Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Eric Holder, Beto O'Rourke and Michael Bloomberg have all reportedly met with President Obama as they considered whether to run for president, but the New York Times says that the Democratic Party kingmater isn't expected to make an endorsement. 

The Times has a new story that takes a look into how Obama's orbit is looking at 2020. But even those close to former Vice President Joe Biden believe Obama won't ultimately endorse in a primary. 

Read more here, and read on for more news from the 2020 trail. 

• The Boston Globe looks how the historic number of mothers running in the 2020 Democratic primary are emphasizing their experience raising children during the early campaign. It also includes the nugget that Warren will announce a "universal child care and early learning plan" to be financed by a tax on the wealthy. 
• NBC's Jonathan Allen reports on the difficult decision facing the Democratic National Committee as it decides on a 2020 convention city. 
• Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, the 2016 Libertarian vice presidential nominee, defended his decision to run against President Trump in the GOP primary on Sunday's "This Week" on ABC. 
• Republicans are looking to wrest away moderate voters from Democrats with a heavy emphasis on abortion and accusations of socialism and anti-Semitism, aiming at pressure points where Democrats disagree in the hopes of tarring the party as extreme. 
• Several Democratic presidential nominees (or likely candidates) in the Senate are joining together to author legislation that would block President Trump from paying for his border wall with disaster relief funds. 

Monday marks the start of the long-awaited North Carolina State Board of Election hearing investigating a series of election irregularities that have thrown the state's Ninth Congressional District race into question. 

Republican Mark Harris edged out Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes according to the official tally, but the state board refused to certify the election amid concerns about absentee ballot fraud. That's kept the district without congressional representation so far this year.  

Now, the board will hear from a handful of witnesses on both campaigns, as well as political operative McCrae Dowless, whose absentee ballot operation for the Harris campaign in Bladen County has drawn the most high-profile scrutiny. 

Read more from NBC News Capitol Hill reporter Leigh Ann Caldwell here, and watch her preview the hearing on Sunday's "Kasie DC" on MSNBC below. 

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez argued Sunday that the Democratic Party is more in touch with American values than the Republican Party is as he pushed back on the idea that Democrats are drifting to the left.  

When "Meet the Press" moderator Chuck Todd pointed to headlines about the divisions in the party over issues like Israel and its relationship with corporations, Perez framed the debate as well within the confines of the views shared by the majority of Americans. 

"We must never confuse unity and unanimity. We have unity on the fact that healthcare is a right for all and not a privilege for a few. Thanks to Democrats, we now have 90 percent coverage. We're having a conversation on how to get from 90 percent to 100 percent. They're talking about, on the Republican side, how to eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions," Perez said. 

"We believe that climate change is real. It’s not a hoax. And we're having a discussion about how we build this clean energy economy. The other side denies that climate change exists. So, we're having a discussion about the means, but our values are the values that I believe command the respect of the vast majority of the American people."

The party's growing pains after its strong showing in the 2018 midterms, where the party took back control of the House, has played out in the headlines in recent weeks. 

House Democratic leadership recently issued a rebuke of Minnesota Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar for evoking 'anti-Semitic tropes' on Twitter, an episode that pointed to the larger debate over Israel that's been simmering in the party for years. 

And Democrats have been split on whether to embrace extreme ideas to combat climate change espoused by some progressives promoting a "Green New Deal," as well as whether deals like the scuttled one to put an Amazon corporate headquarters in New York City is worth the tradeoff. 

But Perez argued that the vast majority of the Democratic debates are happening on turf that reflects American values, and that Democrats have shown a willingness to call out comments that go too far. He contrasted that to the Republican treatment of President Trump, pointing to Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson's defense of Trump's controversial decision to declare a national emergency to secure border wall funding. 

"The difference between Democrats and Republicans is when we see people within our own ranks do things or say things that are antithetical to our values, we are not reluctant to call them out," Perez said, pointing to Omar's comment.

"On the other side, unfortunately, they are enablers. Look at Senator Johnson with this national emergency calisthenics that he just did. He understands that it's unconstitutional, but God forbid that he would say something against Donald Trump."

Watch Perez's full interview below, where he discusses the upcoming Democratic debates amid the announcement that NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo will be broadcasting the first salvo later this year. 

After President Trump declared a national emergency on Friday, Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he’s concerned about the precedent the declaration might set for future presidents.

But he wouldn't say whether he'll vote to approve Trump’s emergency declaration, which would allow him to repurpose funds to build his border wall, because Democrats have "thwarted" the president's attempts to secure the borders

“I'm going to take a look at the case the president makes. And I'm also going to take a look at how quickly this money is actually going to be spent, versus what he's going to use,” he said.

