Mornings on the Mall 06.20.16

Joe diGenova, Fmr VA Governor Jim Gilmore, VA Del. Rob Bell and guest hosts Lisa Boothe & Rick Fowler joined WMAL on Monday!

Mornings on the Mall

Monday, June 20, 2016

Guest Hosts: Rick Fowler and Lisa Boothe

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C  Dozens of GOP delegates launch new push for convention coup. (Washington Post) — Dozens of Republican convention delegates are hatching a new plan to block Donald Trump at this summer’s party meetings, in what has become the most organized effort so far to stop the businessman from becoming the GOP presidential nominee. The moves come amid declining poll numbers for Trump and growing concern among Republicans that he is squandering his chance to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton. Several controversies — including his racial attacks on a federal judge, his renewed call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States and his support for changing the nation’s gun laws — have raised fears among Republicans that Trump is not really a conservative and is too reckless to run a successful race. Given the strife, a growing group of anti-Trump delegates is convinced that enough like-minded Republicans will band together in the next month to change party rules and allow delegates to vote for whomever they want at the convention, regardless of who won state caucuses or primaries.

With most voters viewing him as ‘strongly unfavorable.’ (Politico) Recent polls have showed Trump’s unfavorable rating spiking again, after a brief improvement last month. Trump is setting modern records for political toxicity — at least for a major-party candidate this far out from an election. Seventy percent of Americans surveyed in an ABC News/Washington Post poll out this week had an unfavorable opinion of Trump, up 10 points over the past month. The poll showed Trump’s favorable rating cratering at 29 percent, down from 37 percent last month. The numbers were similar in a Bloomberg Politics poll: Trump’s favorable rating is just 31 percent, with 66 percent viewing him unfavorably. That’s only marginally better than in March, when 29 percent viewed Trump favorably, and 68 percent had an unfavorable opinion.

5am – D         Lynch: “Partial Transcript” Of Orlando 911 Calls Will Have References To Islamic Terrorism Removed. In an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd, Attorney General Loretta Lynch says that on Monday, the FBI will release edited transcripts of the 911 calls made by the Orlando nightclub shooter to the police during his rampage. “What we’re not going to do is further proclaim this man’s pledges of allegiance to terrorist groups, and further his propaganda,” Lynch said. “We are not going to hear him make his assertions of allegiance [to the Islamic State].” The Washington Post reported last week that the gunman made multiple phone calls while holding hostages: “The gunman who opened fire inside a nightclub here said he carried out the attack because he wanted ‘Americans to stop bombing his country,’ according to a witness who survived the rampage.”

5am – E         Sanders News:

• Another Reason To Drop Out: Report: Sanders’s Secret Service bill more than $38,000 a day. Bernie Sanders’s around-the-clock Secret Service protection costs taxpayers more than $38,000 a day, according to a Washington Post report.  Even though his rival, Hillary Clinton, has effectively clinched the Democratic nomination for president, Sanders will continue to have a Secret Service detail until he officially ends his campaign. According to the Post, agents guard Sanders at home and travel with him everywhere, which can cost taxpayers more than $1 million per month.
• Clinton considering Warren, not Sanders, for running mate: WSJ. Hillary Clinton is considering U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren for her running mate for the Democratic presidential ticket, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing several people familiar with the process. Warren, a leading progressive voice among Democrats, is among those Democratic presidential candidate Clinton is vetting for the vice presidential position, the newspaper reported. Clinton’s rival Bernie Sanders is not, it added. Sources told Reuters earlier this month that Warren, who represents Massachusetts, is considering the potential role.

6am – A/B/C Trump suggests ‘profiling’ in US to stop domestic terrorism. (Fox News) — Donald Trump suggested Sunday that the U.S. start “profiling” people inside the country to thwart terrorism, calling it a hateful but “common sense” tactic, in the aftermath of recent terror attacks. “I think profiling is something we’re going to have to start thinking about as a country,” Trump said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “I hate the concept of profiling, but we have to start using common sense.” The presumptive GOP presidential nominee also argued that other countries, including Israel, profile “and they do it successfully.”

