Washington Examiner’s Susan Ferrechio, Bethesda activists Katya Marin, Mary Flynn, Virginia GOP’s John Whitbeck and guest host Vince Coglianese joined WMAL on Thursday morning!

 Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Vince Coglianese (Editor In Chief of The Daily Caller)

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A         Fact and Fiction Of The CNN/Buzzfeed Reports:

• Trump attacks press, conflates CNN, BuzzFeed reporting at news conference. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) – President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday used BuzzFeed’s controversial publication of unverified memos prepared by a former British intelligence operative to try to discredit the press and deflect unanswered questions about his relationship with Russia. Speaking in his first press conference since the election, Trump called BuzzFeed’s report “fake news” and “phony stuff.” Trump also used BuzzFeed’s decision to publish to fault CNN for a verified and substantiated report revealing that a two-page synopsis of those memos had been included as an annex in the classified materials presented last week to Trump and to President Obama. “That fake news was written about primarily by one group and one television station,” Trump said, referring to BuzzFeed and CNN, respectively. Trump later said that CNN had gone “out of their way” to build up the report from BuzzFeed, which he called “a failing pile of garbage.” In a statement following the press conference, CNN stressed the differences between its decision to publish and BuzzFeed’s. “CNN’s decision to publish carefully sourced reporting about the operations of our government is vastly different than Buzzfeed’s decision to publish unsubstantiated memos,” the statement read. “The Trump team knows this. They are using Buzzfeed’s decision to deflect from CNN’s reporting, which has been matched by the other major news organizations. We are fully confident in our reporting. It represents the core of what the First Amendment protects, informing the people of the inner workings of their government; in this case, briefing materials prepared for President Obama and President-elect Trump last week. We made it clear that we were not publishing any of the details of the 35-page document because we have not corroborated the report’s allegations. Given that members of the Trump transition team have so vocally criticized our reporting, we encourage them to identify, specifically, what they believe to be inaccurate.” On air, CNN’s Jake Tapper also suggested that BuzzFeed’s report had hurt CNN’s efforts at responsible journalism.

5am – B         PREVIEW: Thursday, January 12 Trump Cabinet Hearings:

• James Mattis, Defense Secretary: 9:30 a.m. Eastern (Senate Armed Services Committee)
• Ben Carson, HUD Secretary: 10:00 a.m. Eastern (Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee)
• Mike Pompeo, Director of CIA: 10 a.m. Eastern (Senate Intelligence Committee)

5am – C         Sen. Mike Lee Would ‘Absolutely’ Accept If Picked For Trump’s Supreme Court. (Daily Caller) — Republican Utah Senator Mike Lee said Wednesday he would “absolutely” accept a Supreme Court nomination if chosen. “Absolutely I would,” Lee told a Washington radio station. “The Supreme Court is something I have been interested in my entire life. I’ve been watching Supreme Court arguments since I was ten years old.” At his news conference Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump said there would be a decision to replace Justice Antonin Scalia with a potential court nominee “probably within two weeks of the 20th.”

5am – D         Rubio Takes On Rex Tillerson

5am – E         Virginia’s General Assembly convenes in shadow of governor’s race. In State of Commonwealth address, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe sounds cooperative and nostalgic. (Washington Post) — RICHMOND — Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) cast Virginia as an oasis of civility in a toxic national political climate Wednesday, urging Republicans to put aside differences and work with him on building a stronger economy as he kicked off the 2017 General Assembly session. A nostalgic-sounding McAuliffe glossed over conflicts that have marred his three years in office, reciting a long list of accomplishments and touting favorite talking points about economic development. As he enters his final session, prevented by the state constitution from serving a second consecutive term, McAuliffe reached for common ground in presenting a modest slate of priorities.

6am – A/B/C In Alexandria, a dispute over free speech. At council meetings. (Washington Post) — The Alexandria City Council voted 6 to 1 this week to limit the number of speakers at the start of its monthly Saturday hearings, an attempt to arrest the expanding length of those meetings’ public-comment period. Over the vociferous objections of first-term Mayor Allison Silberberg (D), the council agreed to allow no more than 15 speakers in the “open-mic” period that starts at 9:30 a.m. Anyone else who wants to talk about issues not on the agenda will have to wait until the end of the meeting — often five to eight hours later. The proposal, considered without prior notice at the end of Tuesday night’s legislative session, sparked a heated discussion between Silberberg and her colleagues on the all-Democratic panel. Silberberg called limiting the number of speakers a “draconian, arbitrary . . . anti-democratic” attempt to limit free speech. Vice Mayor Justin Wilson fired back that improving the management of the meetings on behalf of all residents “is the definition of democracy.”