“If he's not going to be spending it this fiscal year or very early in the next fiscal year, I would have my doubts. So again, I'm going to take a look at it and I’ll, you know, I'll decide when I actually have to vote on it.” 

Trump announced a national emergency on Friday as part of a larger plan to repurpose government dollars to fund his wall, while agreeing to sign the bipartisan spending deal that avoids a government shutdown. That congressional plan included almost $1.4 billion for border fencing in Texas, far short of the billions more Trump has said he wants for the wall.

The move is controversial, and opponents are already readying legal challenges questioning whether it’s constitutional. Democrats have also raised the prospect of holding a vote to disapprove of the declaration in the House, which would, by congressional rules, trigger a Senate vote if passed by the Democratic-majority body. 

And while some on the right have celebrated the move as a commitment to Trump’s signature campaign promise, others have raised broad concerns that the declaration could open the door for future Democratic presidents to declare emergencies on issues like climate change and gun violence. 

The full interview with Johnson will air on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” on NBC. Check your local listings for the broadcast time in your market.

Speaking at the DNC winter meeting in Washington Friday, Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams reflected on her gubernatorial campaign, discussed her new voting rights initiative and promised she’s not done running for office.

“I’m going to run for something,” Abrams said as she took the stage with shouts of “run” from the audience. She then teased the crowd by saying that she might run for president — of her homeowners’ association.

Abrams spoke about the success of her 2018 gubernatorial campaign, despite the fact that she narrowly lost. She touted the record voter turnout rates, diversity of issues she talked about, money raised and communities she reached. “We don’t have to ignore any voting bloc,” she said.

Abrams explained,“I do not regret the campaign I ran” because she is proud of the record increases in voter turnouts and political engagement. She said her campaign “worked except for voter suppression.”

After several election controversies in the 2018 midterms, she established the Fair Fight Action to advocate for free and fair elections. Abrams said voter suppression is “baked into our DNA” by ways of poll taxes, registration discrepancies, ballot access and more.

Looking to 2019 and 2020 elections, she said, “We are a 50 state country and we have to run 50 state campaigns.” Abrams stressed the importance of talking to people in all communities in all states. “I talked about issues we were not supposed to talk about,” she said.

Now that President Trump has accepted a budget deal that provides for $1.375 billion in funding for barrier-building on the southern border and declared a national emergency in a bid to secure more, the idea that Mexico would pay for the wall appears finally to be retired. 

But the insistence has been absent from the president's rhetoric for quite some time already. At his first rally of the year last week, Trump hit many of the familiar notes supporters have come to expect at the freewheeling, raucous events. Notably absent, and seemingly forgotten, was his frequent promise that Mexico would pay for a border wall.

In fact, Trump hasn’t repeated the dubious claim in months and it was largely missing from the 2018 midterms as well. 

The shift away from this central pledge was evident last month.

“During the campaign, I would say, ‘Mexico is going to pay for it.’ Obviously, I never said this and I never meant they’re going to write out a check. I said, ‘They’re going to pay for it.’ They are. They are paying for it with the incredible deal we made, called the United States, Mexico, and Canada USMCA deal,” he told reporters in January. 

There is nothing in the trade deal, however, that requires Mexico to pay for a wall, not to mention that it hasn’t been ratified by Congress yet.

The last time Trump definitively stated that “Mexico is going to pay” was May of last year at a Make America Great Again rally in Nashville, Tennessee. “I don't want to cause a problem. I don't want to cause it. But, in the end, Mexico is going to pay for the wall. I'm just telling you,” Trump told the chanting crowd. “They're going to pay for the wall and they're going to enjoy it. OK?”

In the months prior, the president had started to couch the promise, by adding “in some form.” The common catchphrase had extended beyond the trail and into his time in the White House at various events and in multiple tweets.

“With Mexico being one of the highest crime Nations in the world, we must have THE WALL. Mexico will pay for it through reimbursement/other," he tweeted on August 27.  

But gone was the notorious call and response from 2016 where Trump would ask, “who is going to pay for the wall?” and thousands of people at his rallies would roar back: “MEXICO!”

On Monday in El Paso, just blocks from the border, the president’s priority for the evening was clear. Giant red banners that said “FINISH THE WALL” flanked an American flag as the backdrop.  

Notably, there was no mention of Mexico paying for said wall, a major departure from his campaign staple a few years ago.

“So a lot of politicians said you can't get Mexico to pay for the wall. I said, it's going to be so easy. It's going to be so easy,” candidate Trump predicted in Iowa, just two days before the 2016 election.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld launched a presidential exploratory committee in New Hampshire Friday, making him the first Republican officially eying a longshot GOP primary challenge to President Donald Trump.

