White House administration officials were told Tuesday to boycott this weekend's White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, according to reports in CNN and Politico.
The backdrop: Trump skipped the annual dinner for the last two years, choosing instead to hold campaign-style rallies. He'll do the same this weekend with an event in Green Bay, Wisconsin. This year's WHCA Dinner won't feature the traditional presidential roast from a comedian — historian Ron Chernow will speak instead — after Michelle Wolf's routine last year drew criticism from some who said it crossed the line into personal attacks.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said she supports including a third gender option on federal identity documents on Tuesday, Politico reports.
Where it stands: 10 states, and Washington, D.C., currently issue identity documents with options to identify as non-binary, intersex or to opt-out via an "X" on gender markers. However, the documents are inconsistent from state to state — many only include the extra options on birth certificates. Ohio technically offers intersex people a third identification option, but uses outdated language.
Former U.S. Air Force helicopter pilot M.J. Hegar, who narrowly lost a high-profile House race in 2018, launched a Senate campaign against incumbent John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Tuesday morning.
Why it matters: Beto O'Rourke's long-shot Senate challenge against Ted Cruz last year garnered national attention and raised the possibility that Texas could be in play in 2020, especially with demographics shifting in Democrats' favor. Hegar, whose campaign video "Doors" went viral during the midterms, is the first Democrat to announce a run against Cornyn, though the field is expected to fill up.
When Joe Biden announces for president later this week, he'll open his campaign with a "climate of the nation" message that takes on President Trump but doesn't directly attack any of the other 2020 Democrats, advisers tell me.
What he'll say: Biden will spell out the stakes for the country, and talk about what kind of people we're going to be. He'll emphasize the kind of politics he's running against, and what kind of leadership the moment calls for.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is the runaway preferred 2020 Democratic presidential candidate for progressive activists, a Democracy for America survey published early Tuesday shows.
Details: In the online survey of 96,641 DFA members, Sanders achieved 42.3% support — 30 points ahead of his closest rival, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) (10.52%).
Congress should take steps toward the impeachment of President Trump following the release of the redacted Mueller report, Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) told a CNN town hall in New Hampshire Monday.
"I think we have very good reason that there is an investigation that has been conducted that has produced evidence that tells us that this president and his administration have engaged in obstruction of justice. I believe Congress should take the steps toward impeachment."
Responding to a question about whether the Boston Marathon bomber should have his voting rights restored, Sen. Bernie Sanders said during CNN's presidential town hall that the right to vote is inherent, even for people convicted of sexual violence and terrorism charges.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) doubled down on her call for impeachment against President Trump during a CNN presidential town hall Monday night, arguing that "there is no political inconvenience exception to the United States Constitution" and that every person in the House and Senate should have to vote on whether they approve of Trump's conduct.
House Democratic leaders tamped down calls to kick-start impeachment proceedings against President Trump following the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report last week, telling rank-and-file lawmakers in a call Monday evening they have no plans to immediately pursue impeachment, 3 officials on the call told the Washington Post.
"We can investigate Trump without drafting articles. We aren't going to go faster, we are going to go as fast as the facts take us."
Responding to continued fallout over the Mueller report on Monday, President Trump told reporters during the White House Easter Egg Roll that "nobody disobeys my orders," and that he's not at all worried about the threat of impeachment from the Democrat-controlled House.
Reality check: On page 158 of the Mueller report's section on obstruction, the special counsel writes: "The President's efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests."
President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump on Monday greeted and hosted children and their families on the White House South Lawn for the 141st annual Easter Egg Roll.
Details: Trump took the opportunity to praise the continued strong performance of the job market and the economy, for which he took credit. About 30,000 people were expected to attend the event, a tradition that dates back to 1878.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s latest big 2020 idea: A $640 billion student loan debt cancellation, funded by a tax on the rich.
Why it matters: Student loan debt is becoming a top 2020 political issue, testing candidates on how to keep Americans' student loan debt from further increasing. Warren wants to finance the proposal, like many of her others, with her "ultra-millionaire tax," she wrote in a Medium post on Monday.
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) officially launched his 2020 presidential campaign on Monday.
The big picture: Moulton, an Iraq War veteran who led an infantry platoon while serving in the Marines, plans to make foreign policy, national security and defense his key issues. Axios' Mike Allen scooped last week that Moulton would be jumping into the race after he was spotted filming a launch video in his hometown of Marblehead, Mass.