6am – D/E     Senate to Vote on 4 Gun Control Measures.  (AP) — The Senate plans to take four procedural votes Monday on amendments that would improve or expand background checks and make it harder for suspected terrorists to purchase guns. None is expected to get the 60 votes required for further action. Democrats were expected to block two Republican amendments, arguing that they fall short in controlling the sales of guns. Republicans were expected to block two Democratic amendments, contending that they threaten the constitutional rights of gun owners.

• Details on the amendments:
• Amendment by Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut that would require background checks for all gun sales and improve information in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
• Amendment by Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, that would boost funds for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and ensure that the correct records are uploaded into the system in a timely manner. Would also clarify language surrounding mental health issues that would disqualify someone from buying a gun.
• Amendment by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California that would let the government bar sales of guns and explosives to people it suspects of being terrorists. Feinstein offered a similar amendment in December, a day after an extremist couple killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, but the Republican-run Senate rejected the proposal on a near party-line vote.
• The Justice Department has endorsed the legislation, saying it gives the department “an important additional tool to prevent the sale of guns to suspected terrorists by licensed firearms dealers while ensuring protection of the department’s operational and investigative sensitivities.”
• Amendment by Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas that would allow the government to delay a gun sale to a suspected terrorist for 72 hours, but require prosecutors to go to court to show probable cause to block the sale permanently. The National Rifle Association backs the legislation, which the Senate also rejected in December.

 

7am – A/B/C INTERVIEW — JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney to the District of Columbia

• PENDING SCOTUS RULINGS: Supreme Court expected to announce rulings on abortion, immigration The Supreme Court is set this week to begin announcing decisions on roughly a dozen remaining cases, including contentious ones on abortion and immigration. The rulings will be released from the bench starting Monday, with the high court typically waiting until the last week of June to announce those on the most contentious issues, in a tradition known as “spring flood” and just before the justices go on summer recess.
• FREDDIE GRAY: Defense Rests in Murder Trial of Officer Over Freddie Gray Death. Acquitted fellow officer is final defense witness; closing arguments set for Monday. BALTIMORE—Lawyers for city Police Officer Caesar Goodson, charged with second-degree murder in the 2015 death of Freddie Gray, rested their case Friday after calling as their final witness a fellow officer who was acquitted last month in the same case.
• HILLARY’S EMAILS: WikiLeaks to publish more Hillary Clinton emails – Julian Assange.
• ORLANDO TERRORIST 9-1-1 CALLS: Lynch: “Partial Transcript” Of Orlando 911 Calls Will Have References To Islamic Terrorism Removed
• Paul Bedard Reports: End of conservative Supreme Court: Clarence Thomas may be next to leave. Wife Ginni Thomas denies the report on Facebook: “IT. IS. BOGUS! Paul Bedard needs to find a phone in his life and unnamed sources are worth as much as their transparency is.”

7am – D         Latest news on Orlando and ISIS:

• Lynch: “Partial Transcript” Of Orlando 911 Calls Will Have References To Islamic Terrorism Removed –In an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd, Attorney General Loretta Lynch says that on Monday, the FBI will release edited transcripts of the 911 calls made by the Orlando nightclub shooter to the police during his rampage. “What we’re not going to do is further proclaim this man’s pledges of allegiance to terrorist groups, and further his propaganda,” Lynch said. “We are not going to hear him make his assertions of allegiance [to the Islamic State].”
• Why is the Obama administration so afraid to call the ORLANDO TERROR ATTACK “radical Islam”?

7am – E         Marco jumping in because Jolly dropping out?

