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First Read's Morning Clips: Romney delays rollout

A roundup of the most important political news stories of the day
Image: Mitt Romney calls Donald Trump a phony and fraud
Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.David Ryder / Getty Images, file

MIDTERM MADNESS: Romney delays campaign rollout after Florida shooting

Rebekah Mercer now says that Steve Bannon “took Breitbart in the wrong direction” in an op-ed defending herself in the Wall Street Journal.

CA-GOV: Surprise! Former Clinton aide Amanda Renteria says she’s running for governor.

IN-SEN: GOP primary longshot Andrew Takami has dropped out of the race.

MA-SEN: Elizabeth Warren made a surprise appearance to a Native American group to address her past claim of Native American heritage.

NY-GOV: Republican Joseph Holland, who served as co-chairman of George Pataki’s 1994 campaign, is running for governor.

TN-SEN: Mitch McConnell is satisfied with Marsha Blackburn as the GOP nominee, the Washington Examiner writes.

UT-SEN: Mitt Romney is delaying his Senate rollout in the wake of the Florida school shooting.

And Utah’s GOP chairman is apologizing after saying of Romney: “he doesn’t live here, his kids weren’t born here, he doesn’t shop here.”

POLITICO delves into Romney’s hyperlocal, Utah-focused campaign strategy.

TRUMP AGENDA: Are John Kelly’s days as chief of staff numbered?

NBC’s Peter Alexander reports that a senior administration official tells NBC News there’s a “strong chance” President Trump will publicly address the Florida school shooting today.

Here’s what Trump tweeted about the shooter this morning: “So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!”

A big story from NBC’s investigative team: “More than 130 political appointees working in the Executive Office of the President did not have permanent security clearances as of November 2017, including the president’s daughter, son-in-law and his top legal counsel, according to internal White House documents obtained by NBC News.”

And our White House folks report on “rampant speculation that John Kelly’s days as chief of staff are numbered.”

In a new book, Reince Priebus says he talked Jeff Sessions out of resigning and says of the White House: “Take everything you’ve heard and multiply it by 50.”

The “Common Sense Caucus” hopes to find some middle ground on immigration, but the White House is calling it a “giant amnesty.”

The Washington Post reports that Trump asked Don McGahn last April to call a DOJ official to get him to convince Comey to announce that he was not personally under investigation.

The New York Times outlines the allegations of misuse of government funds against VA Secretary David Shulkin.

And POLITICO outlines how Scott Pruitt is in hot water over his first-class travel.