Democrats hit the campaign trail across the US this weekend

Our live coverage has ended. Scroll through the posts below to see how the weekend unfolded or follow CNN Politics.

After Sen. Amy Klobuchar tossed her hat in the ring to be the Democratic nominee for the 2020 presidential race, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to remark on her speech.

“Well, it happened again,” Trump tweeted. “Amy Klobuchar announced that she is running for President, talking proudly of fighting global warming while standing in a virtual blizzard of snow, ice and freezing temperatures. Bad timing. By the end of her speech she looked like a Snowman(woman)!”

Klobuchar then tweeted back.

“Science is on my side,” she said, responding to the President. “Looking forward to debating you about climate change (and many other issues). And I wonder how your hair would far in a blizzard?”

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar entered the 2020 presidential race at an outside event in freezing, snowy weather in Boom Island, Minneapolis. 

“Now, we don’t let a little snow stop us. We don’t let a little cold stop us. Like, are you guys even cold?” Klobuchar said, to which the crowd shouted, “No!”

It was 16 degrees and snowing heavily when Klobuchar took the stage. The senator was not wearing any gloves.

“Now when I said that elected leaders should go not just where it’s comfortable but also where it’s uncomfortable, this is what I meant,” Klobuchar said, raising her arms and gesturing at the snow as it piled on to her and the crowd gathered before her.

The senator’s team ordered 100 gallons of hot chocolate and 100 gallons of apple cider for the event and volunteers handed out packs of hand warmers as people entered the park. 

After her speech, Klobuchar spoke to CNN and said, “What makes me unique is I did this announcement speech in the middle of a blizzard and I think we need people with grit – I have that grit.” 

President Donald Trump weighed in on Klobuchar’s announcement and took a shot at her pledge to fight climate change.

“Amy Klobuchar announced that she is running for President, talking proudly of fighting global warming while standing in a virtual blizzard of snow, ice and freezing temperatures. Bad timing,” Trump tweeted. 

“By the end of her speech she looked like a Snowman(woman)!” he added.

During her announcement speech earlier Sunday, Klobuchar told the crowd: “The people are on our side when it comes to climate change. Why? Because like you and I, they believe in science. That’s why in the first 100 days of my administration I will reinstate the clean power rules and gas mileage standards and put forth sweeping legislation to invest in green jobs and infrastructure. And on day one, our country will rejoin the international climate agreement.”

When asked by CNN after her speech if she was tough enough to take on Trump, Klobuchar pivoted back to the snow falling around her.

“I am tough enough to take on Donald Trump,” she said. “I would have liked to have seen him sitting here in the snow for an hour giving this speech.”

CNN’s Dan Merica contributed to this report.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar emphasized the need to stand with foreign allies and face international problems as well as opportunities during her 2020 campaign launch, Sunday.

The Minnesota Democrat alluded to President Donald Trump in her launch speech, saying that U.S. military and intelligence officials “deserve better than foreign policy by tweet.”

Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand lauded Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar on Twitter Sunday after both senators officially kicked off their campaigns for the 2020 presidential race this weekend.

Gillibrand tweets:

Sen. Amy Klobuchar has joined the increasingly crowded Democratic race for President.

Klobuchar told the rally the “sense of community is fracturing across our nation right now, worn down by the petty and vicious nature of our politics. We are all tired of the shutdowns and the showdowns, the gridlock and the grandstanding.”

“Today we say enough is enough. Our nation must be governed not from chaos but from opportunity. Not by wallowing over what’s wrong, but by marching inexorably toward what’s right.”

Three-time Grammy award winning music group Sounds of Blackness sang the national anthem to kick off Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobochar’s campaign launch event Sunday. 

The group, which was launched in Minnesota’s Twin Cities in 1971, has performed at major events over the years including Olympics, the Grammys and worldwide charity benefits. 

From CNN’s Katie Bernard

At an outdoor event on Boom Island Park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Sen. Amy Klobuchar is expected to announce her 2020 presidential bid in front of a crowd of supporters who have gathered in 13-degree weather.

With a thick layer of snow on the ground at the park, snow blowers are out, and volunteers are frantically working to clear walkways for people.

The skyline of Minneapolis is barely visible behind the stage that is set up and the banks of the freezing Mississippi River – expected to be central to Klobuchar’s speech – are covered in snow.

