Tipsheet: CPAC attendees say Biden poses greatest threat to Trump

View in your browser     CPAC attendees say Biden poses greatest threat to Trump BY SCOTT WONG NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — They’re confident Donald Trump will win a second term, but many attendees of the nation’s largest gathering of conservative activists agreed that Joe Biden poses the greatest threat to the president in 2020. Grassroots activists at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference repeatedly invoked the former Democratic vice president when asked who would be the most formidable challenger to Trump ahead of his re-election campaign. Read the full story here     Pelosi aide: Dems 'will take all necessary steps' to get Trump's tax returns BY NAOMI JAGODA House Democrats have "legitimate" reasons to obtain President Trump's tax returns and "will take all necessary steps" to get their hands on them, Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) office said Friday. Read the full story here     Dems ramp up scrutiny of Kushner's security clearance BY CRISTINA MARCOS House Democrats are ramping up their investigation of White House security clearances following reports that President Trump ordered a top-secret clearance for his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner despite concerns from intelligence officials. Read the full story here     Cohen's attorney says he 'speculated' about White House role but decided against it BY MORGAN CHALFANT Michael Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis said Friday that his client “speculated” about a possible job in the White House but that he later decided he would prefer to work for President Trump as his personal attorney. Read the full story here       Trump says his remarks on Warmbier were 'misinterpreted' BY JORDAN FABIAN   President Trump on Friday sought to clean up his widely criticized claim that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not know about the treatment of U.S. college student Otto Warmbier, saying “I hold North Korea responsible” for Warmbier’s “mistreatment and death.” Read the full story here     Mueller expects case against Stone to take five to eight days in court BY LYDIA WHEELER Special counsel Robert Mueller expects it will take five to eight days for the government to present its case at trial against Roger Stone, a longtime associate of President Trump. Read the full story here     Judge asks Roger Stone to explain ‘imminent’ release of book BY TAL AXELROD Republican operative and Trump associate Roger Stone found himself in more legal trouble Friday after a federal judge demanded an explanation as to why he did not disclose the “imminent” publication of a book that may violate a gag order.  Read the full story here     Manafort's attorneys argue for leniency in Virginia sentence BY LYDIA WHEELER Paul Manafort’s defense attorneys are urging the federal judge presiding over his criminal case in Virginia to send the former Trump campaign chairman to prison for significantly less time than the 19.5 to 24 years recommended under the sentencing guidelines. Read the full story here     Cummings accuses White House of stonewalling security clearance probe BY MORGAN CHALFANT House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) is demanding that President Trump’s White House comply with an ongoing investigation into the security clearance process, accusing the White House of stonewalling congressional requests for documents and transcribed interviews. Read the full story here     Trump rips Cohen in tweetstorm: He 'committed perjury on a scale not seen before' BY JORDAN FABIAN AND JOHN BOWDEN President Trump on Friday sought to undermine the credibility of his former personal attorney Michael Cohen, who delivered explosive testimony on Capitol Hill depicting the president as a “racist” and “con man” who engaged in criminality. Read the full story here     With 'no need to rush,' Washington should reassess North Korea policy BY SOO KIM Opinion | For many Korea-watchers, the outcome at the second U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi — no deal — was a plot twist at the eleventh hour. In the weeks, days, hours, minutes leading up to the Trump-Kim talks, the expectation — however enthusiastic, begrudging, or one of resignation — had been the two would reach an agreement that would lead to “peaceful relations” between the countries. After all, President Trump was ready to end the Korean War. Read the full story here     Will Trump risk war to save his presidency? BY MICHAEL OPPENHEIMER Opinion | Lost — temporally — in the Cohen testimony and the predictable collapse of the nuclear talks with North Korea, is the lesson we need to learn from the fabricated Mexican border ‘crisis’ and fake national emergency. It is this: President Trump is prepared to inflict lasting damage on the country to save his presidency.  Read the full story here     The Washington Post: Centrist Democrats push back against party’s liberal surge BY MICHAEL SCHERER AND MIKE DEBONIS From the halls of Congress to the presidential campaign trail, Democratic moderates are beginning to push back against the wave of liberal energy and shoot-the-moon policy ideas that have captured the party’s imagination over the last two months. Read the full story here     The Associated Press: Democrats 2020 – Governors try to crack the senator scramble BY BILL BARROW The opening months of the Democratic presidential primary have been dominated by senators who have staked their campaigns on personal narratives and sweeping liberal policies. Now come the governors. Read the full story here     The New York Times: Trump’s surprising new ally in Mexico? The government BY AZAM AHMED AND KIRK SEMPLE Mexican officials are carrying out the Trump administration’s immigration agenda across widespread stretches of the border, undercutting the Mexican government’s promises to defend migrants and support their search for a better life. Read the full story here     The Wall Street Journal: Even before Trump and Kim met, nuclear talks had run aground BY MICHAEL R. GORDON, JONATHAN CHENG and VIVIAN SALAMA Weeks before President Trump journeyed to Vietnam for his second summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, there were unmistakable signs the historic meeting might not yield an agreement. Read the full story here     NBC News: U.S. to end large-scale military drills with South Korea BY COURTNEY KUBE, DAN DE LUCE AND STELLA KIM The U.S. military is preparing to announce that annual large-scale joint exercises conducted with South Korea every spring will no longer be held, according to two U.S. defense officials. The major U.S.-South Korea exercises are being curtailed as part of the Trump administration's effort to ease tensions with North Korea, the officials said. Read the full story here   Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up for The Hill Tipsheet       Forward this Tipsheet     You might like         Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  |  Email to a friend  |  Sign Up for Other Newsletters   The Hill 1625 K Street, NW 9th Floor, Washington DC 20006 ©2016 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.