Brussels Terror Attacks: Rep. Pete Hoekstra, Dr. Seb Gorka, Steve Emerson, Center for Free Cuba’s Frank Calzon, Washington Post’s Robert Costa, KT McFarland, Larry Kudlow and Dr. Walid Phares joined WMAL on Tuesday morning!

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C  BREAKING: Latest on the Brussels airport and metro attacks:

• AT LEAST 27 DEAD AND DOZENS WOUNDED IN EXPLOSIONS AT BRUSSELS AIRPORT AND MAELBEEK METRO STATION
• Explosions Tuesday morning at the Brussels airport and at a metro station in the heart of the city’s EU quarter caused dozens of deaths and injuries. Latest reports confirmed by Belgian authorities put the toll at at least 27 dead.
• “Belgium was hit by a blind, violent and cowardly attack,” Belgian Prime Minster Charles Michel, who called the attacks a “black moment” for the country and said Belgians “have to cope with it by staying united” in their response.
• “There is no doubt this was a terrorist operation,” a Belgian official told POLITICO’s Tara Palmeri.
• One of the airport explosions took place in perhaps the least secure and busiest part of the airport: the intersection of people arriving by train, kiss and fly parking, and those looking at the main departures board for where to check-in. This is an area before any security checks and next to a busy Starbucks outlet.
• The metro explosion took place at one of the three main stations serving the EU district, just a few hundred meters from headquarters buildings of the European Commission, Parliament and Council. Eyewitness reports indicate many deaths, with at least 15 confirmed by the STIB authority which manages the Brussels metro system. Another 55 are injured. The dead and injured were moved to the lobby of the Thon Hotel, next to the Maelbeek metro station in chaotic scenes as Rue de la Loi, the main artery through the EU quarter, was closed. Further controlled explosions have been reported in the area.

• The national terrorist threat level has been raised back to the highest level 4, last seen when Brussels was in “lockdown” for four days in late November 2015.
• The Brussels airport and metro system were quickly shut, and all departing and arriving flights are closed until at least 6 am tomorrow. Brussels airport confirmed only at 10:28 am that the last stranded passengers had been cleared out of the airport.

5am – D         Trump declares himself a friend of Israel: ‘Believe me.’ Donald Trump took the stage to warm applause and immediately declared himself as “a friend and lifelong supporter of Israel,” declaring that his “number one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran.” And he punctuated that point, and almost everything else he said before a crowd of nearly 20,000 attendees at the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, with a familiar colloquialism: “Believe me.” “I didn’t come here tonight to pander to you about Israel. That’s what politicians do: all talk, no action, believe me,” Trump said, promising to focus on his vision of the future U.S.-Israel relationship.           

5am – E         Latest on the Brussels attacks

6am – A         INTERVIEW –PETE HOEKSTRA – Senior Fellow at the Investigative Project on Terrorism and the former Chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee – analyzed the terror attacks.

6am – B/C     Latest on the Brussels attacks

6am – D         INTERVIEW — DR. SEB GORKA — counterterrorism and irregular warfare expert, Chair of Military Theory at the MARINE CORPS UNIVERSITY and author of upcoming book DEFEATING JIHAD – discussed the attacks in Brussels.

6am – E         Marco Rubio rejected ‘unity ticket’ with Ted Cruz. (Politico) — Utah Sen. Mike Lee sought to arrange a shotgun wedding of his two Senate colleagues, but Rubio wasn’t interested. Ted Cruz’s campaign has been exploring the possibility of forming a unity ticket with ex-rival Marco Rubio — going so far as to conduct polling looking into how the two would perform in upcoming primary states. The motivation, hashed out in conversations among Cruz’s top aides and donors: to find a way to halt Donald Trump’s march to the Republican nomination. It’s unclear whether Cruz’s campaign brass views a partnership with Rubio as realistic or quixotic. In Rubio’s orbit, according to three sources, it’s seen as an outright nonstarter — with Rubio telling his team he isn’t interested. Yet in recent weeks, within Cruz’s camp, talk of a joint ticket has run rampant. Utah Republican Mike Lee, one of two senators to endorse Cruz, has emerged as an outspoken supporter of a unity ticket — and as a potential broker. The freshman, according to several sources briefed on the talks, has reached out repeatedly to Rubio to gauge his interest, but has been rebuffed.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – STEVE EMERSON – executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, a non profit group that investigates the threat of radical Islam – discussed the terror attacks in Brussels.

7am – B         Latest on the Brussels attacks

7am – C         Bill Clinton slams ‘awful legacy of the last eight years’, claims he was criticizing Republicans. Former President Bill Clinton slammed what he called the “awful legacy of the last eight years” during a campaign appearance for his wife, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, in Washington state Monday. Clinton made the remarks at an event in Spokane ahead of Saturday’s Washington state Democratic caucuses.  “If you believe we’ve finally come to the point where we can put the awful legacy of the last eight years behind us,” Clinton said, “and the seven years before that when we were practicing trickle-down economics and no regulation in Washington, which is what caused the crash, then you should vote for her.” The remarks appeared to be a shot at President Barack Obama, in whose administration Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state and whose policies she has defended in her primary campaign against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

7am – D         INTERVIEW – FRANK CALZON – Executive Director, Center for a Free Cuba, based in Washington, D.C. – discussed his thoughts on President Obama’s Cuba visit.

7am – E         Latest on the Brussels attacks

8am – A         INTERVIEW — ROBERT COSTA – national political reporter at The Washington Post

• COSTA: A whirlwind day in D.C. showcases Trump’s unorthodox views and shifting tone
• COSTA: Trump questions need for NATO, outlines noninterventionist foreign policy. The GOP front-runner laid out a non-interventionist foreign policy approach in a meeting with the newspaper’s editorial board.
• COSTA: GOP operatives, conservative leaders meet to thwart Trump. They discussed the possibility of a third-party run and possible candidates but resolved to work to derail a Trump nomination in the primaries, sources said.

• Trump spoke before AIPAC about his views on Israel

8am – B         INTERVIEW — KT MCFARLAND – Fox News National Security Analyst – discussed the latest on the Brussels attacks.

8am – C         3 arrested after bomb-making materials found in George Mason University dorm room. FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — Court documents say three students at George Mason University have been arrested after alleged bomb-making materials were found in a dorm room. The documents say George Mason University Police officers went to the room Wednesday night after it was reported that flames were shooting out of the window. Search warrants say police found a leafy green substance, match books, shaved match heads, a mortar and pestle, lighter fluid, hand sanitizer, candles and a PVC pipe. The documents say investigators reported the items could be combined to make explosives.

8am – D         INTERVIEW — LARRY KUDLOW – CNBC Senior Contributor and host of The Larry Kudlow Show on WMAL Saturdays at 7 pm

• Larry’s thoughts on Trump’s AIPAC speech
• Bill Clinton slams ‘awful legacy of the last eight years’, claims he was criticizing Republicans

8am – E         INTERVIEW – DR WALID PHARES — Fox News Mideast Expert & now an advisor to presidential candidate DONALD TRUMP – discussed the terror attacks in Brussels.