It is expected to be snowing and 15 degrees when the senator takes the stage at 3 p.m. ET.

A Klobuchar aide says that they prepared for this by building warming tents for attendees, volunteers and the press.

Event organizers ordered 100 gallons of hot cocoa and 100 gallons of apple cider. As people entered the park, volunteers handed out two things: Small American flags and packs of Little Hotties hand warmers.

Most attendees are unphased by the weather – and, in fact, give Klobuchar credit for announcing outside in February. 

“It just truly represents Minnesota,” said Renee Anderson, a 22-year-old from Bloomington. “If somebody doesn’t want to come to an event that is outside in Minnesota, do they really live here? Are they really excited?” 

Scott Herzog, a 50-year-old manufacturer from West St. Paul said the same as he stood in front of the stage two hours before the event starts: “This is true Minnesota: Snow and Amy Klobuchar.”

From CNN’s Dan Merica

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Sunday predicted that President Donald Trump may be in jail by Election Day in 2020.

Warren, who officially launched her presidential campaign on Saturday, made the comment at an event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, telling voters that “By the time we get to 2020, Donald Trump may not even be President.”

“In fact, he may not even be a free person,” she said.

The moment marked a notable shift in tone for Warren, who has been reticent to directly take on Trump by name since she announced her exploratory campaign committee on New Year’s Eve.

Lamenting that the country is in a “dangerous moment,” Warren, who represents Massachusetts, said “what happens in 2020 is going to determine the direction of our nation, the direction of our people.”

She added about Trump: “Every day, there’s a racist tweet, a hateful tweet, something really dark and ugly. And what are we, as candidates, as activists, the press, going to do about it? Are we going to let him use those to divide us?”

From CNN’s MJ Lee

From this week’s “Inside Politics” forecast:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is the latest Democrat to throw her hat into the ring and her colleague, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, is close to announcing her own decision.

One name we’re still waiting on: their Senate colleague, Bernie Sanders.

“He really has the power to reshape the field,” Time’s Molly Ball said. “This candidate who took everybody by surprise in 2016 has really held onto a large part of his following.”

The problem, Ball said, is all the other candidates who are following Sanders’ progressive playbook.

“So many candidates are running to the left, embracing free college, embracing Medicare for all, and embracing themes of economic inequality.”

Ball said a decision on whether to run is likely imminent. “He’s really looking at whether a lane remains for him in such a crowded field.”

President Donald Trump invoked long-held taboos about socialism in the United States in his recent State of the Union address.

Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and a potential 2020 presidential contender, suggested those ideas are outdated. (If elected, Buttigieg would be the nation’s first openly gay president and the youngest person ever to hold the office.)

On CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, Jake Tapper asked Buttigieg about whether Trump’s words could be used as an effective attack against Democrats. Here’s what Buttigieg said.

Buttigieg recalled how the word “socialist” was used to characterize the Affordable Care Act. The law now registers high approval ratings.

Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney said Sunday that Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s repeated claim that she has Native American heritage has made her a “laughingstock.”

“I have concerns about somebody like Elizabeth Warren pretending to be a Native American. The notion that anybody of any party would pretend that they were a member of a tribe or would pretend that they were Native American and would do it as she seems to have done it in order to get benefits, that is in my view the disgrace,” Cheney told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.” 

Cheney also suggested that the recent revelation by the Washington Post that Warren wrote in 1986 that her race was “American Indian” in a Texas state bar registration card could be grounds for disbarment. 

“If you misrepresent yourself on your application to the bar, I’d say it probably is grounds for disbarment. So she – she’s made herself a laughingstock,” she said, adding that “it’s clear that, you know, she’s somebody who can’t be trusted.

Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand tried her hand at preaching while addressing a congregation in North Charleston, calling upon the Bible verse Ephesians 6:11 to relay her message.

Gillibrand spoke for about 3 minutes to the Mount Moriah Baptist Church, revving up the crowd and drawing audible “yes Lord” and “Preach” from the predominately black congregation.                                                                                                          

The full service lasted nearly two hours, and throughout Gillibrand stood up to greet people and raise her hands in prayer. She thanked the congregation of approximately 900 people for welcoming her into their place of worship.

