matt schlapp and his team are denying the allegations. guest: matt schlapp denying and pushing back and wish to developments pushing soon. host: cpac attendees and cdc may pick up -- in d.c. may pick up the washington post with this topic. faces concerns over culture and leadership as the headline at the newspaper. if you want to talk about cpac this year, julia manchester of "the hill 20 because taking your phone calls. martin is uppers out of louisville, kentucky. good morning. caller: good morning. i grew up in republican household in the 60's and 70's. the problem i got, the old conservatives, what they said was the reason i am conservative because in social society you have two kinds of people. those that think for them and those who do not. it seems to me today republican party has two kind of people. the true conservative and everybody else. if anybody reject the something like attacking the capital, they get ostracized by the republican party. guest: that is a good point. a lot of people looking in on what the republican party has

i do think that the allegations against matt schlapp play some role here. also reporting that the organization that he runs is in turmoil, exodus of more than half its death since 2021. than half its slap since 2021. again, schlapp denies the allegations, but the washington post did some thorough reporting. we'll see how that all plays out, but i can't imagine that helps given all this? >> no, of course not, listen, the important part of this is that, again, goes back to the scene tape before about why certain people would be upset with donald trump before. had nothing to do with the insurrection, not with the election denying, did not have to do with the kids of ages, all the other transgressions of trump over the years, the lying and decency, no, no, no, it's because it cost the midterms. it's a similar situation here at cpac. matt schlapp credibly accused here, no no no, it has a thing to do what he turned cpac into, it has to do the fact that oh well, maybe he did a couple of things wrong, we don't want to be seen with him now. schlapp is the swamp and l

namely the lawsuit accusing cpac's chairman matt schlapp of fondling a male aide.denies the allegation, but the scandal has proved -- provided convenient cover for some of the big name no shows. kevin mccarthy, mitch mcconnell, rnc chair, mccanal are skipping along with potential 2024 republican presidential hopefuls, mike pence, ron desantis and virginia governor and anti-books activist glenn youngkin. the cpac crowd will, however, hear from the real leaders of the maga party in congress. matt gaetz, marjorie taylor greene. which actually makes sense. since that is the current republican party. the party whose new house oversight chair james comer is made that president biden's son beau who died of brain cancer eight years ago was never prosecuted. i guess for being a biden. matt gaetz, who invited an accused murderer to give the pledge of allegiance at a judiciary committee hear after insisting on creating a rule for a daily recitation of the pledge. and of course, serial ha razor and professional marjorie taylor greene tried to sell her national divorce plan. >>

of course, cpac chairman, matt schlapp, now untangled. he is accused of, potential, sexual harassment. he also said he hasn't done it, but cpac, this is the republican parties wrestlemania. >> i think the reality is, the people aren't going aren't going because not good for them, politically. >> why? >> i think it is trump's home turf. this is where he started his political evolution in 2010, 11, he rode tested his maga routine at cpac. it has been the runway that he has carved out all of his political campaigns. desantis knows if he goes there, it is trump's home turf. if mike pence went there, he would get booed. so, they only seen downside. if i were round of santa's team, i would say this would be a great week to put out a book. >> are republicans on the hill talking about cpac? these are gop stars that are not showing up. >> yes. i mean, it is interesting to look at the people who are choosing to go to go to cpac this year. part of that has to do with the scandal involving matt schlapp. cpac is a little at arms, late this year, for s

part of that has to do with the scandal involving matt schlapp. and cpac is a little bit at arms length this year for some of those on the hill. and you are hearing all these different excuses for people, why they are not going to be there -- oh, i am going to be home that weekend. or no one really wants to take this on -- but i think mark is right. this really is the trump show. and i think so much of the party is struggling right now what to do about trump. they need him. but they don't want him. and what are they going to do about this guy? i think some people are staying because they don't know how to address the current political moment. >> luke, tell us about the gang of eight today. i know they received a briefing on the classified documents that were held by both former president trump and president biden. what can you tell us? >> we don't know a ton. but they came out of the classified briefing. and it was not the same level of dissatisfaction that they have had with some of the most recent briefings but they said they basically got nothi

matt schlapp and his team are denying the allegations.matt schlapp denying and pushing back and wish to developments pushing soon. host: cpac attendees and cdc may pick up -- in d.c. may pick up the washington post with this topic. faces concerns over culture and leadership as the headline at the newspaper. if you want to talk about cpac this year, julia manchester of "the hill 20 because taking your phone calls. martin is uppers out of louisville, kentucky. good morning. caller: good morning. i grew up in republican household in the 60's and 70's. the problem i got, the old conservatives, what they said was the reason i am conservative because in social society you have two kinds of people. those that think for them and those who do not. it seems to me today republican party has two kind of people. the true conservative and everybody else. if anybody reject the something like attacking the capital, they get ostracized by the republican party. guest: that is a good point. a lot of people looking in on what the republican party has evolved

