In Washington, a day of snapshots of divisions and futility

By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Thursday saw a closed-door huddle by an embattled President Joe Biden with his own party’s senators, apparently for naught. There was an eyebrow-raising speech on the Senate floor by a recalcitrant Democrat. And a defiant news conference by the top House Republican. None of the events were helpful for Democrats. All were snapshots from a day that underscored the divisiveness and futility washing over a largely gridlocked Washington during this jaggedly partisan time. At stake are Democrats’ efforts to pass voting rights legislation and to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by then-President Donald Trump’s supporters.