| Although he continues to sit on the sidelines of the 2020 fray, former Vice President Joe Biden remained the party’s No. 1 talking point Monday after a second woman in a matter of days accused him of improper contact.
As Alexander Bolton and Amie Parnes write, Biden is facing a crisis after Amy Lappos accused the Democratic presidential front-runner of inappropriate touching at a 2009 fundraiser in Greenwich, Conn., adding to the scrutiny of Biden’s past behavior and testing his longtime relationships with fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill.
The news prolonged what has already been an extended news cycle focused on the former vice president, who is not expected to allow these allegations to stand in the way of a likely presidential campaign. While Biden found himself alone as no one in the 2020 pool defended him after Lucy Flores made her claim Friday night, he found more friendly reactions from some of his former Senate Democratic colleagues.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), his former home-state Senate colleague, defended Biden repeatedly Monday. He chalked up his friend’s actions to Delaware being a “very friendly state” where political leaders embrace people in the open. He also argued that Biden should not be disqualified from the 2020 race over the accusations.
“I don’t believe so. I believe he’s taken the right approach ... I think his words are well chosen. He’s made it clear his intent was never to make people feel uncomfortable or any kind of harm. Delaware is a very friendly state. Delaware is a state where it’s leaders hug people, men and women, young and old. We kiss babies. We do it in public.
It’s also important to always put ourselves in somebody else’s shoes and ask how would I want to be treated if I were in their shoes, and if someone feels uncomfortable it’s important that we not make them feel uncomfortable.”
Some high-profile women also came to his defense. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) agreed that the claims should “not at all” disqualify Biden from the 2020 conversation, although she declined to comment on how much it may endanger his campaign prospects.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) agreed that it should not disqualify him, adding that she still supports him assuming that he runs for the highest office in the land.
“I’ve known Joe Biden for 25 years. He’s a warm, tactile person. He reaches out and touches, and it’s like this and that.” Feinstein said, reaching out and grabbing her male staffer by the arm as an example. “It’s hardly sexy.”
“That’s not his intention. It’s a new thing that people have been affronted by it. Over 25 years, I’ve never seen that before.”
However, the news, particularly of a second accuser, made some Senate Democrats visibly uneasy Monday night. Multiple members declined to comment about the news of Biden including Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), who told reporters that she hadn’t heard about the second accusation as she speed-walked out of the Capitol.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) kept up her criticism of the former vice president, saying that he “demeaned” Flores with his inappropriate touching and that he has to “address this more directly” if he runs.
> Eight 2020 candidates appeared before the “We the People” confab in Washington before a crowd of liberal activists, where many jumped at the chance to support some of the top priorities of the progressive crowd.
The Washington Post: Presidential candidates leap to embrace liberal demands — but will it cost them?
“Every candidate who was asked expressed support for abolishing the Electoral College, restoring voting rights to convicted felons, and naming Election Day as a national holiday. They agreed to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour and end privately financed prisons. They all pledged to reenter the Paris climate accord on their first day in office.”
The Hill: South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg becomes first winner in fundraising primary
The Hill: Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) posts $12 million haul in opening months of 2020 campaign
> Morning Report exclusive: Wesley Hunt, an Army veteran and a Houston-area businessman, announced his candidacy for the GOP nomination to take on Rep. Lizzie Pannill Fletcher (D-Texas) in Texas’s 7th Congressional District on Tuesday. Fletcher defeated former Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas), a longtime incumbent Republican in a seat that is viewed in GOP circles as prime territory for them. HUNT’S LAUNCH VIDEO
Hunt has one big supporter in his pocket: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). McCarthy helped recruit Hunt to run, including a trip to Houston, and has routinely talked about him as an exemplar candidate the GOP needs to run to help win back the House.
“He fits the district very well. He's got a young family, just had his first child, a daughter, and this is a man who believes in service, understands the district well and is a natural-born leader,” McCarthy told the Morning Report.
> ABC News: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) released 12 years of tax returns, saying that "transparency and accountability are fundamental to good governance.”
> The Hill: Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) officially announced that he will run to replace the outgoing Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) in 2020. With the move, Luján will give up any House ambitions after running for the House Democratic campaign arm for two cycles and serving as the No. 4 Democrat in leadership for the 116th Congress. 
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