Janice Dean, Emily Goodin, Trevor Matich, Montgomery County Councilmember Roger Berliner, Boris Epshteyn, McLean Bible Church’s Dale Sutherland and guest hosts Dan Bongino and Rick Fowler joined the show on Friday!

Mornings on the Mall

Friday, December 23, 2016

Hosts: Rick Fowler and Dan Bongino

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C    Q & A with Dan

• DAN BONGINO – former Secret Service agent and author of Inside the Bubble
• Latest on Terror Attack In Berlin:
  • Berlin Christmas market attack suspect killed in Milan shootout.
  • German police arrest four people in anti-terror raids connected to Berlin attack
• Inauguration security prep: What Is The Security Like At Trump’s Inauguration? Expect It To Be Heavy
• Trump effect / running for office

5am – D         Trump Transition News:

• Kellyanne Conway lands top WH job in Trump administration. (CNN)President-elect Donald Trump tapped former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway as “counselor to the president,” the presidential transition team announced Thursday morning. The transition team said Conway, the first female campaign manager to win a presidential race, will work with White House senior leadership on messaging and to help execute the administration’s legislative priorities. “In her position, Conway will continue her role as a close adviser to the President and will work with senior leadership to effectively message and execute the Administration’s legislative priorities and actions,” the Trump transition said in a statement.Conway’s role would be similar to Karen Hughes’ position in the Bush 43 administration — placing her close to the President, and handing her responsibility for much of the big-picture communication duties for the White House, a transition source told CNN’s Jim Acosta.
• President-Elect Donald J. Trump Names Senior Communications Team. The President-elect named Sean Spicer Assistant to the President and Press Secretary, Hope Hicks Assistant to the President and Director of Strategic Communications, Jason Miller Assistant to the President and Director of Communications, and Dan Scavino Assistant to the President and Director of Social Media.

5am – E         Trump’s nuclear tweet:

• Russia’s Putin shrugs off Trump’s comments on nuclear arsenal. (CNN)Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday shrugged off comments by US President-elect Donald Trump on growing America’s nuclear arsenal, saying that it was “nothing new.” “As for the newly elected President of the US, there is nothing new. During his election campaign he said the US needed to bolster nuclear capabilities and armed forces in general, and there is nothing new,” he said during his annual news conference. They are the first comments by the Russian leader since Trump made the suggestion Thursday on Twitter.
• Trump Tweets Apparent Call for More U.S. Nuclear Weapons. Donald Trump stunned nuclear experts Thursday by proclaiming in a tweet that the U.S. should “expand its nuclear capability,” something no president has called for in decades. While President Barack Obama has proposed a $500 billion plan to modernize the aging U.S. nuclear triad, no mainstream voices are arguing to increase the numbers of nuclear weapons beyond the 4,500 the U.S. currently possesses, several experts told NBC News. “The thrust of U.S. nuclear policy for decades now has been to trim the fat off the U.S. nuclear arsenal,” said James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “At a certain point, you are just making the rubble bounce higher.”  Trump tweeted, “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.” “Can a tweet start an arms race? This one may just have done that,” said Joseph Cirincione, president of Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation.

6am – A/B/C It’s time for the Festivus Airing of Grievances. What’s yours? Festivus is both a parody and a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 that serves as an alternative to participating in the pressures and commercialism of the Christmas season. It has been described as “the perfect secular theme for an all-inclusive December gathering”. Originally a family tradition of scriptwriter Dan O’Keefe, who worked on the American sitcom Seinfeld, Festivus entered popular culture after it was made the focus of the 1997 episode “The Strike”. The holiday’s celebration, as it was shown on Seinfeld, includes a Festivus dinner, an unadorned aluminum Festivus pole, practices such as the “Airing of Grievances” and “Feats of Strength”, and the labeling of easily explainable events as “Festivus miracles”. The episode refers to it as “a Festivus for the rest of us”, referencing its non-commercial aspect. It has also been described both as a “parody holiday festival” and as a form of playful consumer resistance.

6am – D         Man kicked off Ivanka Trump’s flight: A man was kicked off a JetBlue flight after he allegedly verbally harassing Ivanka Trump and her family on their way to Hawaii for the holidays. Lawyer who was thrown off JetBlue flight for accosting and screaming at Ivanka Trump flees the airport as First Daughter and her family are switched to private jet by Secret Service after clash. (Daily Mail) — The Brooklyn lawyer who was tossed off a JetBlue flight at Kennedy Airport for verbally attacking Ivanka Trump on Thursday morning quickly rushed out of the San Francisco airport once he arrived to the destination, hours after the future First Daughter. Attorney Dan Goldstein, his husband, Matthew Lasner and their toddler were escorted by security through San Francisco International Airport when they finally touched down, having been forced to get another flight because of the confrontation. JetBlue removed them from the plane after Goldstein started making abusive comments about the mother-of-three Trump – who was on board with her three children – and the president-elect. According to TMZ, Goldstein, who was cradling a child in his arms, told Ivanka: ‘Your father is ruining the country.’  He then apparently began screaming out: ‘Why is she on our flight. She should be flying private.’ Once Ivanka’s flight landed in San Francisco in the afternoon, to prevent any further incident, she and her family were rushed off the plane first by Secret Service and into SUVs that drove them to a nearby private jet bound for Hawaii.  Ivanka paid as little attention as possible and tried to preoccupy her children with some crayons to diffuse the situation until the crew escorted him off the plane. And Donald Trump’s spokesman Sean Spicer told Fox News: ‘To do that to a woman who was on there with her children, I don’t care what your political background is or what your thoughts are, that’s not the way we as Americans need to act.’  Of the incident, Lasner, said on his Twitter account which he later deleted that, ‘My husband expressed his displeasure in a calm tone, JetBlue staff overheard, and they kicked us off the plane.’  However, just an hour prior to that Lasner wrote on Twitter: ‘Ivanka and Jared at JFK T5, flying commercial. My husband chasing them down to harass them. #banalityofevil’