“I’m here because I think our country is in grave peril,” Weld said at an announcement at a “Politics and Eggs” breakfast in New Hampshire, a frequent stop for presidential candidates. “I cannot sit quietly on the sidelines any longer.”

"We cannot sit passively as our precious democracy slips quietly into darkness," he said.

Weld, who served as governor in the Bay State from 1991 to 1997, was the Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee in 2016, when former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson topped the party’s ticket. But he recently changed his party registration back to the GOP.

In his Friday morning address, Weld criticized Trump for failing to champion freedom of the press and to “denounce appalling instances of racism.”

He also pressed for U.S. leaders to address climate change and longer work visas for immigrants. 

While Weld’s possible run could provide an outlet for Republicans dissatisfied with Trump, a bid would largely be viewed as a dark horse candidacy. While Trump’s national approval rating remains mired in the 40s, almost nine in ten Republicans approve of his performance.

California Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee is endorsing Kamala Harris's presidential bid, a high-profile endorsement from her fellow Golden Stater who has deep ties to the progressive caucus and the black community. 

Lee backed Harris in a statement that evoked Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman both elected to Congress and to run for president for a major party. 

"Shirley set us on a path toward progress, and now Senator Kamala Harris picks up the baton," Lee said. 

“As just the third African American woman from a major party to run for President, I am so proud to endorse her candidacy as she continues this fight for equality, fairness, and dignity for all Americans. Watching Kamala’s career in the East Bay and San Francisco for 20 years, I’ve witnessed her deep passion for justice and opportunity, and I know she will be a president truly of the people, by the people, and for the people."

Lee previously chaired the Congressional Black Caucus and has significant clout with black lawmakers. She has also long fought to check presidential war powers and was notably the only lawmaker to vote against the authorization for war in Afghanistan shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. 

The congresswoman joins the Harris campaign as its California co-chair, giving her a boost in her home state, which will award a healthy amount of delegates in the 2020 primary race. 

Almost half of registered Republican voters agree with White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders that God "wanted Donald Trump to become president," a new Fox News poll shows. 

Forty-five percent of Republicans agree with the sentiment—the Fox poll didn't mention Sanders by name, referring to a recent comment by a "White House spokesperson." That number represents a plurality, as 37 percent of Republicans disagree. 

Overall, one-quarter of registered voters share that view while 62 percent said they do not believe God wanted Trump to be commander-in-chief.

That number—one quarter of a sample—is consistent with other polls on God's influence in events. The Public Religion Research Institute's January 2017 poll found that 25 percent of Americans "completely agree" or "mostly agree" with the idea that "God plays a role in determining which team wins a sporting event."  That same poll found similar support for the idea that God played a role in the 2016 election too. 

Back to the Fox News poll, white evangelicals are the only demographic subgroup where a majority—55 percent—agrees with Sanders. 

And while few Democrats believe that God was pulling for Trump in 2016, 8 percent of registered voters who backed Democrat Hillary Clinton in that election said they do believe a higher power wanted Trump to be president. 

Read more from the full poll here. 

Former Colorado Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper may be thousands of miles away from Denver, but a sip of craft beer may have helped him feel right at home during his swing through New Hampshire. 

The former brewery owner is in the Granite State as he considers running for president—the Washington Post's Dave Weigel reported from a Wednesday evening house party that Hickenlooper talked up the aspects of the Green New Deal as "powerful" while cautioning America doesn't have "endless amounts of money" and discussed his change of heart over the marijuana legalization, among other issues. 

And WMUR notes that the Democrat brushed aside concerns about handling attacks from Trump:  "If you've got a name like Hickenlooper and you're a skinny kid with thick glasses, you learn how to deal with bullies."  

Read more from WMUR here, a Twitter thread from Weigel (including a picture of Hickenlooper with his New Hampshire craft brew) here, and more stories from the 2020 trail below. 

• South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg sat down with MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Thursday, where he discussed where he fits on the party's ideological spectrum. "I consider myself a pretty strong progressive but I don't consider the left center spectrum to be the most useful way to look at our politics right now because I think it’s gotten jumbled up both by the current president and by the pace of change," he said. 
• President Trump;'s allies see Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker at the top of the Democratic presidential primary so far, with Trump reportedly believing former Vice President Joe Biden would be the toughest general election nominee, according to Politico. 
• NBC News' Jane C. Timm details how chummy the early weeks of the 2020 Democratic presidential campaign—which pits Senate colleagues against each other—and explores whether it can last. 
• The Associated Press reports that the Democratic National Committee will announce its debate qualifications this week. 

• Politico reports that former Texas Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke met with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as some Democrats hope O'Rourke runs for Senate again against Republican Sen. John Cornyn.