Ken Klukowski, Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton, Stuart Varney and Jake Tapper joined WMAL on Thursday!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C Clinton email use broke federal rules: inspector’s report. WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Clinton and her team ignored clear guidance from the State Department that her email setup broke federal standards and could leave sensitive material vulnerable to hackers, a department audit has found. Her aides twice brushed aside concerns, in one case telling technical staff “the matter was not to be discussed further.” The inspector general’s review on Wednesday also revealed that hacking attempts forced then-Secretary of State Clinton off email at one point in 2011, though she insists the personal server she used was never breached. Clinton and several of her senior staff declined to be interviewed for the investigation. Earlier this month, Clinton declared that she was happy to “talk to anybody, anytime” about the matter and would encourage her staff to do the same.

5am – D         Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe Invited Chinese Donor to Hillary Clinton’s Home, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe invited the Chinese businessman whose donations to him have been named as a focus of Justice Department investigators to a 2013 fundraiser at Hillary Clinton’s personal Washington, D.C., residence. Wang Wenliang, a Chinese national with U.S. permanent residency, briefly shook Clinton’s hand at the Sept. 30 event, a representative for Wang told TIME. An American company controlled by Wang made a $60,000 contribution to McAuliffe’s campaign three weeks before the fundraiser. Less than a month later, a separate Wang company pledged $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation, the first of several donations that eventually totaled $2 million. The fundraiser was one of at least three interactions between Wang and McAuliffe, according to the businessman’s representative.

5am – E         Critter News:

• Crab population in Chesapeake Bay rebounding, might be highest count in 20 years. Chesapeake Bay, Md. (ABC7) — If you love eating crabs, there’s good news from the Chesapeake Bay. The crab population continues to rebound after some off years. Scientists estimate the population at 553 million this year, about 35 percent more than last year, which was 38 percent more than the year before. So, this will be among the highest counts in 20 years.

• PETA asks LSU to stop using captive tigers as mascots. BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Two animal rights groups are asking that Louisiana State University stop using captive tigers as mascots a day after LSU said its mascot was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. News outlets report People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and LSU Animal Advocates wrote in a letter Tuesday to LSU President F. King Alexander that Mike VI shouldn’t be brought out to games this coming season due to his condition. LSU announced Monday that Mike VI was diagnosed with spindle cell sarcoma and has a tumor on its face. The group says the university should instead use only “willing, costumed human mascots.” WAFB-TV reports (http://bit.ly/1OMsvsg) LSU spokesman Ernie Ballard issued a response to the letter, saying the university is focused on Mike’s health and well-being at this time.

6am – A         Univision Anchor Booed At Commencement After Speaking Spanish, Mentioning Trump. Graduates reportedly yelled things like “Trash!” and “Get off the stage!” A Peabody Award-winning anchor for the Spanish-language Univision network was booed and called “trash” at a commencement address in Orange County, California, this weekend after she spoke a few words in Spanish and mentioned Donald Trump. María Elena Salinas spoke at California State University, Fullerton, on Sunday, first addressing the entire CSUF graduating class and later speaking to graduates of the school’s College of Communications, an audience consisting largely of journalism, advertising and public relations students. About 37 percent of students at CSUF are Hispanic, according to the university. Salinas, a California native who was raised by immigrants, addressed the Latinos in the audience at one point during her remarks at the College of Communications ceremony, speaking in Spanish to them and their parents.

‘Get off the stage!’ Crowd yells at commencement speaker after she uses Spanish, mentions Trump. When Univision anchor Maria Elena Salinas mentioned Donald Trump during her commencement speech at the School of Communications at California State University, Fullerton on May 22, she was met with boos from students. Later, a woman can be heard yelling, “Get off the stage.” Some people in the crowd at a graduation ceremony at California State University, Fullerton, shouted at the commencement speaker after she talked about presidential candidate Donald Trump and gave a brief section of her address in Spanish. “It’s really sad,” the commencement speaker, Maria Elena Salinas, an anchor for Spanish language broadcast network Univision, said Tuesday. “And it’s a testament to what has happened in our country. Our country is really divided.”

