Joe diGenova, Mark Levin and Washington Post’s John Wagner joined WMAL on Monday.

Mornings on the Mall

Monday, June 1, 2015

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Smith

5am – A/B/C Father Fights For Soldier To Be Buried At Arlington Cemetery. (Daily Caller) — Former Green Beret Stephen Florich cannot understand why his son, a soldier who was killed during a helicopter training crash, cannot be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. “My son was in uniform. My son was serving in the capacity as a crew chief and a door gunner. And in adverse weather conditions, he accepted a mission to train people for combat in the future. And in that, he gave all and lost his life,” the father told Fox News Channel. Staff Sgt. Thomas Florich was a Louisiana National Guard flight mechanic aboard an Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter when it crashed in the Gulf of Mexico in March. Arlington National Cemetery’s eligibility rules for burial explain that “any active duty member of the Armed Forces and any retired member of the Armed Forces” can be buried but “a person whose only service is active duty for training or inactive duty training in the National Guard or Reserve Component” is considered ineligible for burial. The Louisiana National Guard is appealing the denial but the U.S. Army insists that “he does not meet the requirements for burial in Arlington National Cemetery.” One of the seven Marines involved in the crash was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in April.

5am – D         Patriot Act expires as Rand Paul blocks final vote on NSA reform. The Senate advanced legislation 77-17 to reform the National Security Agency on Sunday, but parts of the Patriot Act will nonetheless lapse for a few days amid opposition from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). The legislation, called the USA Freedom Act, will not reach President Obama’s desk until after the three measures expire at midnight, meaning that the provisions will expire until the bill is passed by the Senate and signed by Obama later this week. “The Patriot Act will expire tonight,” Paul declared triumphantly from the Senate floor during a rare Sunday evening vote. “It will only be temporary. They will ultimately get their way.” Obama has supported the measure and had repeatedly urged lawmakers to support it in the days leading up to Sunday’s deadline. The bill needed 60 votes in order to advance. “The Senate took an important—if late—step forward tonight,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement late Sunday. “We call on the Senate to ensure this irresponsible lapse in authorities is as short-lived as possible. On a matter as critical as our national security, individual Senators must put aside their partisan motivations and act swiftly. The American people deserve nothing less.”

5am – E         Qatar extends travel ban for ‘Taliban 5’  (CNN) – Qatar has agreed to temporarily extend a travel ban for the five senior Taliban leaders who have lived there since being released in a prisoner exchange with the United States, a senior U.S. official told CNN. The ban will stay in place while discussions between the United States, Qatar and Afghanistan continue for a long-term solution. The Taliban members, who were traded for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, will still not be able to travel and will be subject to monitoring, the official said. The prisoner swap happened in May 2014. Bergdahl, who was captured and held by the Taliban for five years, was charged with desertion in March and could face a life sentence.

6am – A/B/C Martin O’Malley announces presidential bid. Martin O’Malley appeared Saturday morning in Baltimore, the city he lives in and led as mayor for seven years, to announce that he is running for president. The Democrat, who also served two terms as Maryland governor, faces long odds in his effort to topple overwhelming party favorite Hillary Rodham Clinton. His announcement drew few members of Maryland’s political establishment — much of which is backing Clinton. A handful of people protested his “zero-tolerance” policing policies while mayor of Baltimore, which drew renewed scrutiny this spring because of the unrest following the death of Freddie Gray. Supporters said they welcomed his populist message, which included digs at big banking and calls for an economically fairer America.

6am – D         Jeb Bush Advocates Raising Social Security Age To 70. Here’s presumptive 2016 presidential nominee Jeb Bush when asked about Social Security benefits on this Sunday’s Face the Nation.

SCHIEFFER: Let me ask you about Social Security.  You recently said you favor raising the retirement age for Social Security. To what age?

BUSH: I think it needs to be phased in over an extended period of time. I have seen ideas that are 68, for example. So people that already have the supplemental retirement system, which is a contract, I don’t think we violate that. For people that are about ready to be beneficiaries of their supplemental retirement, I don’t think we change that. But we need to look over the horizon and begin to phase in over an extended period of time going from 65 to 68 or 70. And that by itself will help sustain the retirement system for anybody under the age of 40.

