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The simmering tensions between former President TrumpDonald TrumpAbrams fires back at Perdue, Kemp over criticism of maskless photo Biden to visit Israel later this year Manchin crosses party lines in officially endorsing Murkowski MORE and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantisRon DeSantisDeSantis, state AGs pledge to investigate GoFundMe removing page for Canadian vaccine mandate protest The Hill's 12:30 Report: Strong jobs report surprises economists Michelle Obama: Democrats' 2024 'break glass in case of emergency' candidate MORE (R) are looming over the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where both men are set to give highly anticipated speeches later this month.

With Trump eyeing a political comeback and DeSantis seen as a potential contender for the 2024 GOP presidential bid, the high-profile gathering in Orlando, Fla., offers a prime opportunity to take the temperature of the Republican base and pitch their political brands to the conservative activists and leaders who will play a major role in boosting the partys next presidential nominee.

But the conference also has the potential to highlight and possibly even deepen the emerging divide between Trump and DeSantis, stirring both worry and intrigue within the GOP.

I think he definitely feels threatened by the governor, one GOP donor, who has given to both Trump and DeSantis, said of the former president. I cant necessarily blame him, because there are a lot of people right now who are very interested in what Ron DeSantis has to say, and I think thats especially true at CPAC.

Trump has griped behind the scenes for months about DeSantiss rapid political rise, including chatter about a future White House bid. Fueling the complaints is the Florida governors apparent refusal to say publicly that he wont challenge Trump in 2024 should the former president mount another campaign for the White House.

The donor said that while Trump has clung to the same talking points most notably his baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him DeSantis is talking about Joe Biden, hes talking about freedom from COVID lockdowns, hes looking forward and not backward.

Its unclear whether Trump and DeSantis will appear together or separately during CPAC a common stop for conservative leaders and ambitious Republican politicians and the conferences organizers havent yet released the speaking schedule.

Trump and DeSantis also wont be the only potential 2024 contenders to appear at the gathering. Former Secretary of State Mike PompeoMike PompeoSunday shows preview: US deploys troops, briefs lawmakers amid Russia-Ukraine tensions Five key things to know about the US raid that killed ISIS leader Trump's political operation enters 2022 with 2 million in the bank MORE is also slated to speak.

To be sure, its unlikely that there will be any sort of public blowup between Trump and DeSantis at CPAC.

While the former president has complained privately about the Florida governor, hes taken only veiled shots at him in public. For instance, in an interview with the conservative One America News Network last month, Trump knocked gutless politicians who refuse to say whether they have received a COVID-19 booster shot. DeSantis has repeatedly dodged questions about his booster status.

Keith Naughton, a veteran Republican strategist, said that Trump is also constrained in his ability to attack DeSantis, noting the Florida governors rising popularity among Republican voters, as well as the fact that hes up for reelection this year.

Anyone who has come close to him, hes knocked them down, Naughton said. His problem now though is that DeSantis is really popular among Republicans, and Trump obviously doesnt want a Democrat being governor of Florida.

With Trump, its all about Trump all the time and DeSantis is homing in on that, Naughton added. So now Trump is constrained on how he can attack him.

Trump, DeSantis and their allies have worked to tamp down chatter that their relationship has become strained. In a recent interview with Fox News host Sean HannitySean Patrick HannitySupreme Court should look more like America, or so Republicans once thought These people have been subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 panel Kayleigh McEnany turned over text messages to Jan. 6 panel: report MORE, Trump insisted that he has a very good relationship with Ron.

For his part, DeSantis has accused the media of pushing a false narrative around his relationship with Trump, while dismissing speculation about a potential 2024 presidential run as nonsense. He has said repeatedly that hes focused on carrying out his duties as governor and running for reelection this year.

Still, Trump has been keeping a close watch on the Florida governor as he sizes up the potential competition ahead of 2024. One former Trump aide said that DeSantis could also easily dispel any notion of tension with Trump by pledging not to seek the GOP nomination if the former president does. CPAC could be a good opportunity for DeSantis to kiss the ring, the aide said.

Show that hes still loyal to the president and let everyone know that he has no intention of challenging him, the aide said. Donald Trump is still the leader of the party, so take the opportunity to show were all united here.

Trump is still the heavy favorite among Republican voters for the 2024 presidential nomination, with early polling showing him dominating the field of potential contenders. Still, DeSantis routinely polls in second place among would-be GOP presidential hopefuls and gains significant ground when Trump is taken out of the running.

Within Florida, DeSantis appears to be an even more potent force.A Suffolk University/USA Today pollof likely voters in the Sunshine State still showed DeSantis trailing Trump in a hypothetical primary match-up, though by a much smaller margin only about 7 percentage points.