6am – E         INTERVIEW – JANICE DEAN “THE WEATHER MACHINE” – Fox News senior meteorologist and author of new book “Freddy the Frogcaster and the Terrible Tornado” and author of “Freddy the Frogcaster and the Big Blizzard”

• Christmas Day Weather Forecast for DC: Any Chance of Snow?
• D.C.-area forecast: Holiday travel weather looks good, showers possible tomorrow

7am – A         INTERVIEW – EMILY GOODIN – Managing Editor — RealClearPolitics.com — analyzed the latest Trump transition news.

• Kellyanne Conway lands top WH job in Trump administration
• President-Elect Donald J. Trump Names Senior Communications Team. The President-elect named Sean Spicer Assistant to the President and Press Secretary, Hope Hicks Assistant to the President and Director of Strategic Communications, Jason Miller Assistant to the President and Director of Communications, and Dan Scavino Assistant to the President and Director of Social Media.

7am – B/C     Q & A with Dan

• DAN BONGINO – former Secret Service agent and author of Inside the Bubble
• Latest on Terror Attack In Berlin:
  • Berlin Christmas market attack suspect killed in Milan shootout.
  • German police arrest four people in anti-terror raids connected to Berlin attack
• Inauguration security prep: What Is The Security Like At Trump’s Inauguration? Expect It To Be Heavy
• Trump effect / running for office

7am – D         INTERVIEW — TREVOR MATICH — Redskins elite long snapper, WMAL’s Redskins analyst and Comcast SportsNet co-host — previewed Washington Redskins vs Chicago Bears.

7am – E         Obama White House Feeling Upstaged… BY TRUMP’S TWEETS. In a day of tweets, Trump suggests major change on national security issues. (Washington Post) – Before lunchtime Thursday, President-elect Donald Trump said he would expand the U.S. nuclear arsenal, upending a reduction course set by presidents of both parties over the past four decades, and called for the United States to veto a pending U.N. resolution that criticized Israel’s settlements policy. The policy prescriptions, communicated in morning tweets, followed calls since last month’s election to reconsider the arms-length U.S. relationship with Taiwan and to let China keep an underwater U.S. vessel seized by its navy. Trump declared within hours of this week’s Berlin terrorist attack that it was part of a global Islamic State campaign to “slaughter Christians” and later said it reaffirmed the wisdom of his plans to bar Muslim immigrants. Late Thursday, Trump suggested in another tweet that the U.S. military’s years-in-the-making plans for a new stealth fighter, Lockheed Martin’s F-35, might be reconsidered, saying he had “asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet!” With weeks to go before he becomes president, Trump has not hesitated to voice his opinions on national security issues of the day and to publicly advise the current president on what to do about them. Ultimately, the nuclear statement was tempered by a Trump spokesman. And the likely fallout from a tentative decision by the Obama administration to break years of precedent and abstain on the Israel resolution was avoided when Egypt, its sponsor, abruptly postponed it just hours before a scheduled Security Council vote. But the president-elect’s pronouncements have privately riled a White House that has repeatedly insisted in public that the transition has been smooth sailing.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – MONTGOMERY COUNTY COUNCILMEMBER ROGER BERLINER – president of the Montgomery Council

• Berliner represents Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Potomac, Kensington, Poolesville.
• MoCo’s largest taxi company files for Chapter 11, points finger at Uber and Lyft. The parent firm of the largest cab company in Montgomery County filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in federal court this week, pointing to ride-sharing companies like Uber as a primary reason for declining revenues. “We’re going to reorganize, restructure and remain in business,” Lisa Merdoc, Barwood Inc.’s corporate communications and quality assurance manager, told Bethesda Magazine. The company stated it has 57 employees, but that number doesn’t account for the taxi drivers who rent vehicles from Barwood. According to bankruptcy filings, Barwood posted revenues of approximately $7.1 million in 2015 and $3.3 million through the first seven-plus months of 2016. The company, which operates a fleet of more than 450 vehicles, says it has roughly $4.5 million in assets and $5.4 million in liabilities.