SCHIEFFER: What about means-testing?

BUSH: I think it ought to be considered, for sure.

6am – E         Marilyn Mosby Becomes A Circus Ringmaster Amid Skyrocketing Baltimore Crime. (Daily Caller) — Baltimore, Md. State Attorney Marilyn Mosby has been anything but shy about her rising fame after pressing charges against six officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray. Gray’s death sparked widespread looting and riots across the city. Mosby recently sat onstage in the VIP section of Prince’s special concert for Baltimore and did an interview with Vogue magazine. She played “guest ringleader” with her husband, City Councilman Nick Mosby, Friday at the UniverSoul Circus. The theme for the performance was “Your life matters.” She and her husband received the “UniverSoul Circus Community Service Award for their commitment to the well-being of the Baltimore community.” The circus insisted it invited the Mosbys before the Freddie Gray case. In the midst of her receiving awards and rubbing elbows with celebrities, two more overnight homicides occurred in Baltimore. May is now tied for the third-deadliest month in four decades in the city. Some Baltimore critics have suggested the numerous anti-police statements by the Baltimore mayor, state attorney and city leaders have led to police officers not proactively fighting crime out of concern that they will face legal jeopardy for pursuing suspects. Attorneys for the six officers in the Freddie Gray case recently filed to move the trial out of Baltimore. The lawyers argued that a “presumption of prejudice” exists in the city. In addition, the attorneys want Mosby to recuse herself from the case.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia

• Patriot Act expires as Rand Paul blocks final vote on NSA reform
• Marilyn Mosby Becomes A Circus Ringmaster Amid Skyrocketing Baltimore Crime
• Joe weighed in on O’Malley’s bid for president
• Joe analyzed the Hastert indictment

7am – B         Entertainment news:

• Enrique Iglesias Recovering After Fingers Sliced by Drone at Concert. (Today) ––  NEW YORK — Enrique Iglesias was recovering Sunday after some of his fingers were sliced when he grabbed a drone during a concert in Tijuana, Mexico. A representative for the singer said in a statement to The Associated Press that Iglesias was “semi-treated” after the accident at the side of the stage to stop the bleeding on Saturday night. He was advised to end the show but went on to perform for an additional 30 minutes. “During the show a drone is used to get crowd shots and some nights Enrique grabs the drone to give the audience a Point of View shot. Something went wrong and he had an accident,” the statement read. “He decided to go on and continued playing for 30 minutes while the bleeding continued throughout the show.” Concertgoers at Plaza de Toros de Playas posted photos on social media of Iglesias, 40, with blood all over his white T-shirt.
• Kim Kardashian Is Pregnant! Reality Star Expecting Second Child With Kanye West. North West is about to become a big sister! Kim Kardashian revealed that she’s expecting her second child with Kanye West in the supertease following tonight’s mid-season finale of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. The clip shows Kim hearing the exciting news during a doctor’s appointment shortly before spilling the beans to Khloé Kardashian. “I just got the blood test back, and I am pregnant!” Kim—who’s beaming ear-to-ear—exclaims to her stunned sister. The brunette bombshell has made no secret of the fact that she’s been eager to grow her family of three despite her difficult first pregnancy, and she’s documented how hard it’s been to get pregnant again on the E! reality series. In fact, the 10th season follows her “journey of trying to get pregnant for the second time, which has proven to not be as easy as the first time,” Kim shared on iTV’s Lorraine earlier this year.

7am – C         Challenging Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders Gains Momentum in Iowa. (NY Times) — DES MOINES — A mere 240 people live in the rural northeast Iowa town of Kensett, so when more than 300 crowded into the community center on Saturday night to hear Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, many driving 50 miles, the cellphones of Democratic leaders statewide began to buzz.

Bernie Sanders: Controversial essay was like “50 Shades of Grey” (Huffington Post) — Briefly dabbling in erotic fiction may not have turned Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) into a multimillionaire, but the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate suggested on Sunday that he has something in common with bestselling author E.L. James. During an appearance on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” host Chuck Todd asked Sanders about a controversial essay that the senator wrote, which was published in a Vermont alternative magazine in February 1972. Sanders’ essay, which appeared to be an attempt at satire, suggested that women fantasize about being raped. “That was 43 years ago,” Sanders said. “It was very poorly written, and if you read it, what it was dealing with was gender stereotypes — why some men like to oppress women, why other women like to be submissive. You know, something like 50 Shades of Grey.”

