Donald Trump’s 35 percent support in a South Carolina Public Policy Polling survey on Monday gives him a 17-point lead over his closest competitors in the state, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who are tied for second, both with 18 percent, reports The Hill.

• WashTimes: Obama Could Use Recess Appointment to Bypass Congress, Install Justice
  
• Politico: Scalia’s Death Could Doom McDonnell, Hurt Menendez
• AP: Trump Threatens to Sue Cruz Unless His GOP Rival Apologizes
• Breitbart: Mark Levin: Trump a ‘Radical Kook,’ ‘Close to Being 9/11 Truther’
• Time: Hillary Clinton Barked Like a Dog on the Campaign Trail

To say TV host Glenn Beck is unimpressed with Donald Trump’s professed Christian faith is an understatement. Beck, speaking at a rally in South Carolina for Ted Cruz, said,  “too many people are looking at Trump and believing that man has ever opened a Bible … that’s the biggest crock of bullcrap I’ve ever heard,” reports Breitbart.

• Morning Consult Poll: Wins Push Trump, Sanders to New Heights
• Yahoo: Bernie Sanders Promises to Free Half a Million Prisoners in First Term
• Politico: Cruz on Defense in Military-Heavy South Carolina
• Daily Beast: US Allies Now Fighting CIA-Backed Rebels
• WaPo: ‘Staggering Corruption’: 46 Georgia Prison Officers Indicted in FBI Drug and Contraband Sting

As the South Carolina primary approaches, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are firing salvos of attack ads at each other over the state’s airwaves, reports The Hill. But the fun may just have begun in a state famous for dirty political tricks, according to Politico.

• Newsmax: Limbaugh: Cruz ‘Has Got to Be Your Guy’ – ‘Closest to Reagan’
• The Hill: Homeland Chairman: ‘Very Pro-American’ to Keep Out Refugees
• Morning Joe: Rubio Campaign ‘Collapsed’
• WashTimes: Obama’s Top Bundlers Offer Little Support for Hillary Clinton’s Campaign
• Politico: What Happened at Sanders U