That same survey found DeSantis outperforming Trump in a hypothetical head-to-head race against President BidenJoe BidenBiden to visit Israel later this year Working class insecurity and Build Back Better Experts open the door to lifting last mask mandates MORE. DeSantis led the incumbent president 52 percent to 44 percent, while Trump held a narrower 47 percent to 44 percent lead.

Nevertheless, Trump already has a massive edge over any potential challenger. He has virtually universal name recognition nationwide and a massive war chest to fund his political operation. He announced earlier this week that his affiliated political groups entered 2022 with more than $122 million in the bank.

Yet while Trump may be the 2024 hopeful to beat right now, Naughton, the Republican strategist, said that CPAC attendees will be closely watching DeSantis, arguing that the former presidents political hold on the GOP has already begun to slip.

The story of CPAC will be that Trump gets a huge reception, everyone will say that they love Trump. Hell get wild cheers, Naughton said. But behind the scenes, people are going to be thinking we need somebody else who can win. Theyre going to be checking out DeSantis and sizing him up as a potential replacement.

Thats really the story of the past year and going into this next year, he added.

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Trump, DeSantis tensions shadow this year's CPAC | TheHill - The Hill

A memoir by the former defense secretary, Mark T. Esper, about his tenure in the Trump administration will be published with minimal redactions after he sued the agency he once led because it wanted to block information in the manuscript, his lawyer said on Friday.

The announcement brought an end to a battle between Mr. Esper and the Defense Department over what material was considered classified and therefore could not be included in his book, titled A Sacred Oath, which is set to be published in May.

Mr. Esper, who was fired by former President Donald J. Trump shortly after he lost re-election in the 2020 race, sued the Department of Defense in November, accusing agency officials of improperly blocking parts of his book under the guise of classification.

Mr. Espers lawyer, Mark S. Zaid, said in a statement on Friday that they had dropped the lawsuit after the Pentagon reversed its decisions about an overwhelming majority of the portions of the book that it had earlier said were classified.

Mr. Zaid said Mr. Esper thought that the remaining redactions to the book were also improper but that they were not central to the book.

Frankly, Secretary Esper has no interest in publishing properly classified information, which he has sworn to and protected for decades, Mr. Zaid said in the statement.

The Defense Department did respond directly to a request for comment about the end of the lawsuit.

There are no changes to the Departments prepublication security and policy review, it said on Saturday. The purpose of Department of Defense prepublication security and policy review is to ensure information damaging to the national security is not inadvertently disclosed.

In the departments prepublication review of Mr. Espers manuscript, it redacted more than 50 pages of the book that absolutely gutted substantive content and important story lines, Mr. Zaid said. This included accounts of some of Mr. Espers interactions with Mr. Trump and his views on actions taken by other countries, according to the lawsuit.

The prepublication review system is meant to stop current and former employees of the executive branch from sharing information that is classified and could damage national security if released, but Mr. Esper was not the first Trump administration official to encounter trouble during the process.

In 2020, a career official who oversaw the prepublication review of a book by John R. Bolton, a national security adviser in the Trump administration, accused White House aides of improperly politicizing the manuscript review.

Numerous inquiries. Since former President Donald Trumpleft office, there have been many investigations and inquiries into his businesses and personal affairs. Heres a list of those ongoing:

Investigation into criminal fraud. The Manhattan district attorneys office and the New York attorney generals officeare investigating whether Mr. Trump or his family business, the Trump Organization, engaged in criminal fraud by intentionally submitting false property values to potential lenders.

Investigation into tax evasion. As part of their investigation, in July 2021, the Manhattan district attorneys office charged the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer with orchestrating a 15-year scheme to evade taxes.A trial in that case is scheduled for summer 2022.

Mr. Zaid said that review process was broken because of the time and money required to challenge the decisions in court and because ultimately the department reversed its position on an overwhelming majority of classification decisions it earlier asserted were so vital to the national security interests of the United States, when the fact is they never were.

Mr. Esper submitted a draft of the manuscript for the review process in late May, and came to believe the process was taking an unusually long time, according to the lawsuit. The Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review returned the manuscript in October without a written explanation for the deletions, the lawsuit said.

Mr. Esper said that some of the redactions asked me to not quote former President Trump and others in meetings, to not describe conversations between the former president and me, and to not use certain verbs or nouns when describing historical events.

I was also asked to delete my views on the actions of other countries, on conversations I held with foreign officials, and regarding international events that have been widely reported, Mr. Esper continued. Many items were already in the public domain; some were even published by D.O.D.

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Esper Memoir of Trump Tenure to Move Ahead After Legal Battle Ends - The New York Times

What? You didnt even know about it? Dont worry. Youre not alone. Almost nobody, except for the most die-hard Trump supporters, heard about it ahead of time.Like his earlier MAGA event on Jan.16 inArizona,Trumps Texas rallywas one of the best-kept secrets in American politics.

