Washington (CNN) First, President Donald Trump accused Democrats of becoming an "anti-Jewish" party . And on Monday, Vice President Mike Pence picked up the mantle, accusing the Democratic Party of having been "co-opted" by anti-Semites. It is wrong to boycott Israel and it is wrong to boycott AIPAC," Pence said, drawing raucous applause at the pro-Israel conference. While it would be unusual for presidential candidates to avoid the AIPAC conference during an election year, it's not standard practice for them to attend in the year ahead of the election. Trump, for example, attended the AIPAC conference in 2016, but not in 2015.

Source: CNN March 25, 2019 20:03 UTC