The Note: Left to flex political muscle in Mueller’s wake

The TAKE with Rick Klein

Democrats didn't get all the answers they wanted -- and may never get a chance to see their questions posed to the man himself.

The end of special counsel Robert Mueller's work leaves Democrats with something of a void. It so happens that the political left is set to fill that void with repercussions for the impeachment debate as well as a long list of policy items.

This weekend's California Democratic Party convention will mark the single biggest gathering of 2020 candidates thus far.

Fourteen Democratic contenders will be there -- confirming the outsized primary importance of the left-leaning state.

A number of the candidates will attend the Unity and Freedom Presidential Forum on immigration in Pasadena on Friday in an appeal to Latino voters -- a group that, as of the 2020 cycle, will become the largest minority voting bloc.

Also in San Francisco starting Friday and through the weekend, with several candidates in attendance: MoveOn's "Big Ideas Forum."

It's an apt title for this moment. There will be plenty of red meat served around impeachment, but the policy-heavy primary could be more of a feast for voters.

The RUNDOWN with MaryAlice Parks

This week, the third time was not a charm.

Three different attempts by House Democrats to send a bipartisan $19.1 billion disaster relief package on to the White House were blocked by three different Republican Members of Congress.

Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., stopped the measure Thursday, arguing, as his colleague did earlier in the week, that all members of Congress should have go on the record with their votes on this expensive piece of legislation. As such, the bill will wait until those members return to Washington next week.

The bill has already passed in the Senate and it includes aid for states affected by natural disasters -- in some cases disasters that occurred almost a year ago.

Democrats had hoped to move it along with a simple voice vote and argued this week that, with tornadoes and floods back in the headlines, the delay felt particularly cruel.

The TIP with Armando Garcia

Julián Castro, former Housing and Urban Development secretary, is the latest to announce he'll participate in a Fox News town hall. South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Bernie Sanders have had their own hour-long events. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's town hall is scheduled for June 2.

This comes as several Democratic presidential contenders have had to wrestle with the decision to participate in the events hosted by the conservative news network. Thursday on ABC's "The View," co-host Meghan McCain, a former Fox News contributor, suggested to Sen. Elizabeth Warren that she was alienating "really good people" when she declined the network's offer. Warren defended her decision, saying that "a town hall is about their ability to get a bunch Democratic viewers to tune in, to watch as Democratic primary voters who want to see this, and to be able to sell advertising space on the argument that advertisers can ignore the really horrible stuff that they continue to give a platform for ... I'll keep reaching out but just not that way."

But Castro's campaign manager echoed Democrats who have accepted Fox's offer and have looked at these town halls as a way to connect with a wider range of voters.

THE PLAYLIST

ABC News' "Powerhouse Politics" podcast. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., speaks with ABC News Political Director Rick Klein and Deputy Political Director MaryAlice Parks about special counsel Robert Mueller breaking his more than two years of silence about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice. Cotton also said he supports the president's buildup of troops in the Middle East to deter Iran from taking action against the U.S. and discussed his new book, "Sacred Duty: A Soldier's Tour at Arlington National Cemetery," which offers a history of Arlington National Cemetery's Old Guard and his own reflections from serving in the unit after his first tour in Iraq. https://bit.ly/2OnIQtH

ABC News' "Start Here" podcast. Friday morning's episode features ABC News Chief National correspondent Matt Gutman, who checks in from Guatemala amid a record-breaking apprehension of migrants at our southern border. And, Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux from our partners at FiveThirtyEight tells us what files from a deceased GOP strategist's hard drive are revealing about the Trump administration's strategy towards the proposed citizenship question on the 2020 census. http://apple.co/2HPocUL

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