Of course, the faithful turned out in big numbers.But thats all.Trump wassimply preaching to the choir. You couldnt watch it on TV, either. None of the networks carriedthe rallylive. Neither did CNN or MSNBC. Not even Fox News. Only Fox Nation, the streaming service, and Newsmax, the 24/7 Trump cable channel, bothered to air the rally. And, other than the Houston Chronicle, there was almost zero print coverage. No wonder. It was the same old crowd being fed the same old lies.

Isnt it comforting to know thatthere areat least three Republicanswho believe that assaulting a police officer doesnot merit a presidential pardon?

For the second time in two weeks,Donald Trump laid an egg.And thatshouldtell us something:The Trump show is getting old.Its like expecting people to still watch Dancing with the Stars.Yeah, it was fun at first, but it soon got old. So has Trump. Hesso yesterday. Hes only been out ofofficea year, yet everyday fewer and fewer people care about what he says or does anymore.Especially because he sounds like such a broken record.

Which leads to the obvious conclusion and, no matter what you think, its not just wishful thinkingon my partDONALD TRUMP IS RUNNING OUT OF GAS.

Thats clearto me for three reasons. First because,Trumpstill refuses to admit he lost in 2020. Which is a growing problem for Republicans. They say they want to focus on the future, yet they stick with Donald Trump, and hes stuck in the past. In Arizona and Texas, all he talked aboutwas:the election was stolen; Jan.6 wasnt all that bad; and people are picking on me.

And finally, Trump is more and more mired down in legal troubles he cant just wish away. Every day,the Jan.6 inches closer and closer to charging Trump himself, which the Justice Department may already be considering. New York Attorney General Letitia James has clearly intensified her investigation of the Trump organization. And a Georgia grand jurys been convened to investigate charges of election interference by Trump.

It wont be long beforethe majority ofRepublicans conclude that Donald Trump is more of a liability than an asset. In fact, he already is.

Press is host of The Bill Press Pod. He is author of From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.

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Press: Trump is running out of gas | TheHill - The Hill

Jason Miller, the ex-senior adviser of the former US President Donald Trump spoke to WION on a range of issues, including the Biden administration, the current coronavirus (COVID-19) situation in the United States.

Amid the escalating border situation between Russia and Ukraine, Miller also commented on Joe Biden's take on the Ukraine crisis and the stance that the US has taken on the conflict.

Question)Donald Trump has said he may consider a pardon for the capitol hill rioters if he returns to office does that mean he is most definitely running in 2024 or is it still a maybe?

Answer)That's with regard to people he believes were treated unfairly and did not commit any truly illegal or violent activity. Of course, if somebody assaulted law enforcement or if they created to damage or did something to assault or hurt another person.

Obviously, they should be fully prosecuted.

Even though there has not been a formal decision yet, I am pretty confident that Trump does run again in 2024. Many people would say they think there would be a rematch but I don't think Joe Biden runs again in 2024.

My prediction is it would be Trump versus California Governor Gavin Newsom in 2024.

Question)If and when Donald Trump does run for president in 2024, what would be the main focus of his campaign?

Answer)First would be to try to restore some of the American greatness that he was able to lead us toward in his first term. I would say that Trump is by far the most consequential single-term president in US history.

I have advised President Trump that he needs to make sure his relationship with Quad Allies in particular with India needs to be much stronger than it was in his first term. I do think they improved during his first term but they could be stronger especially when we look at this common concern with China.

ALSO READ |Ex-Trump adviser speaks to WION on reports that some White House records were torn up and taped back

Question)We are talking at a time when Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc across the United States. The US in fact has a far higher Covid death rate than other wealthy countries how would you grade the Biden administration's handling of the Covid-19 crisis?

Answer)Joe Biden ran on a promise to effectively end Covid-19 and we have seen anything but that. We have not seen our stockpiles restored. We are just now starting to get to the point where at-home testing kits are being sent out. No efforts by the US to hold the CCP in China accountable. That's one of the things where I am most frustrated with the Biden administration for not taking stronger action in seeking some aspect of economicreparations.

China and the CCP allowed this virus to spread all over the world and they lied about it and covered it up.

Question)What do you make of the rhetoric we have seen coming in from Joe Biden on the Ukraine crisis and the stance that the US has taken on the conflict?

Answer)We are stuck in the middle ground here. Joe Biden does not exhibit the confidence or the strength to ward off Putin's aggression.

Much of Putin's strategy is to rally his domestic base. Do I think ultimately Putin will go and try to take over all of Ukraine? No. Do I think he wants to try to slow nato or even EU expansion? Absolutely.

But the problem is with Joe Biden exhibiting such weakness on the global stage and having a lack of real international dialogue with Putin, it's allowed Putin to essentially be emboldened.

