Midday Roundup: GOP parades presidential hopefuls at CPAC

Speech time. Conservative leaders and activists are gathering in Washington this week for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. The lineup for CPAC 2015 included Republican lawmakers and top conservative commentators. But with the first GOP primary debates just months away, this year’s conference has been a carousel of White House hopefuls. The presidential contenders largely refrained from zinging one another, but Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton was fair game on Thursday. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, took a swipe at Clinton for accepting donations to her family foundation from foreign governments. He also brought the crowd to its feet with a call to stand and fight for conservative principles. That sentiment was echoed by other speakers, including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Today’s speakers include Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

Mess-up or cover-up? A government watchdog said the disappearance of an IRS official’s emails might have involved criminal activity. The House Committee on Oversight and Government reform requested the emails of Lois Lerner, an IRS director accused of using her authority to target conservative groups. The IRS claimed the emails had been destroyed, but an inspector general for the Treasury Department later found many of them. In a congressional hearing Thursday, Deputy Inspector General Timothy Camus said, “there is potential criminal activity,” but did not elaborate on who is suspected.

Unexpected death. A top Republican official in Missouri who planned to run for governor died yesterday in an apparent suicide. State Auditor Tom Schweich requested an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch just minutes before he shot himself in his St. Louis home. The interview was to discuss Schweich’s belief that a top state GOP official had spread false information about his religion, claiming he was Jewish when he was actually Episcopalian, according to the Post-Dispatch. Schweich’s friends and colleagues were stunned, especially since he had begun what was shaping up to be a successful campaign to be the Republican gubernatorial candidate. “The money was pouring in,” said Sam Fox, a friend of Schweich’s.

Staying afloat. House Republicans have come up with a stopgap plan to keep the Department of Homeland Security open for a few more weeks while the House and Senate work out a compromise on funding. GOP members in the House want to defund the president’s executive action on immigration in the DHS funding bill, but Republican senators don’t want to go that far. Some conservative congressmen are criticizing their Senate counterparts of bowing to Democratic influence in that chamber.

Shooting spree. The Missouri Highway Patrol is investigating a spate of shootings in a rural area that left eight people dead, including the suspect. The crimes occurred in Texas County in South Central Missouri. Police learned of the shootings after a young girl heard gunshots in her home and fled to a neighbor’s house to call for help.

WORLD Radio’s Kent Covington contributed to this report.