Mike Love of The Beach Boys, Eleanor Clift, Christian Toto and Bret Baier joined WMAL on Friday!

Mornings on the Mall

Friday, May 27, 2016

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A         INTERVIEW – MIKE LOVE of The Beach Boys discussed performing at the National Memorial Day Concert.

5am – B/C     Clinton Email Update

5am – D         Trump News:

• Obama takes swipe at Trump overseas. (Fox News) – While traveling overseas on official business Thursday, President Obama couldn’t resist wading into political matters back home, sparking controversy by saying foreign leaders are “rattled” by the rise of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.  Obama, saying leaders have “good reason” to feel that way, made the remarks on the sidelines of a Group of Seven economic summit in Japan. “They are rattled by it — and for good reason,” Obama said. “Because a lot of the proposals he has made display either ignorance of world affairs, or a cavalier attitude, or an interest in getting tweets and headlines.”
• TRUMP hanging with ROLLING THUNDER. (Washington Post) — Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump plans to appear in the District on Sunday to show support for the annual Rolling Thunder motorcycle ride, a campaign adviser confirmed Thursday. Rolling Thunder seeks to raise awareness for veterans issues and to remember prisoners of war and those missing from combat situations. Bloomberg Politics first reported that Trump plans to make an appearance.
• Donald Trump has delegates to clinch GOP nomination. (CNN) Donald Trump has the delegates to clinch the GOP presidential nomination, according to a CNN delegate count Thursday. While Trump has had the nomination locked down for weeks, he has now reached the threshold of 1,237 delegates with the help of previously uncommitted delegates who now support his candidacy. A handful of states, including the large prizes of California and New Jersey, will hold the final primaries on June 7.
• Donald Trump’s energy plan: Regulate less, drill more. (CNBC) – In his first in-depth speech about energy policy, Trump on Thursday promised to make American energy “dominance” a strategic economic and foreign policy goal of the U.S. “America’s incredible energy potential remains untapped. It’s a wound that is totally self-inflected,” Trump said during a speech at a North Dakota oil industry conference. Trump, who earlier in the day had secured enough delegates to clinch the GOP nomination, warned that Democratic rival Hillary Clinton will make life tougher for the energy industry. “This is your treasure and you the American people are entitled to share in the riches,” Trump said. The event was live-streamed by ValleyNewsLife.com, the NBC and CBS affiliate for Fargo, N.D.

5am – E         Montgomery Co. raises taxes, adopts $5.3B budget. ROCKVILLE, Md. — Montgomery County homeowners can expect a big jump in their property tax bill next year. The Montgomery County Council formally adopted a $5.3 billion budget for the upcoming year on Thursday. The 2017 budget, which takes affect in July, calls for an 8.7 percent property tax increase. That translates to a roughly $326 annual increase for the average home. Recordation fees, those county taxes paid when a property is sold, will increase as well. The cost will depend on the value of the property being sold. After the unanimous vote, Council President Nancy Floreen defended the move by the council to go above the county’s own charter limit on taxes. “I think all nine of us on the council have a huge obligation to address schools’ needs,” Floreen said.

6am – A/B/C Obama in Hiroshima calls for ‘world without nuclear weapons.’ Hiroshima (CNN)Barack Obama on Friday became the first sitting president to visit Hiroshima and he called for a “world without nuclear weapons” during his remarks at the city’s Peace Memorial Park. Obama said that “71 years ago on a bright cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed.” “A flash of light and a wall of fire destroyed a city, and demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself,” the President added during his 20-minute address at the site of the first nuclear bombing. Obama was not expected to apologize for the U.S. action to hasten the end of World War II and he did not. “Why do we come to this place, to Hiroshima? We come to ponder the terrible force unleashed in the not so distant past. We come to mourn the dead,” Obama said.

6am – D         Trump agrees to debate Sanders but sets stiff price.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has provisionally accepted Bernie Sanders’ proposal to debate, but the billionaire is setting a high price for participating. His condition: The hosting TV network would have to put up millions of dollars for charity. Representatives for Fox News, ABC News and CBS News say the networks are interested in hosting such a showdown but would not comment on whether they’d be willing to put up the $10 million Trump is demanding for women’s health causes. “We’re always interested in more opportunities to hear from the candidates,” said ABC spokeswoman Julie Townsend. Trump said Thursday a host network would make millions from sky-high ratings and should agree to turn over at least $10 million to women’s health causes.