The major threat, the real concern in the global geopolitical space is I think it's a matter of when and not if china takes over Taiwan.

And I think that's something that's going to be a massive shock for the entire Indo-Pacific theatre. President xi is watching Biden's weakness in dealing with Putin and I think is probably emboldened to make that move against the island nation.

China is an existential threat not just to the US but to democracies around the world.

Watch the full interview here:

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Ex-Donald Trump adviser Jason Miller weighs in on Biden administration, Covid crisis in US, and more - WION

WASHINGTON Two senators working on an overhaul of the little-known law that former President Donald J. Trump and his allies tried to use to overturn the 2020 election pledged on Sunday that their legislation would pass the Senate, saying that recent revelations about the plot made their work even more important.

In a joint interview on CNNs State of the Union, Senators Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, and Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, said their efforts to rewrite the Electoral Count Act of 1887 were gaining broader support in the Senate, with as many as 20 senators taking part in the discussions.

Absolutely, it will pass, Mr. Manchin said of an overhaul of the law, which dictates how Congress formalizes elections.

He said efforts by Mr. Trump and his allies to exploit ambiguity in the law were what caused the insurrection the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. That misreading of the statute led to a plan by Mr. Trump and his allies to amass a crowd outside the Capitol to try to pressure Congress and Vice President Mike Pence, who presided over Congresss official count of electoral votes, to overturn the results of the election.

Ms. Murkowski said the rewrite could be expanded to include other protections for democracy, such as a crackdown on threats and harassment against election workers.

We want to make sure that if you are going to be an election worker, Ms. Murkowski said, you dont feel intimidated or threatened or harassed.

A bipartisan group of at least 15 senators which includes Mr. Manchin and Ms. Murkowski and is led by Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine recently began discussions with another group that features top Democrats who have studied the issue for months. That group includes Senator Angus King, independent of Maine; Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota; and Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois.

Mr. Kings group last week released draft legislative text for a rewrite of the Electoral Count Act that would address deficiencies exposed by Mr. Trumps plan. The bill would clarify that the vice president has no power to reject a states electors and ensure that state legislatures cannot appoint electors after Election Day in an effort to overturn their states election results.

It would also give states additional time to complete legitimate recounts and litigation; provide limited judicial review to ensure that the electors appointed by a state reflect the popular vote results in the state; enumerate specific and narrow grounds for objections to electors or electoral votes; raise the thresholds for Congress to consider objections; and make it harder to sustain objections without broad support by both chambers of Congress.

In an interview with The New York Times, Mr. King called his groups draft very nonpartisan and said it included the input of conservative and liberal legal scholars.

Hopefully we can join forces and get a good bill, Mr. King said of Ms. Collinss group.

The latest push to clarify the law follows a series of revelations about a campaign by Mr. Trump and his allies to try to overturn the 2020 election, including the surfacing of memos that show the roots of the attempts to use so-called alternate electors to keep Mr. Trump in power and the former presidents exploration of proposals to seize voting machines.

On Friday, Mr. Pence offered his most forceful rebuke of Mr. Trumps plan, saying the former president was wrong to insist that Mr. Pence had the legal authority to overturn the results of the election. Those comments came on the same day the Republican National Committee voted to censure two members of the party, Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, in a resolution that described the events of Jan. 6 as legitimate political discourse.

Ms. Cheney and Mr. Kinzinger are the only Republican members of the special House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, which left more than 150 police officers injured and resulted in several deaths.

The resolution drew criticism from some congressional Republicans on Sunday.

Representative Michael McCaul, Republican of Texas, said on ABCs This Week that he did not agree with that statement if its applying to those who committed criminal offenses and violence to overtake our shrine of democracy.

In an interview on NBCs Meet the Press, Marc Short, Mr. Pences former chief of staff, said that from my front-row seat, I did not see a lot of legitimate political discourse.

Mr. Short blamed Mr. Trumps push to overturn the election on many bad advisers who were basically snake-oil salesmen, giving him really random and novel ideas as to what the vice president could do.

He described being taken to a secure room in the Capitol with Mr. Pence on Jan. 6 as rioters stormed the building, some chanting, Hang Mike Pence. He said Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence did not talk that day.

Mr. Short and another top Pence aide, Greg Jacob, recently testified before the committee, a step Mr. Pences advisers have hoped would stop the committee from issuing a subpoena for Mr. Pence. Representatives of Mr. Pence have been negotiating with the committees lawyers for months.

That would be a pretty unprecedented step for the committee to take, Mr. Short said of a subpoena for the former vice president, adding that it would be very difficult for me to see that scenario unfolding.

Emily Cochrane and Chris Cameron contributed reporting.

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Overhaul of Electoral Count Act Will Pass, Manchin Says - The New York Times