6am – B         Audio Shows Katie Couric Documentary Deceptively Edited Interview with Pro-Gun Activists. Film’s director: ‘I never intended to make anyone look bad’ (Washington Beacon) — The makers of a new Katie Couric documentary on gun violence deceptively edited an interview between Couric and a group of gun rights activists in an apparent attempt to embarrass the activists, an audio recording of the full interview shows. At the 21:48 mark of Under the Gun a scene of Katie Couric interviewing members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun rights organization, is shown. Couric can be heard in the interview asking activists from the group, “If there are no background checks for gun purchasers, how do you prevent felons or terrorists from purchasing a gun?” The documentary then shows the activists sitting silently for nine awkward seconds, unable to provide an answer. It then cuts to the next scene. The moment can be watched here: However, raw audio of the interview between Katie Couric and the activists provided to the Washington Free Beacon shows the scene was deceptively edited. Instead of silence, Couric’s question is met immediately with answers from the activists. A back and forth between a number of the league’s members and Couric over the issue of background checks proceeds for more than four minutes after the original question is asked.

6am – C         Obama Moving To Super White Neighborhood. President Obama will be moving into DC’s Kalorama neighborhood once his term ends, National Journal reported on Tuesday. Demographics data reveals the president’s neighborhood-of-choice differs from the rest of the city in one significant way: it has almost no poor or black people. According to Statistical Atlas (which provides demographic information on DC’s neighborhoods using U.S. Census data), the Kalorama neighborhood is just 3.7 percent black — the rest of the city is more than 50 percent black. While whites make up just 35 percent of the DC population, more than 71 percent of Obama’s neighbors will be white. In Obama’s new neighborhood, whites outnumber blacks 19-1.

6am – D         INTERVIEW — KEN KLUKOWSKI – Breitbart Legal Editor

• 11 states sue over Obama’s school transgender directive. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas and 10 other states are suing the Obama administration over its directive to U.S. public schools to let transgender students use the bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. The lawsuit announced Wednesday includes Oklahoma, Alabama, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Tennessee, Maine, Arizona, Louisiana, Utah and Georgia. It asks a North Texas federal court to declare the directive unlawful in what ranks among the most coordinated and visible legal challenges by states over the socially divisive issue of bathroom rights for transgender persons. The Obama administration has “conspired to turn workplace and educational settings across the country into laboratories for a massive social experiment, flouting the democratic process, and running roughshod over commonsense policies protecting children and basic privacy rights,” the lawsuit reads.

6am – E         Entertainment News:

• Johnny Depp and Amber Heard in marriage split. Film star Johnny Depp and his actress wife Amber Heard are to divorce, US court documents have revealed. Heard, 30, filed for divorce in Los Angeles Superior Court citing irreconcilable differences. They married 15 months ago and have no children. They have recently been embroiled in a legal case in Australia after Heard took two dogs into the country illegally. She pleaded guilty in April to a charge of falsifying documents. Depp, 52, and Heard met while co-starring in the 2011 film The Rum Diary. In the court papers, Texan-born Heard listed the separation date as Sunday. Celebrity news website TMZ reported that Depp had asked a judge to reject Heard’s claim for spousal support.
• Johnny Depp Picks A Fight With Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister. Johnny Depp and an Australian leader continue to share barbs and insults following Depp’s apology after the actor snuck his dogs into their country. On Tuesday, the Australian deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce that pushed for the apology and threatened to have the actor’s dogs killed, said that he is the actor’s greatest villain ever, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “I’m inside his head, I’m pulling little strings and pulling little levers,” Joyce said. “Long after I’ve forgotten about Mr. Depp, he’s remembering me.” Adding, “I’m turning into his Hannibal Lecter.” The response comes after Depp on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Monday night said Joyce “looks somehow inbred with a tomato.”
• The Weeknd, Belly cancel Kimmel performance because of Trump. NEW YORK (AP) — R&B singer The Weeknd and rapper Belly have canceled their performance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” because Donald Trump was set to appear on the episode. The Oscar-nominated musicians were slated to record their performance Wednesday in Los Angeles for the late-night ABC show. Belly said he canceled because he didn’t want to share a stage with Trump and disagrees with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s views and beliefs.
• ‘Ghostbusters’: How Sony Plans to Out-Slime the Online Haters. (Hollywood Reporter) — “They are trying to define the experience,” says Sony’s domestic marketing chief as vocal (and sexist?) foes of the female reboot face off against a summer tentpole’s trailers. When Sony Pictures’ second trailer for its female-fronted Ghostbusters reboot appeared online May 18, fans initially had to find it on Facebook. The studio had switched from YouTube, which hosted the first trailer, in a deliberate effort to combat a cacophony of negative reaction emanating from a very vocal minority online.