7am – D/E     Administration preps new gun regulations. (The Hill) — The Justice Department plans to move forward this year with more than a dozen new gun-related regulations, according to list of rules the agency has proposed to enact before the end of the Obama administration. The regulations range from new restrictions on high-powered pistols to gun storage requirements. Chief among them is a renewed effort to keep guns out of the hands of people who are mentally unstable or have been convicted of domestic abuse. Gun safety advocates have been calling for such reforms since the Sandy Hook school shooting nearly three years ago in Newtown, Conn. They say keeping guns away from dangerous people is of primary importance. “The Obama administration is trying very hard to disqualify people from owning a gun on the basis that they are seeing a psychologist,” Hammond argued. The NRA contends that many people who are mentally ill may not necessarily pose a danger to society — or as the gun lobby puts it, the policy “snares masses of mostly harmless individuals.” Gun rights advocates argue it would be more effective to ban people on an individual basis, as opposed to banning all people who are mentally ill. “A person who experienced a temporary reaction to a traumatic event or who has trouble handling household finances may well be treated the same as a violent psychopath,” the NRA wrote.
 “Not only is this unjust and stigmatizing, it creates disincentives for those who need mental health treatment to seek it, increasing whatever risks are associated with untreated mental illness,” it added.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – MARK LEVIN – “THE GREAT ONE” – nationally syndicated radio host, heard on WMAL weekdays from 6-9 PM

• Patriot Act expires as Rand Paul blocks final vote on NSA reform
• The indictment of ex-House Speaker Hastert
• Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley’s announcement for president
• Marilyn Mosby Becomes A Circus Ringmaster Amid Skyrocketing Baltimore Crime

8am – B         John Kerry Cuts Short Europe Trip After Breaking Leg in Bike Accident. Secretary of State fractures femur but is expected to make full recovery.Secretary of State John Kerry broke his leg Sunday while cycling near Geneva, potentially sidelining the lead U.S. negotiator in nuclear talks with Iran before the June 30 deadline. Mr. Kerry canceled the remainder of the overseas trip, which began with talks with his Iranian counterpart on Saturday. He was originally set to return to the U.S. late Sunday for treatment in Boston, but doctors decided to keep him hospitalized overnight in Geneva for observation, purely as a precaution, State Department spokesman John Kirby said. The 71-year-old diplomat was cycling near Scionzier, France, near the Swiss border, on Sunday morning when he crashed. He was flown by helicopter to the hospital in Geneva, where doctors determined he had fractured his right femur, Mr. Kirby said.

Beau Biden, son of vice president and former Delaware AG, dies at 46. Washington (CNN) – Joseph “Beau” Biden III, an Iraq War veteran who served as the attorney general of Delaware and was a son of Vice President Joe Biden, died Saturday at age 46, the White House said in a statement. He died after battling brain cancer, according to the vice president’s office. “Beau Biden was, quite simply, the finest man any of us have ever known,” his father wrote in a statement. Biden had suffered known health problems dating Back to 2010, when he experienced a stroke that did not affect his motor skills or speech.

8am – C         INTERVIEW – RAY STAGICH – METEOROLOGIST, THE WEATHER CHANNEL

• …FLASH FLOOD WATCH FROM NOON TODAY THROUGH LATE TONIGHT for DC, Maryland suburbs, Arlington, Falls Church, and Alexandria …
• Today | Partial cloudiness early, a couple showers in spots…then scattered showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon. High 88F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
• Tonight | Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. Low 68F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Rainfall may reach one inch.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – JOHN WAGNER – Maryland political reporter for The Washington Post

• O’Malley attacks big banks, political dynasties in launching uphill 2016 bid
• In Iowa, O’Malley faces questions about his place in the race
• It’s not just Hillary. Sen. Bernie Sanders is outdrawing Martin O’Malley. At campaign stops in early states and elsewhere, the firebrand from Vermont is drawing enthusiastic crowds that are several times larger than those that gather for O’Malley.

TOMORROW: Larry Kudlow, Rep. Don Beyer