• Florida’s David Jolly Running for Re-election to the House. The GOP congressman will drop out of the Senate race. (Roll Call) — Florida Rep. David Jolly is running for re-election in the 13th District.  “Today I’m asking you for the opportunity to keep doing my job,” Jolly wrote in an email to supporters Friday afternoon. “I ask for your support in seeking reelection to the House of Representatives.”  Jolly had been seeking the GOP nomination for Senate along with four other candidates.  Jolly’s departure from the Senate race comes amid speculation that Florida Sen. Marco Rubio will file for re-election on Monday.  Jolly said on CNN Friday morning that Rubio is “saying he is getting in,” but later walked back that statement. Rubio has said he plans to spend the weekend considering his options.
• House GOP to Jolly: We’re Not Sure We Want You Back. The NRCC declined to pledge financial support for the now former Senate candidate. (Roll Call) — The Tampa-area congressman announced Friday that he would forgo his Florida Senate campaign and run for re-election, saying that he had “unfinished business” in the House.   But instead of cheering Jolly’s decision, some fellow Republicans are instead making plain that they’re not eager to help their colleague return to the House. They’re frustrated with Jolly’s perceived lack of cooperation with fellow House Republicans and the National Republican Congressional Committee, which they believe dragged Jolly into his current House seat during his 2014 special election victory.   The NRCC itself — a group whose sole purposes are to elect House Republicans and protect incumbents — is also showing its frustration with Jolly, declining to pledge crucial financial support to the congressman’s campaign.   “The NRCC was not included in his ‘deliberations’ and has not had any discussions with David about him running for re-election,” said Katie Martin, spokeswoman for the NRCC. “We do not — and will not — comment about commitments for financial support or anything else.”

 

8am – A         INTERVIEW — GOVERNOR JIM GILMORE – former Virginia Governor, 2016 presidential candidate and former RNC chairman

• TOPICS: politics and terrorism :
• Trump Says He Wants, but Doesn’t Need, GOP: ‘I Can Win One Way or the Other’ – Donald Trump plans to win with or without the Republican Party establishment on his side. Speaking to NBC News’ Hallie Jackson in Las Vegas, Trump said, “It would be nice if the Republicans stuck together.” But a fractured party won’t stop Trump from succeeding, he said, claiming: “I can win one way or the other.”
• Dozens of GOP delegates launch new push for convention coup. (Washington Post) — Dozens of Republican convention delegates are hatching a new plan to block Donald Trump at this summer’s party meetings, in what has become the most organized effort so far to stop the businessman from becoming the GOP presidential nominee.
• Trump suggests ‘profiling’ in US to stop domestic terrorism. (Fox News) — Trump doubles down on Muslim ban following Orlando massacre. Donald Trump suggested Sunday that the U.S. start “profiling” people inside the country to thwart terrorism, calling it a hateful but “common sense” tactic, in the aftermath of recent terror attacks. “I think profiling is something we’re going to have to start thinking about as a country,” Trump said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “I hate the concept of profiling, but we have to start using common sense.” The presumptive GOP presidential nominee also argued that other countries, including Israel, profile “and they do it successfully.”

8am – B         Critter News:

• “RAARR!”: Obama growls to show kids how to scare away a bear at Yosemite National Park. President Obama and the First Family Visit Yosemite National Park. (ABC News) – Standing in front of one of the most breathtaking backgrounds of any during his time in office, President Obama used a speech at Yosemite National Park today to tout his conservation legacy while calling for more action to prevent climate change. Obama’s speech was a celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the National Park Service, and a call for more Americans to take advantage of the great outdoors, with Obama expressing concern over children who had yet to ever visit a national park.
• Woman Attacked By Black Bear While Running Marathon In New Mexico. VALLES CALDERA NATIONAL PRESERVE, N.M. (CBSNewYork/AP)– Wildlife officials say a bear attacked a woman running a marathon in a national preserve in northern New Mexico. The woman suffered several bites and scratches and had injuries to her head, neck and upper body that weren’t life-threatening.
• Mother pulls mountain lion off her 5-year-old son. Summoned by the sound of screams, a Colorado woman raced to her front yard to find a terrifying sight: A mountain lion was hunched over her 5-year-old son, biting him. The woman charged the animal, yanked away one of its paws and discovered her son’s whole head was in its mouth. She didn’t back down. “She was able to pry the cat’s jaws open,” Pitkin County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Buglione said. “She’s a hero.” The boy suffered deep cuts to his head, face and neck and was flown to a Denver hospital. The mother, who also had scratches and bites, is credited with saving his life. The ordeal started Friday evening when the 5-year-old and his older brother were playing outside their home near the resort town of Aspen, Buglione said. When the woman ran outside, she found the mountain lion crouched over her younger son, who was struggling to get free. “The boy was completely under the cat,” Buglione told The Aspen Times. The mother grabbed the lion’s mouth and pried it open, freeing the boy. She then scooped him up and ran away, the deputy said.
• Non-alcoholic wine for cats now exists. (Huffington Post) — Have you ever been home with your cat (or cats), enjoying a nice glass of wine, and thought, “I wish my feline friends could enjoy this too.” Well, they can’t. Alcohol is extremely dangerous for pets. What’s a cat-loving wino to do? Enter Apollo Peak. The Denver-based company makes drinks for cats that look like wine, but bear little resemblance to the stuff ingredient-wise. In varieties like Pinot Meow and MosCATo, Apollo Peak wine is made with organic catnip and water and colored with organic beet juice (the “white” varieties are colored with golden beets).