8am – B/C     INTERVIEW – BORIS EPSHTEYN – Director of Communications, Presidential Inaugural Committee and Senior Advisor, Trump Pence Presidential Transition — discussed the latest progress on how the Trump Inauguration plans are coming together in D.C.

• Donald Trump inauguration to feature Rockettes and Mormon choir. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and The Radio City Rockettes will perform at Donald Trump’s inauguration, it has been announced. The US president-elect’s transition team confirmed the acts would perform at the ceremony on 20 January. Several high-profile musicians including Elton John and Celine Dion have refused to perform at the event. But Mr Trump has claimed many celebrities have been requesting tickets for it. On Friday, he tweeted: “The so-called ‘A’ list celebrities are all wanting tixs to the inauguration, but look what they did for Hillary, NOTHING. I want the PEOPLE!”

8am – D         INTERVIEW – DALE SUTHERLAND – Associate Senior Pastor at MCLEAN BIBLE CHURCH – reflected on the meaning of Christmas and what people should think about this Christmas.

8am – E         Latest on Terrorism:

• Berlin Christmas market attack suspect killed in Milan shootout.  (CNN)The Berlin Christmas market attack suspect Anis Amri has been killed in Milan, according to Italian state police. The suspect was killed in a shootout in Sesto San Giovanni — a district in the northeastern part of the city — just after 3am local time, Italian police said on their Twitter feed. When the man was asked for his papers, he pulled a .22 calibre gun out of his backpack and fired, police said. Italian forensics experts gather around the body of suspected Berlin truck attacker Anis Amri on Friday. The driver of the police car returned fire, killing the suspect. One policeman was injured in the shootout and is in hospital.
• German police arrest four people in anti-terror raids connected to Berlin attack. German police arrest four people after anti-terror raids connected to Berlin attack in Emmerich and Dortmund. GERMAN police have arrested four people in anti-terror raids connected to the Berlin Christmas market attack. Commandos made the arrests in the towns of Emmerich and Dortmund over fears the suspects had been in contacts with Anis Amri. Officers were this morning combing a refugee shelter in the border town of Emmerich for the Tunisian terror suspect thought to be behind Monday’s attack. A £84,000 reward has been offered for information on Amri’s whereabouts. The Tunisian Islamist, 24, escaped cops’ grasp in the aftermath of Monday’s horror. But it was today revealed the extremist had been arrested three times this year but each time was released. He was also under covert surveillance just months before Monday’s attack on a Christmas market in B erlin that left 13 people dead.But cops stopped watching him in September. Tunisian Amri had been under observation for seven months amid fears that he was plotting an atrocity. It followed a tip-off from federal security agencies.
• Hijacked Libyan plane lands in Malta with 118 people aboard: media. (Reuters) – Passengers walked down the steps from a hijacked plane at Malta International Airport on Friday, and Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat tweeted that a first group of 25 had been freed and the release of another 25 was under way. Buses were driven onto the tarmac to carry passengers away, and more releases were expected, with more than 100 passengers and crew reported to have been on board. Television footage showed no signs of struggle or alarm. The aircraft had been on an internal flight in Libya on Friday morning when it was diverted to Malta, 500 km (300 miles) north of the Libyan coast, after a hijacker told crew he had a hand grenade.
• ISIS sympathizers call for holiday attacks on churches in the US, Canada, France and the Netherlands. (Daily Mail) — Islamic State sympathizers have called for attacks on Christian churches in North America and Europe over the holiday season, according to messages posted to online jihadist forums.  In one posted on Wednesday, a participant in the pro-ISIS ‘Secrets of Jihadis’ social media group called ‘for bloody celebrations in the Christian New Year,’Vocativ reported.  The call to arms, posted in Arabic via the Telegram app, demanded lone-wolf attackers to ‘turn the Christian New Year into a bloody horror movie,’ according to the site. The post includes a publicly-available directory of churches in all 50 US states, Vocativ reported. Another sympathizer also calls for attacks on ‘churches, well-known hotels, crowded coffee shops, streets, markets and public places,’ according to the news website.
• Australia Says It Foiled a Terrorist Plot. (NY Times) – SYDNEY — A terrorist plot to attack the Australian city of Melbourne with explosives, knives and guns — possibly on Christmas Day — is believed to have been headed off with the arrest of five people, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Friday. Mr. Turnbull told reporters in Sydney the group was “self-radicalized” and inspired by the Islamic State. Five men, ages 21 to 26, were to be formally charged later Friday, the authorities said. Another man and a woman were also taken into custody, but were later released. According to the police, the plotters had scouted Federation Square, a popular shopping and entertainment district, as well as the Flinders Street train station, Melbourne’s busiest, and St. Paul’s Cathedral, an Anglican church. All three locations are close to one another in the center of the city. The country’s justice minister, Michael Keenan, said the planned attack was imminent and “would have been the most serious in terms of its intent” in Australia. Had it occurred, he added, it would have “caused very significant casualties.”