She’ll attended a second service at another North Charleston Church, Charity Missionary Baptist, to round out her first trip to South Carolina.

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar is expected to announce a presidential bid on Sunday, people close to her tell CNN, vaulting the three-term senator from Minnesota into the crowded field of Democrats angling to take on Trump in 2020.

Klobuchar is expected to make the announcement at an outdoor event on Boom Island, a park that juts into the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. (The projected high on Sunday is 18 degrees.) The 58-year old senator will highlight her working-class roots and bipartisan appeal in her speech, the sources close to her said, leaning on the fact that she has won widespread appeal in Minnesota, a state that nearly went for President Donald Trump in 2016.

Read more here.

Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown concluded the New Hampshire stop of his “Dignity of Work” tour Saturday night, giving the keynote for the New Hampshire Young Democrats’ Granite Slate Awards.

Brown praised women in politics and the young Democrats attending the event for being involved in politics and spoke a lot about how he found New Hampshire very similar to Ohio.

He also spoke about the opioids crisis, the economy and planned parenthood among other topics.

Brown only mentioned President Donald Trump once — just to reference how the President won his home state of Ohio in 2016, where Brown won reelection in 2018 for his senate seat. 

He didn’t take questions and stayed after to take photos with attendees of the event.

Our live coverage has ended. We will be back Sunday following more campaign action, including Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s expected presidential bid announcement.

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told about 20 small business owners that she’s ready to combat institutional racism, and take it “head on,” on Saturday at a short roundtable at Kiki’s Chicken and Waffles in Columbia, South Carolina.

During a press gaggle, the Democratic senator expanded on this issue citing her work on the maternal death rate, decriminalizing marijuana and postal banking.

“These are battles I believe I have to take on too. It should not be up to black and brown people to hold these burdens themselves. I, as a white leader, have to take on these battles as if they were my own and lift up black and brown voices so they can be heard, and their perspectives can be heard too,” she said.

After announcing earlier Saturday that she’s officially running for president, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren hosted an event in New Hampshire at Dover City Hall where she answered questions from residents of the Granite State on education, Israel, veteran and other issues.

There, she reiterated that she wouldn’t be taking PAC money and said endless wars don’t honor the military, saying “we must be careful about what we ask” the military to do. She also said she supported a two-state solution when answering a question about Israel.

2020 Democratic hopeful Julián Castro announced his intent to run for president in January. Now he’s working to win the Democratic nomination in an already crowded field.

Castro sat down with Van Jones for an episode of “The Van Jones Show,” airing Saturday on CNN at 7 p.m. ET. Here’s some of what they talked about.

On possibly becoming the first Latino nominee for President:

“I know there’s special meaning for the Latino community that I’m running for president. … I’m proud of my background. I do think that there’s going to be special meaning in my candidacy, but I’m also aware that I have to have policy proposals and a vision that includes everybody,” Castro said.

On how he plans to make the 2020 election a “nightmare” for Trump:

“I believe that I can go — if I’m the nominee — and I can get back places like Michigan and Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and also go get Florida, Texas and Arizona, which we’ve not been able to do,” Castro said.

On not yet being a household name:

Castro, who served as Housing and Urban Development secretary in the Obama administration, said he sees his lack of name recognition so far as an “opportunity.”

“I get the sense out there that people want a new generation of leadership,” he said when asked about the possibility of a political veteran like former Vice President Joe Biden making a 2020 run. “I believe I’m going to bring a vision of the country that represents the future.”

On being vice president if he doesn’t get the nomination:

“That is the craziest process … In that VP process, you’re counting on one person basically to make a decision about who they’re going to choose. That’s just not my type of politics,” he said.

On family:

Castro also said he wouldn’t be in the position he is today without his twin brother, Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro.

“That is a bond unlike any other bond,” he said, jokingly adding, “I’m a minute older, so I get first shot” at running for president.

Should South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg win the Democratic presidential nomination and defeat President Donald Trump in 2020, Buttigieg, 37, would be the youngest (and first millennial) president in US history, the first candidate to go straight from the mayor’s office to the White House, and the first out gay president.

But one of the questions Buttigieg faces at almost every stop is whether he has the experience to be the president. Here’s what he had to say in an interview with CNN:

Read more of his interview with CNN here.