• Donald Trump made his presidential debut at the Gridiron Club's annual dinner Saturday night in Washington, dishing out one-liners and taking barbs from political rivals and the press. The journalist organization's gala "was great fun," he tweeted Sunday. "I am accomplishing a lot in Washington and have never had a better time doing something, and especially since this is for the American People!" The president, who skipped last year's event, largely put aside his criticism of the media during his remarks Saturday night. "Nobody does self-deprecating humor better than I do," said Trump, adding: "I was very excited to receive this invitation and ruin your evening in person. That's why I accepted." The president poked fun at administration officials including his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, whose security clearance was recently downgraded. "We were late tonight because Jared could not get through security," Trump joked. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., also took the stage at the event, making light of what he called the source of his personality: the common touch of Harvard, the sensitivity of the Army, and the personal touch of Dick Cheney. A charitable organization, the Gridiron Club and Foundation contributes to college scholarships and journalistic organizations. The annual dinner traces its history to 1885, when President Grover Cleveland refused to attend. Every president since has gone to at least one Gridiron dinner. Trump wrapped up the evening on an upbeat note. "I want to thank the press for all you do to support and sustain our democracy," he said.
• Prosecutors in Bill Cosby's retrial want to call as many as 19 women to the witness stand to show he had a five-decade pattern of drugging and harming women. Cosby is due in court for a pretrial hearing today as his lawyers clash with prosecutors over how many of his accusers are allowed to testify at his April 2 sexual assault trial. Judge Steven O'Neill allowed just one other accuser to take the witness stand at Cosby's first trial, which ended in a hung jury last year. Prosecutors had proposed calling as many as 13. They added six more to the list for the retrial, including model Janice Dickinson. Cosby's lawyers have said they will seek to delay the retrial if other accusers are given a chance to testify. They said they would need extra time to look into the allegations. Jury selection is to begin March 29. Cosby's lawyers wrote in a court filing that some of the other accusers' allegations date to the 1960s and are "virtually impossible to defend against." "Developing a defense to any of these outdated claims will require unusual amounts of investigative effort that cannot be completed by the present trial date," the lawyers wrote.
A Section on 03/05/2018