6am – D/E     Rubio Takes On Rex Tillerson. What Is Rubio’s End Game?

6am – F         President-elect Donald Trump announces David Shulkin as VA Secretary nominee. Trump taps Obama VA official Shulkin to lead struggling department. (Fox News) — President-elect Donald Trump made one of his final Cabinet appointments on Wednesday, announcing his selection of David J. Shulkin – the top health official in the Department of Veterans Affairs – to lead the struggling agency. “I have no doubt Dr. Shulkin will be able to lead the turnaround our Department of Veterans Affairs needs. His sole mandate will be to serve our veterans and restore the level of care we owe to our brave men and women in the military,” Trump said in a statement, after revealing his pick at a news conference minutes earlier. He said Shulkin is “an incredibly gifted doctor who is using his elite talents for medicine to care for our heroes, and Americans can have faith he will get the job done right.” Shulkin currently serves as under secretary for health at the VA in the Obama administration, a position that is responsible for running the Veterans Health Administration.

7am – A         INTERVIEW –  SUSAN FERRECHIO – Washington Examiner’s chief Congressional correspondent

• Tillerson hearing recap
• What’s happening today for confirmation hearings: Mattis, Carson, Pompeo
• Thursday, January 12 Trump Cabinet Hearings:

• James Mattis, Defense Secretary: 9:30 a.m. Eastern (Senate Armed Services Committee)
• Ben Carson, HUD Secretary: 10:00 a.m. Eastern (Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee) Mike Pompeo, Director of CIA: 10 a.m. Eastern (Senate Intelligence Committee)

• Senate Sets the Stage for Obamacare Repeal. Washington (CNN) Senate Republicans launched their effort to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare law early Thursday morning, approving a budget blueprint that they’ve dubbed the Obamacare “repeal resolution.” The Senate voted 51-48 along party lines for the measure, which relies on the same budget process used seven years ago to approve the landmark healthcare law to now attempt to dismantle it.

7am – B         Fact and Fiction Of The CNN/Buzzfeed Reports

7am – C         Ovi Update:

• Alex Ovechkin scores twice, passes 1,000 points in win over Penguins. (AP) – WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin wasted no time hitting another milestone — and he did it in style. Ovechkin scored 35 seconds into the Washington Capitals’ 5-2 victory over Sidney Crosby and the rival Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night to become the 84th player in NHL history to record 1,000 career points. Skating down the right wing, Ovechkin toe-dragged and fired a shot past Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to set off a reaction many times louder than a normal goal. “I kind of [thought] about it before the game — everybody’s here, and it will be nice to get [my] 1,000th point at home,” said Ovechkin, who had his wife, parents and brother in attendance. “Pretty excited that it happened. It’s a big moment for [the] organization, for myself and the fans.”
• OVECHKIN has 1,000 POINTS! A point is awarded to a player for each goal scored or assist earned. The total number of goals plus assists equals total points. After scoring two goals last night, Ovechkin has 546 career goals and 455 assists — for a total of 1,001 points.

7am – D         Trump Press Conference Highlights

7am – E         Amazon Echo attempts to say Wales’ longest place name. Can’t you do better than that, Alexa? Welsh blogger asks her Amazon Echo to pronounce all 58 letters of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, but its pronunciation is hilariously bad. (Daily Mail) — A Welsh blogger asked her Amazon Echo to pronounce the longest place name in Europe – prompting the gadget to come back with an incomprehensible reply.  Llio Angharad, from Cardiff, asked the Echo to pronounce all 58 letters of the tongue-twister Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Ms Angharad, who writes about food, said to the Echo: ‘Alexa, what’s the longest place name in Europe?’