7am – A         INTERVIEW — TOM FITTON – President of Judicial Watch

• Judicial Watch Statement on State Department OIG Report on Hillary Clinton’s Email Practices. (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton made the following statement regarding the recently released report by the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General regarding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s email practices: It was Judicial Watch’s litigation that almost certainly forced the State Department to publicly disclose Hillary Clinton’s secret email account that is now the subject of a scathing Inspector General Report.
• Clinton email use broke federal rules: inspector’s report. May 26, 2016 2:33 am / WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Clinton and her team ignored clear guidance from the State Department that her email setup broke federal standards and could leave sensitive material vulnerable to hackers, a department audit has found. Her aides twice brushed aside concerns, in one case telling technical staff “the matter was not to be discussed further.” The inspector general’s review on Wednesday also revealed that hacking attempts forced then-Secretary of State Clinton off email at one point in 2011, though she insists the personal server she used was never breached. Clinton and several of her senior staff declined to be interviewed for the investigation.

7am – B        Muslim Academic: Koran’s Reward of 72 Virgins a Bad Translation. (Newsmax) — The Koran’s promise to Islamic jihadists of a heavenly reward of 72 virgins actually mistranslates the word for “raisins,” a Canadian scholar asserts — a startling declaration that’s fueling a twitter storm. A CNN special that debuted Tuesday, “Why They Hate Us,” hosted by Fareed Zakaria, tries to explain the roots of radical Islam, and includes the revelation from Canadian academic Irshad Manji.

CNN’s ‘Why They Hate Us’ examines the Quran’s promise of 72 raisins. There was some minor breaking news on CNN Monday night: Fareed Zakaria is still on the air at CNN. Along with that revelation were many others made as part of Zakaria’s prime-time special, “Why They Hate Us.” It remains to be seen how many viewers were roped in by the sensational title, but Zakaria championed a moderate interpretation of Islam while arguing that Islamist terrorists are motivated by a hatred of all things modern, not simply America and the West. To that end, Zakaria cited Canadian author and academic Irshad Manji, who argued that martyrs are working from a drastic misinterpretation of the Quran. What’s the surprise? Manji maintains that “virgins” is a mistranslation of the word for “raisins,” meaning that the faithful are promised a date with dried grapes in the afterlife.

7am – C        Longtime O’Malley backer touts him as next DNC chair. (Baltimore Sun) — As the political vultures circle around the incumbent, a longtime backer and financier of former Gov. Martin O’Malley is touting him as the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee. John P. Coale, whose $500,000 loan helped put O’Malley over the top in his 2006 race against Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., tweeted his support Wednesday as speculation swirled that U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida might be on her way out. “Martin O’Malley 4 DNC Chair. Acceptable to both candidates, did great job as [Democratic Governors Association] chair. Great on TV. Huge on executive experience,” Coale wrote. Coale is a retired Washington trial lawyer who is married to Fox News TV host Greta van Susteren. He was an outspoken backer of O’Malley’s run for president, which ended after the former governor’s dismal performance in the Iowa caucuses.