8am – C         Cleveland rocking after Cavaliers win first NBA championship. LeBron James sobs as he delivers Cleveland its first NBA Finals win in 52 years. More tears. Only this time, tears of joy. Cleveland’s championship drought, crossing 52 years, generations and noted by a long list of near misses, is over at last. On Father’s Day, LeBron James, the kid from nearby Akron raised by a single mother, brought the title home. As the final seconds of Cleveland’s 93-89 victory at Golden State in Game 7 ticked off on the giant scoreboard inside Quicken Loans Arena, 18,000 fans, some of them strangers when Sunday night began, cried, hugged, screamed and shared a moment many of them have spent a lifetime dreaming of.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – ROB BELL – Republican Member of the House of Delegates, representing the 58th district in the Virginia Piedmont including Greene County and parts of Albemarle, Fluvanna and Rockingham Counties.

• Bell is leading the House/Senate lawsuit against allowing felons to vote in VA
• Virginia pulls 132 confined sex offenders from list of eligible voters. (Washington Post) — RICHMOND — State officials abruptly removed 132 sex offenders from Virginia’s list of eligible voters last week, reacting to the latest problem emerging from Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s sweeping move to restore voting rights to felons who had served out their sentences. A spokesman for McAuliffe (D) said that the offenders, who are confined in a treatment facility under a form of civil commitment, had appeared on the list of eligible voters by mistake. “Those folks should not have been on the list, and they are not there now,” spokesman Brian Coy said. A local prosecutor contends there was no mistake. She says state officials changed the records to try to hide a politically awkward accident — that McAuliffe inadvertently restored voting rights to some of Virginia’s worst sexual predators.

8am – E         Entertainment News:

• Finding Dory set records with $136M bow; here’s how every other #Pixar film has performed. With ‘Finding Dory’ setting records with its $136.2 million bow, THR looks at how other Pixar movies have performed. Finding Dory, the sequel to the beloved 2003 movie Finding Nemo, set records with its June 17 bow. Pixar and Disney’s sequel landed the biggest domestic opening of all time for an animated title with $136.2 million from 4,305 theaters. It’s also the only animated movie to crack the overall list of top 20 openings, ranking No. 18. The movie sees Ellen DeGeneres reprising her role as the forgetful blue tang Dory and Albert Brooks back as Nemo’s dad Marlin.
• ‘Star Trek’ actor Anton Yelchin dies in car crash at age 27. Anton Yelchin, Star Trek’s Chekov, killed by his own car. Anton Yelchin, who was best known for playing Chekov in the new Star Trek films, has been killed by his own car at his home in Los Angeles, police say. It struck him after rolling backwards down the steep drive at his Studio City home, pinning him against a brick postbox pillar and a security fence. He died shortly after 01:00 (08:00 GMT) on Sunday. JJ Abrams, who directed Yelchin in the first two Star Trek films, paid tribute on Twitter saying he was “brilliant”. “You were kind. You were funny as hell, and supremely talented. And you weren’t here nearly long enough. Missing you,” he wrote. Yelchin played Pavel Chekov, the role originally made famous by Walter Koenig, in the rebooted Star Trek films released in 2009 and 2013.