Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Hosts: Vince Coglianese and Mary Walter

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

Fred Fleitz, Bob Barr and Phil Kerpen joined WMAL on Tuesday!

5am – A/B/C SHOULD THERE BE WITNESSES? IF SO, WHO?

• The Senate impeachment trial continues Tuesday amid growing calls to hear testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton.  The calls have been prompted by a report that Bolton’s book manuscript says President Trump directly tied the holdup of military assistance to Ukraine to investigations of Joe Biden and his son.  The President’s lawyers presented the main points of their defense on Monday, undermining the testimony of key witnesses, as well as attacking the impeachment proceedings themselves.

5am – D         SCOTUS/PUBLIC CHARGE:

• President Trump’s immigration policies, allowing his administration to implement a rule denying legal permanent residency to certain immigrants deemed likely to require government assistance in the future.
• The Supreme Court allows a rule to go into effect that makes it more difficult for immigrants who rely on public assistance to obtain legal status
• Supreme Court Allows Trump To Enforce Rule Barring Green Cards For Migrants Using Social Services. The Supreme Court Monday allowed the Trump administration to enforce a new rule that will deny green cards to foreign nationals who use taxpayer-funded social services, lifting lower court injunctions that blocked the change. The 5-4 vote followed familiar ideological lines, with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan in dissent. The justices did not give reasons for lifting the injunctions — as is typical of orders of this nature — though Justice Neil Gorsuch released a concurring opinion urging the Supreme Court to curtail the use nationwide injunctions, which Justice Clarence Thomas joined.

5am – E         The U.S. Supreme Court has given the go-ahead for one of ‘Finally stepping up’: Hunter Biden settles child support case. If the deal is approved by the judge, Biden could avoid both the public appearance and the court order to turn over over sensitive financial information during a critical time for his father’s campaign.

6am – A/B/C IMPEACHMENT TRIAL HIGHLIGHTS OF TRUMP’S DEFENSE:

• Ken Starr Accuses House Democrats Of Delivering Impeachment Articles ‘Dripping With Process Violations’
• KEN STARR: No crimes have been alleged in the Articles Of Impeachment against Trump
• ALAN DERSHOWITZ Highlights Endless List Of Presidents Accused Of ‘Abuse Of Power’
• Pam Bondi laying out brutal case against Hunter and Joe Biden

6am – D         INTERVIEW – FRED FLEITZ – President and CEO of the Center for Security Policy. He served in 2018 as a Deputy Assistant to President Donald Trump and Chief of Staff to National Security Adviser John Bolton.

• Fred Fleitz: Ambassador Bolton, withdraw your book. (Fox News) It was crushing to read weekend press reports that my friend and former boss John Bolton plans to publish a tell-all book on his time as President Trump’s National Security Adviser.  The book reportedly will be published in March 2020. Given the importance of protecting a president’s confidential discussions with his senior advisers, I strongly disagree with Bolton’s decision to release the book before the November presidential election and call on him to withdraw it from the publisher immediately. I have known John Bolton for 30 years and served as his chief of staff twice, at the State Department from 2001-2005 and at the White House National Security Council in 2018.  He is an exceptional national security expert and a man of great integrity.  President Trump’s choice of Bolton was one of his best personnel decisions and was I very sorry when the courageous and visionary national security adviser left the White House after the relationship broke down.

6am – E         Fox’s Chris Wallace, Katie Pavlich spar on impeachment: ‘Get your facts straight’ (The Hill) — Fox News anchor Chris Wallace and network contributor Katie Pavlich got into a heated debate on Monday as they debated impeachment, with Wallace telling Pavlich to get her “facts straight” before “Special Report” anchor Bret Baier advised both sides to “tone it down” on Monday.  The back-and-forth came during a discussion over new witnesses in the presidential trial with a vote in the Senate likely looming later this week.  “The Senate is not the House, the House did not come with a complete case, and every impeachment beforehand, the witnesses that were called had been called in the House before being brought to the Senate,” Pavlich argued. “So there are questions here about the process.” “That’s not true. That’s not true,” Wallace interjected. “They hadn’t all been called in the House. In the Clinton impeachment, they’d been called by the independent counsel. They had not been called by the House.” After some fencing over the differences between when witnesses were called in the Clinton impeachment, Wallace insisted Pavlich’s argument “isn’t true.” “Katie, what you’re saying just isn’t true. The fact is that the whistleblower information was given to the inspector general, who gave it to the Justice Department. The Justice Department decided not to investigate, and that is why it went to the House,” Wallace said.  “So to say that in the Clinton investigation that these people were interviewed by the House, one, they weren’t, and to say it wasn’t done by the Justice … it wasn’t done by the Justice Department, because the Justice Department refused to carry out the investigation. Get your facts straight!” Wallace said. “OK, OK, let’s tone it down,” Baier injected.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – BOB BARR – Clinton Impeachment Manager, former CIA Analyst, Member of Congress, and US Attorney – analyzed the impeachment trial.

7am – B/C     HIGHLIGHTS OF DERSHOWITZ’S ARGUMENTS IN THE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL:

• ALAN DERSHOWITZ Says Presidents Routinely Consider Their Own Electoral Prospects In Decision Making
• ALAN DERSHOWITZ: “Nothing in the Bolton revelations, even if true, would rise to the level of an abuse of power or an impeachable offense.”
• ALAN DERSHOWITZ: I’m sorry, House managers, you just picked the wrong criteria. You pick the most dangerous possible criteria to serve as a precedent for how we supervise and oversee future presidents. The idea of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress are so far from what the framers had in mind that they so clearly violate the Constitution and would place Congress above the law.

