic uncertainties,

such as the U.S. trade con-

flict with China and Britain’s

messy exit from the Europe-

an Union.

In announcing its deci-

sion after a two-day meeting,

the Fed highlighted el-

ements of a solidly growing

American economy but

stated that it was acting “in

light of the implications of

global developments for the

economic outlook as well as

muted inflation pressures.”

That strategy is a depar-

ture from the past when the

central bank typically acted

only after seeing actual evi-

dence of an impending

downturn.

The Fed statement

Wednesday signaled that

the central bank was pre-

pared to cut rates further if

needed, reiterating that it

“will act as appropriate to

sustain the expansion.”

But financial markets

and one of the Fed’s most in-

fluential critics — President

Trump — were disappoint-

ed. Stocks sold off upon re-

lease of the statement and

kept sinking as Fed Chair-

man Jerome H. Powell ad-

dressed a news conference

afterward.

Some investors were

looking for a bigger half-

point cut, and many others

had been betting on the Fed

to lower rates further in the

next few months. But two

of 10 policymakers voted

against Wednesday’s rate

move, preferring to stand

pat. And Powell spoke tenta-

tively about future plans,

and he pushed back against

the idea that this was, as he

put it, “the beginning of a

Rate cut seen as

preventive step

to aid economy

Fed cites global

uncertainty for the

first such move since

the Great Recession.

Trump complains it

doesn’t go far enough.

By Don Lee

[SeeFed, A1]

WASHINGTON — Sand-

wiched between a heated

but often disjointed argu-

ment over healthcare and an

inconclusive discussion of

climate change, 10 Demo-

cratic candidates for presi-

dent grappled Wednesday

evening with race — their

party’s greatest potential

source of strength and also

its most fraught division.

Never in the history of

major-party presidential de-

bates has so diverse a group

of candidates appeared on a

presidential debate stage:

three women and five people

of color, including a Latino

former Cabinet member and

two black U.S. senators.

That lineup showed the

face of the Democrats’ mul-

tiracial and multiethnic co-

alition, which provides a

central advantage for the

party in a country whose

nonwhite population is rap-

idly growing, especially in

the metropolitan areas

where most Democrats live.

In the 2016 election, only 1

in 10 of Donald Trump’s vot-

ers were nonwhite, accord-

ing to a study by the nonpar-

tisan Pew Research Center.

By contrast, 4 in 10 of Hillary

Clinton’s voters were people

of color. About 2 in 10 Clinton

voters were black; only

about 1 in 50 Trump voters

were.

But as Wednesday’s de-

bate showed when it turned

to issues of criminal justice,

school segregation and im-

migration, multiracial coali-

tions can be fractious. That’s

especially true when the in-

cumbent president has ele-

vated racial conflict to the

top of the agenda by persist-

ently playing on the coun-

ANALYSIS

Racial diversity, divisions

Democrats grapple with source of strength, tensions

By David Lauter

[SeeAnalysis,A1]

A Chinese billionaire and

his company had a problem,

federal prosecutors allege:

They wanted to import mas-

sive amounts of aluminum

into the United States with-

out paying tariffs.

So they came up with an

audacious plan.

Zhongtian Liu, 55, and

China Zhongwang Holdings

Ltd. imported extruded alu-

minum from China into the

ports of Los Angeles and

Long Beach, avoiding the

tariffs because the material

appeared to have been

manufactured into finished

pallets, authorities said.

They then stored the

metal in warehouses around

Southern California, engi-

neering bogus sales of the

aluminum to entities they

secretly owned to inflate the

company’s revenues and de-

ceive investors, according to

an indictment unsealed

Tuesday.

Companies controlled by

Liu imported at least 2.2 mil-

lion “pallets” between 2011

and 2014, federal prosecutors

said, but in fact, none of

them was sold.

Liu and China Zhong-

wang Holdings Ltd., Asia’s

largest aluminum extrusion

company, were charged in

Los Angeles federal court

May 7 with carrying out the

elaborate scheme to avoid

paying $1.8 billion in tariffs

intended to stop the dump-

ing of raw materials into the

U.S. market. Agents seized

the aluminum at locations

across the region in a series

of civil forfeiture actions that

began in 2017. The charges

became public this week.

Investigators believe the

plan was to eventually melt

the pallets and sell the raw

aluminum, which was ex-

tremely high-grade and

could have been used to

Chinese firm skirted

aluminum tariffs at

L.A. ports, feds say

By Alex Wigglesworth

ZHONGTIAN LIUis

charged with a scheme to

avoid $1.8 billion in tariffs

by disguising aluminum

imported from China.

Ym YikEPA/Shutterstock

[SeeAluminum,A1]

NEEDLES, Calif. — The

blistering sun hung high

above the barren landscape,

118 degrees of scatter-the-

critters hot, as Tim Terral

loaded a magazine into his 9-

millimeter pistol.

He narrowed his eyes, fix-

ing his gaze on a target be-

fore a succession of pops cut

through the silence. Bull’s-

eye.

Satisfied, Terral wiped a

bead of sweat off his brow

and cocked his head to the

side, a coy smile spreading

across his slender face.

“I don’t miss much,” he

crowed.

Today, his attention was

focused on a small shooting

target. But Terral has his eye

on a larger one: California’s

tough gun control laws.

In June, other city lead-

ers followed the Needles

councilman’s suggestion

and declared this town along

the Colorado River a “sanc-

tuary city” for the 2nd

Amendment.

The collision of liberal

and conservative buzzwords

‘Sanctuary city’ for the 2nd Amendment

By Hannah Fry

NEEDLES Councilman Tim Terral takes target

practice. Officials in the California desert town say

they lose business to more gun-friendly Arizona.

Irfan KhanLos Angeles Times

[SeeNeedles,A1]

How the Fed’s

move affects you

The interest-rate cut

should lower costs for

borrowers, but some with

savings may see a drop

in returns. BUSINESS, C

Some takeaways

Biden and Harris try to

give as good as they get

as lower-polling candi-

dates seek traction. A

Trump looks

north to cut

drug prices

The U.S. will consider

allowing imports from

Canada to lower the

cost of prescription

medication — one of

the president’s 2016

campaign promises.

BUSINESS, C

Deadline passes

for the Dodgers

Uncharacteristic

restraint from the

team’s mastermind

Andrew Friedman

could haunt them in

October, writes Bill

Plaschke. SPORTS, D

Weather

Partly sunny.

L.A. Basin: 85/64. B

Broadway giant

Hal Prince dies

From “Cabaret”

to “Phantom of the

Opera,” Prince, 91,

redefined the musical

and Broadway itself.

CALIFORNIA, B

CALENDAR, E

Carolyn ColeLos Angeles Times

FBI investigating

Gilroy shooter

The agency is bringing in

two profilers to help

build a picture of the

gunman, who was killed

by police. CALIFORNIA, B