7am – D         INTERVIEW – STUART VARNEY – HOST OF VARNEY AND COMPANY, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK

• Poll: Clinton and Sanders in dead heat in California. (Politico) — Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are virtually deadlocked in California, the biggest prize of the 2016 Democratic presidential primary season, according to a new poll. The survey, conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, finds Clinton with only a small lead over Sanders, 46 percent to 44 percent, among likely voters in the Democratic primary next month.
• Clinton email use broke federal rules: inspector’s report. (AP) — Hillary Clinton and her team ignored clear guidance from the State Department that her email setup broke federal standards and could leave sensitive material vulnerable to hackers, a department audit has found. Her aides twice brushed aside concerns, in one case telling technical staff “the matter was not to be discussed further.”
• Nearly half of U.S. households would struggle with unexpected $400 expense, study says. WASHINGTON » Shedding light on the precarious economic state of many American families, the Federal Reserve said today that nearly half of U.S. households reported they would have trouble meeting emergency expenses of just $400. In addition, the Fed found that 22 percent of workers were juggling two or more jobs last year, higher than what government jobs data would suggest. And nearly one out of three Americans said that they have no retirement savings or pension.

• John Kerry’s Awkward Push For Investment In Iran. (NPR) — S. Secretary of State John Kerry (right), along with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond (left), speak to reporters in London on May 12. They tried to assure European banks they won’t be penalized for conducting legitimate business with Iran. Critics say it should not be up to the U.S. to encourage investment in Iran. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (right), along with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond (left), speak to reporters in London on May 12. They tried to assure European banks they won’t be penalized for conducting legitimate business with Iran. Critics say it should not be up to the U.S. to encourage investment in Iran.

7am – E        Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe Invited Chinese Donor to Hillary Clinton’s Home. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe invited the Chinese businessman whose donations to him have been named as a focus of Justice Department investigators to a 2013 fundraiser at Hillary Clinton’s personal Washington, D.C., residence. Wang Wenliang, a Chinese national with U.S. permanent residency, briefly shook Clinton’s hand at the Sept. 30 event, a representative for Wang told TIME. An American company controlled by Wang made a $60,000 contribution to McAuliffe’s campaign three weeks before the fundraiser. Less than a month later, a separate Wang company pledged $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation, the first of several donations that eventually totaled $2 million.

8am – A/B     Before u press, “send”: Hope Hicks sends dirt digging email to Politico instead of the RNC. Trump plans to target Clinton over Whitewater. In an email obtained by POLITICO, the Trump campaign asks the RNC to research the scandal. (Politico) — Donald Trump, who in recent days has accused Bill Clinton of rape and suggested he and Hillary Clinton may have had a role in the death of one of their close friends, plans to focus next on the Whitewater real estate scandal, POLITICO has learned. Trump campaign adviser Michael Caputo on Wednesday morning emailed a researcher at the Republican National Committee asking him to “work up information on HRC/Whitewater as soon as possible. This is for immediate use and for the afternoon talking points process.” The email was obtained by POLITICO when Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks, who Caputo copied on his request to the RNC, accidentally responded instead to Marc Caputo, a POLITICO reporter who is not related to the Republican consultant. RNC chief strategist Sean Spicer issued a statement praising his committee’s research team as “the best in the business,” but neither he nor Hicks responded to questions about how or when the Trump campaign intended to invoke Whitewater, or whether they thought that spotlighting the matter might open Trump to more scrutiny of his own mixed record in real estate.

8am – C         Crab population in Chesapeake Bay rebounding, might be highest count in 20 years. Chesapeake Bay, Md. (ABC7) — If you love eating crabs, there’s good news from the Chesapeake Bay. The crab population continues to rebound after some off years. Scientists estimate the population at 553 million this year, about 35 percent more than last year, which was 38 percent more than the year before. So, this will be among the highest counts in 20 years.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – JAKE TAPPER – Anchor of THE LEAD and STATE OF THE UNION on CNN

• Clinton email use broke federal rules: inspector’s report
• Dems in Disarray

8am – E         Clinton email use broke federal rules: inspector’s report. WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Clinton and her team ignored clear guidance from the State Department that her email setup broke federal standards and could leave sensitive material vulnerable to hackers, a department audit has found. Her aides twice brushed aside concerns, in one case telling technical staff “the matter was not to be discussed further.” The inspector general’s review on Wednesday also revealed that hacking attempts forced then-Secretary of State Clinton off email at one point in 2011, though she insists the personal server she used was never breached. Clinton and several of her senior staff declined to be interviewed for the investigation. Earlier this month, Clinton declared that she was happy to “talk to anybody, anytime” about the matter and would encourage her staff to do the same.