>> off stage cpac's organizers drawing much of the media spotlight cpac chairman matt schlapp faces alingsesgn aide working on herschel walker's senate bid. schlapp denies the allegations calling it quote a legal matter. organizers call the controversy not impacting. even as questions linger if cpac still holed influence it has for years. >> today's cpac event is just wrapping up. a few people still left here in the bathroom at the end of the conference. we will get the results of the traditional cpac straw poll. all of the announced 2020 candidates are on the ballot a few other names, too. bret, given the crowd i have seen so far at this conference i would imagine trump is likely to come out on top. bret? >> bret: mark meredith live in national harbor, maryland, mark, thanks. the justice department has told a federal appeals court former president trump can be sued for the january 6th 2021 riots at the u.s. call top. the department says the former president does not enjoy absolute immunity for allegedly inciting the attacks. the u.s. court of appeals for d.c. will decide soon whether a seri

of its coziness with people like viktor orban and authoritarians, but also because its leader, matt schlapp has been accused of some really credit -- terrible stuff, that's not been addressed. cpac is messy. of course for ron desantis, i am happy to be wrong about this. i do not think ron desantis will even get into this race. i think he is enjoying the limelight. it is good for someone like ron desantis to speculate about whether he will run. i do not think that he will run. i think he's probably choosing his opportunities carefully, curating them to keep his options open without having to make a commitment one way or the other. >> molly, one quick last one to you on that point. ron desantis has played very well in his own backyard, for sure. but florida is not america, despite the fact that a lot of floridians think it is, it is not. so how do you see a ron desantis, to lucy's point, translating outside of florida? particularly, given some of the policies he is pushing? >> we are seeing a lot of people all in on ron desantis even though he has not announced, right? we saw murdaugh, on him

former campaign aide to herschel walk's senate bid filed a lawsuit against the cpac organizer matt schlapping down in the atlanta. c pac as a whole is standing by schlapp. the second vice chair of the conference telling the media, quote, our grassroots activists are fed up with the tactics of intimidation and harassment with the singular purpose of destroying conservatives. they're standing by him for now. unclear how much the allegations may impact this year's gathering, but it's important to note, there are some notable names skipping the conference including florida governor ron desantis. the event was being held in florida last year, house speaker ken mccarthy as well as -- kevin mccarthy as well as mike pence also not attending. as is tradition, we're going to have a lot of speeches, events, parties, but there's also going to be a straw poll at the end of this event which will give us an idea how attendees feel going into the 2024 presidential race. it's expected that donald trump is going to do very well in that straw poll, he's certainly done well the last few years, and this is a v

absolutely lost its status as the glitzy place to be seen, particularly with the allegations against matt schlappe -- cpac was going far south for many years. i used to attend two decades ago where it felt somewhat normal. but i could see it, the extremist voices were getting louder, and looking at it right now, i think that the cpac -- in particular is irrelevant, some top is being made about, it i think it is much to do about nothing because it is purely -- cpac is purely the cult of trump right now. so a stronghold is pretty much unfair. but then you look at growth, and any member on capitol hill will tell you that they are still the coveted endorsement for conservatives, that is a place that you want to get your support. no i am not surprised at desantis is there, he went there, and tried to get the support because it's super important. if you are a fiscal conservative, you are with the clever. gross of that is an absolute must for anyone else who wants to be in the ring. st f or anyone else who wants i have got literally with 30 seconds, i want to ask one final question. does it make sense t

this entire cpac, like matt schlapp, like dave boss ty and the whole rest of the crew, it's meaninglessing. and the fact that he won the straw poll like, he's the only guy at the bingo parlor and he wins. it doesn't mean anything. >> got it. the speech last night, michael, you've heard some of this rhetoric before, but it does seem to be ratcheted up. he's dubbing himself the candidate of retribution. that's what he said last night. what does that say to you? >> it says that jim, you and i could have a lot of problems, if, in fact, this lunatic ends up becoming president again, which i'm still maintain -- i don't even think that donald is going to get the nomination. i know everybody says, no, no, no, he has such a strong hold over like 28% of the republican party. what we're seeing right now is donald trump's popularity, believe it or not, it's decreasing on a steady basis. and there's more of these dooim indictments, more of these charges continue to be mounted against him, and he starts to really feel the pressure of what's called the accountability, i don't believe that donald is go

not here, of course, allegation against matt schlapp has made it easier for some to stay away. of a dividing line now of power structure within the republican party now. there is charlie kirk, turning point usa, that have sort of their own separate operation going. there are some who see them as the future of the conservative movement, as opposed to cpac and matt schlapp here. that is where there was some hesitancy among other republicans, like mike pence and ron desantis, to come here. when you were talking to the attendees here, one person after the other told me they were backing donald trump for 2024 here. so very much so, cpac is looking like, you know, a smaller version of a trump rally, opposed to one that's really scouting the rest of the field. nonetheless, nikki haley and mike pompo are showing up this afternoon. it'll give us a better sign here of the openness of republicans here over the months ahead to tune into a little different message from that of donald trump. >> nbc's vaughan hilliard, thank you for that report. we look forward to hearing more. >>> still ahea

matt schlep -- sch lapp and his wife mercedes. >> ladies and gentlemen, this is cpac now. please welcome cpac chairman mat t schlapp. -- before i start talking to them about what we have done at cpac, it was all about being a national conference, so matt, i will start with you. we went from national conference to cpac 365. explain that. >> how many of you have been at cpac 10 or more times. i see you out there, veterans, you guys are the warriors, thank you. but we had a conference in this conference takes a lot of work. i want to thank all of my team, they are doing a fabulous job. thank you to the cpac team, all of the volunteers. if you see volunteers, think them because they put in a lot of hours to make this work. we had a conference and we were trying to figure out what to do the rest of the time? and when we started getting more engaged in cpac without the country is going to you know what and a handbasket, so we need to start doing this all the time. let's have cpac 365. maybe the conference is not going on every day but the spirit of the conference lives. at did we realize something along the way. as much