Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) “will deliver a fiery first speech as an official presidential candidate in New York City on Sunday, calling President Trump a ‘coward’ at the doorstep of one of his most famous properties,” Reuters reports.

“The location in front of Trump International Hotel – which she plans to call a ‘shrine to greed, division and vanity,’ according to excerpts from her prepared remarks – is intended to show voters that Gillibrand will attack Trump directly, in contrast to some Democratic rivals who have hesitated to focus on the Republican president early in the 2020 campaign.”

Gillibrand Will Say: “President Trump is tearing apart the moral fabric of our country. He demonizes the vulnerable and he punches down… Our President is a coward.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) defended her call for former Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) to resign from the Senate in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations, saying that she “stood up for women who came forward,” The Hill reports.

Said Gillibrand: “If there are a few Democratic powerful donors who are angry because I stood up for women who came forward with allegations of sexual harassment, that’s on them.”

She added: “I had a choice to make whether to stay silent or not, whether to say ‘it’s not OK with me,’ and I decided to say that.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand “formally launched her presidential bid on Sunday morning, announcing she will deliver her first major speech next week in front of Trump International Hotel in New York City,” Reuters reports.

“Gillibrand, 52, had already been campaigning in key states that hold early primary contests. She has struggled to see her polling numbers increase in the wake of her initial announcement, a benefit some of her other opponents enjoyed after starting their campaigns. Gillibrand remains at 1 percent in most public opinion polls of the Democratic primary.”

“Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is still searching for a first presidential endorsement from colleagues in New York’s delegation, leaving her the only senator running in 2020 without any home-state congressional backing. The New York Democrat, who is still in the exploratory phase of her presidential bid, is working behind the scenes to curry support among her colleagues,” Politico reports.

“Gillibrand is having lunch with House members — some for the first time — and hosting informal drinks with the state delegation next week. She’s made phone calls to them and asked others for help in shoring up endorsements. But, so far, no one has jumped on board.”

Associated Press: “As she cranks up her presidential campaign, Gillibrand isn’t trying to hide her working-mom juggle — she’s running on it. More than any other contender in a field crowded with women, the mom of two is using her dual roles of mother and candidate to pitch herself to Democratic voters.”

“She opens her standard campaign speech vowing to ‘fight for your children as hard as I would fight for my own.’ She’s floated the idea of making an RV trip through Iowa this summer, to be able to prepare meals for her family while she travels to meet supporters. During her first week as a candidate, she baked cookies with a voter, dismissing any complexity in the symbolism. And on a recent Tuesday evening, she even invited a reporter into her Capitol Hill home for dinner with her family.”

Washington Post: “Gillibrand overhauled her political identity during this period, abandoning the conservative positions that made her popular upstate and embracing or even moving further left than the liberal consensus on guns, immigration, Wall Street and same-sex marriage. As the Democratic Party itself moved left, she staked out positions popular with the party’s swelling base of liberals, a posture most evident when she called for abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. She has voted against President Trump’s agenda more than any other senator.”

“Gillibrand’s evolution seemed to reach its apex last week when she introduced herself as a candidate for president and a fighter for liberal values. But her shift in views from a decade ago is already raising questions among Democrats and provoking attacks from Republicans eager to define her as a flip-flopper.”

“Experts who have followed Gillibrand’s rise said the impression that she has hair-trigger judgment and an overriding instinct to capi­tal­ize on the political moment could prove more problematic than any one shift on policy.”

“Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Saturday signaled to a group of about 20 influential women that she will run for president,” BuzzFeed News reports.

“Gillibrand made her intentions clear, said the source, who asked not to be identified to speak about the event. Gillibrand said that she needed their help if they would offer it to her. The closed-door gathering was attended by feminist Gloria Steinem.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) “has hired a communications director for an expected presidential campaign, a sign that she is all but certain to join the race against President Trump and that her entry may be imminent,” the New York Times reports.

“Ms. Gillibrand has recruited Meredith Kelly, formerly the top spokeswoman at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, as a senior aide to her prospective 2020 campaign… Ms. Kelly was part of the team at the House committee that helped the party capture the majority in 2018, overseeing the group’s media strategy during the midterm elections.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is looking at Troy, New York, as a potential base for a 2020 presidential bid, the AP reports.

“Gillibrand’s team eyeing Troy, which is 150 miles north of Manhattan, is the strongest signal yet that the New York senator will soon enter the presidential race.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) “has personally been working the phones and calling senior executives at Wall Street firms in recent weeks to see whether they would back her campaign if she jumps into the race,” CNBC reports.

Politico: “Today, nearly a year after Gillibrand led the charge in calling for Franken’s resignation, the anger is fresh on the minds of major donors across the country.”

“More than a dozen prominent West Coast, New York and national donors and bundlers — many of them women — said they would never again donate to or fundraise for Gillibrand or would only do so if she ended up as the Democratic presidential nominee.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) gave her strongest public indication yet that she was contemplating a run for president in 2020, telling the late-night show host Stephen Colbert she would “give it a long, hard thought of consideration,” the New York Times reports.

Said Gillibrand: “I’ve seen the hatred and the division that President Trump has put out into our country, and it has called me to fight as hard as I possibly can to restore the moral compass of this country.”