6am – E         President Obama snapped at a reporter during a Thursday press conference in Japan after being asked about Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email system at the State Department, an act that the department’s inspector general said violated the rules. Obama had just offered to answer one additional question from reporters, but then bristled when the question was about Clinton’s emails. “You know I take it back – I’m not taking another question,” he said. “We’re in Japan, don’t you have something to do with Asia that we want to talk about? I’ll be talking about this in Washington the whole time.” “Look, I’ve already said a lot on those issues — I think these are better directed to the campaign,” he added.

 

7am – A         INTERVIEW – ELEANOR CLIFT – political correspondent for the Daily Beast

• Latest Democratic presidential race news:
• ‘Game on’: Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders say they’re willing to debate each other. (AP) — Donald Trump has provisionally accepted Bernie Sanders’ proposal to debate, but the billionaire is setting a high price for participating. His condition: The hosting TV network would have to put up millions of dollars for charity. Representatives for Fox News, ABC News and CBS News say the networks are interested in hosting such a showdown but would not comment on whether they’d be willing to put up the $10 million Trump is demanding for women’s health causes. “We’re always interested in more opportunities to hear from the candidates,” said ABC spokeswoman Julie Townsend. Trump said Thursday a host network would make millions from sky-high ratings and should agree to turn over at least $10 million to women’s health causes.
• 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.”
• Dems in Disarray: Dumping Debbie? Unnamed sources allowed to whack DNC chair in power struggle. Could we see enough momentum to push Debbie Wasserman Schultz out as DNC chair?

7am – B         National Spelling Bee co-champions include youngest ever. OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — The words were tougher. The final rounds lasted longer. The result was the same. The Scripps National Spelling Bee ended in a tie for the third consecutive year Thursday night, with Jairam Hathwar and Nihar Janga declared co-champions after a roller-coaster finish. Thirteen-year-old Jairam is the younger brother of the 2014 co-champion, Sriram Hathwar. Nihar, at age 11, is the youngest winner of the bee on record.

7am – C         Metro customers foil would-be thief on Capitol South station platform.

A pair of Metro customers chased a would-be thief on a station platform Thursday and restrained him until police arrived, Metro said. At about 4 p.m., Metro spokeswoman Sherri Ly said, a man attempted to steal a cell phone from a customer waiting on the Capitol South station platform. She said two riders who witnessed the incident went after the man and pinned him down until Metro Transit Police officers arrived. Capitol South serves the Blue, Orange and Silver lines.

7am – D         INTERVIEW – MIKE LOVE of The Beach Boys discussed performing at the National Memorial Day Concert.

7am – E         TRUMP NEWS:

• Obama takes swipe at Trump overseas.
• Donald Trump has delegates to clinch GOP nomination
• Donald Trump’s energy plan: Regulate less, drill more.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – CHRISTIAN TOTO – Film Critic, HollywoodInToto.com

• Preview this weekend:  ‘X-Men’ and ‘Alice’ sequels are expected to power the Memorial Day weekend box office
• Preview upcoming films this summer
• Sexist ‘Ghostbusters’ Backlash Coincides With 2016 Gender Divide
• Toto weighs in on Katie Couric’s biased gun documentary

8am – B/C     Obama in Hiroshima calls for ‘world without nuclear weapons.’ Hiroshima (CNN)Barack Obama on Friday became the first sitting president to visit Hiroshima and he called for a “world without nuclear weapons” during his remarks at the city’s Peace Memorial Park. Obama said that “71 years ago on a bright cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed.”

8am – D         INTERVIEW — BRET BAIER – ANCHOR OF SPECIAL REPORT ON FOX NEWS CHANNEL

• ‘Game on’: Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders say they’re willing to debate each other. (AP) — Donald Trump has provisionally accepted Bernie Sanders’ proposal to debate, but the billionaire is setting a high price for participating. His condition: The hosting TV network would have to put up millions of dollars for charity.
• 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.

8am – E         Latest on Clinton’s email scandal