7am – D         INTERVIEW – PHIL KERPEN – president of American Commitment and a leading free-market policy analyst

• TOPIC: Virginia Governor Northam is proposing a gas tax increase, banning cell phones while driving and adding speed cameras to interstates and primary roads in Virginia
• Va. Gov. Northam proposes gas tax increase as part of major transportation bill. (Washington Post) – Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) is proposing a 4-cent increase in the state’s gas tax to raise money to jump-start his $3.7-billion landmark rail plan and shore up a fund used to pay for roads, transit and rail projects. Several proposals to raise the gas tax in recent years have failed. In 2013, the state lowered the tax, while raising the sales tax and motor vehicle sales tax. That year, Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) proposed eliminating the gas tax altogether. “To my knowledge, the last time the statewide gas tax was raised was 1986,” Deputy Transportation Secretary Nick Donohue said.
• Northam wants ‘strict’ ban on holding phones while driving. (Washington Post) – The proposed cellphone ban is likely to be one of the governor’s most heavily debated transportation-related proposals. State law already makes it illegal to text or email on a cellphone while driving. Lawmakers almost passed a law banning the use of handheld personal communication devices last year, but the effort fell apart over a disagreement about whether drivers should still be able to use smartphones for actual phone calls while driving.
• Allowing speed cameras would be a significant shift for Virginia, which has been slow to adopt the technology long in use in the District, Maryland and elsewhere.  The bill would also allow stationary speed cameras in certain corridors for the first time in Virginia. Speed cameras would be allowed on interstates and primary roads designated as safety corridors, where Virginia State Police could issue tickets to anyone going at least 10 mph over the speed limit. Unlike tickets issued during traffic stops in those areas, the fines would not be doubled for tickets drivers get in the mail.

7am – E         CNN Don Lemon panel faces intense backlash for mocking Trump supporters as illiterate ‘credulous rubes’ (Fox News) — A CNN panel faced intense backlash on Monday night for mocking Trump supporters as “credulous boomer rubes,” even sparking fierce condemnation from President Trump and his reelection campaign. The panel, which originally aired on Saturday night during special live coverage of the impeachment trial, featured CNN anchor Don Lemon, New York Times columnist and CNN contributor Wajahat Ali, and ex-GOP strategist Rick Wilson discussing the heated exchange Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had with an NPR reporter, in which he allegedly challenged the journalist to point out Ukraine on a blank map. Wilson used the topic to mock President Trump as well as his supporters. “[Pompeo] also knows deep within his heart that Donald Trump couldn’t find Ukraine on a map if you had the letter U and a picture of an actual physical crane next to it,” Wilson began, causing Lemon to chuckle. “He knows that this is, you know, an administration defined by ignorance of the world. And so that’s partly him playing to the base and playing to their audience. You know, the credulous boomer rube demo that backs Donald Trump.” As Lemon began crying with tears of laughter, Wilson went on to depict what he thought a typical Trump supporter sounded like. “‘Donald Trump’s the smart one — any y’all elitists are dumb!'” Wilson said with a heavy southern accent. “‘You elitists with your geography and your maps- and your spelling!'” Ali chimed in during the mockery. “‘Your math and your reading!'” Wilson added. “‘All those lines on the map!'”

8am – A/B/C IMPEACHMENT TRIAL HIGHLIGHTS OF TRUMP’S DEFENSE

8am – D         VIRGINIA NEWS:

• FAIRFAX COUNTY – SECOND AMENDMENT SANCTUARY?  NOTE FROM VCDL: Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, January 28, at 4:30 pm (today): SHORT NOTICE: Please make plans to attend the Fairfax County Board of Supervisor meeting at 4:30 PM on Tuesday, January 28. Gun Owner of America’s Erich Pratt is the fifth scheduled speaker, and he will be testifying in favor of making Fairfax County a Second Amendment Sanctuary County!
• Virginia finalizes passage of Equal Rights Amendment, setting stage for legal fight. (Washington Post) – RICHMOND — Virginia’s legislature finalized passage of the Equal Rights Amendment on Monday, with women presiding in both the Senate and House of Delegates for the historic votes. Virginia becomes the 38th — and potentially final — state to ratify the amendment guaranteeing equal protection for women, setting the stage for a legal fight over whether too much time has passed to add it to the U.S. Constitution. “We have waited over 400 years, and now is our time,” Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) said at a news conference Monday morning ahead of the vote. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D), who usually presides in the Senate, stepped aside so that Lucas could wield the gavel for the midafternoon vote in that chamber, which was 27 to 12, with all Democrats and six Republicans in favor. Lucas is both the first woman and first African American to serve as president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate. The House approved the bill, 58 to 40, a short time later, with House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax) presiding and three Republican delegates joining all Democrats in voting yes. “Today we are making history,” Filler-Corn said Monday morning. “We are walking down a more inclusive path.” Both chambers of the legislature had approved the ERA on Jan. 15, but under parliamentary rules the measure had to “cross over” so each chamber could approve the other’s version.