8am – A         INTERVIEW –  Katya Marin, vice president of East Bethesda Citizens Association

INTERVIEW – Mary Flynn – Founder, Coalition of Bethesda Area Residents

• Should Bethesda become a self-governing city? Some wonder whether it’s time. (Washington Post) — It doesn’t have the moral and political resonance of the District’s statehood fight, but some Bethesda residents are asking whether their prosperous suburban community should pursue its own form of self-determination — as a self-governing city. They are driven by recent frustration with the Montgomery County government, especially over a proposed land-use plan that could open the door to dramatically increased building heights along the Wisconsin Avenue corridor. Last week, the Montgomery Planning Board approved a proposal for a 29-story office and apartment complex at Wisconsin Avenue and Elm Street, just above the projected site of a Purple Line station. That project, and the rest of the Bethesda sector plan, are subject to County Council approval. The chatter about breaking away is loud enough that two community groups, the East Bethesda Citizens Association and the Coalition of Bethesda Area Residents, are co-sponsoring a meeting on the topic Thursday evening in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School cafeteria.

8am – B         Fact and Fiction Of The CNN/Buzzfeed Reports

8am – C         Gender Pay Gap In Hollywood:

• Ashton Kutcher Says He’s ‘So Proud’ of Natalie Portman for Speaking Out About ‘No Strings Attached’ Wage Gap. Ashton Kutcher may have made three times as much as Natalie Portman for the pair’s 2011 romantic comedy, No Strings Attached, but he’s proud of her for bringing the disparity to the spotlight. The 38-year-old actor took to Twitter on Wednesday to support Portman’s claim, praising her for speaking out on the gender wage gap in Hollywood.  “So proud of Natalie and all women who stand up for closing the gender pay gap!” he tweeted.
• Natalie Portman reveals Ashton Kutcher was paid 3 times her salary for 2011’s “No Strings Attached” movie.  Natalie Portman is weighing in on Hollywood’s gender pay gap, saying that she was once paid three times less than her male co-star. The “Jackie” star, 35, told Marie Claire UK, that Ashton Kutcher, her co-star on 2011’s “No Strings Attached,” earned a salary three times greater than hers. “I wasn’t as pissed as I should have been,” the Oscar winner said. “I mean, we get paid a lot, so it’s hard to complain, but the disparity is crazy.””Compared to men, in most professions, women make 80 cents to the dollar,” she added. “In Hollywood, we are making 30 cents to the dollar.”

8am – D         INTERVIEW — JOHN WHITBECK, Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia

• In State of Commonwealth address, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe sounds cooperative and nostalgic. McAuliffe gave his state of the commonwealth. What would Whitbeck say McAuliffe’s legacy will be?
• Preview the 2017 gubernatorial race: what is the state of play, who is running?
• Whitbeck: McAuliffe’s True Legacy Will Be a GOP Governor.  – Republicans will take no lectures on ethics from a Gov under FBI investigation — RPV Chairman John Whitbeck issued the following statement:  “Forced to stay in Richmond for one final session instead of being whisked away into the Hillary Clinton administration, Terry McAuliffe is trying to build a political legacy, something that he could be remembered for other than booze and investigations.”  “Unfortunately, he remains more focused on his political ambitions, anointing his chosen successor, and playing partisan games rather than doing the job of Governor and solving the challenges the hard working people of Virginia face.”

8am – E         Hillary Sightings:

• Hillary Clinton is re-emerging. She’s spotted at a ladies’ night at Cafe Milano.  (Washington Post) — Hey, isn’t that . . . former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, dining with a group of women friends on Monday night at Georgetown VIP favorite Cafe Milano? The one-time front-runner seems to be emerging from a post-defeat retreat (she spent time hiking in the woods near her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., and more recently attended a Broadway performance of “The Color Purple” with her family).  Her dinner party in a private room at the Italian restaurant included pals former Rep. Ellen Tauscher and Capricia Marshall, an aide during Clinton’s tenure as first lady and later protocol chief during her husband’s administration.
• Hillary Clinton makes a low-key return to Washington, makes joke about transparency. Hillary Clinton made a rare and low-key return to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday for the ceremonial opening of a new exhibition and museum area at the State Department that will be partly named for her. Clinton appeared alongside fellow former secretaries of state Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell to inaugurate the glass pavilion – yes there is a glass ceiling – that forms the new public entrance to the building.  All living former secretaries of state were invited, but others declined for scheduling reasons, department spokesman John Kirby said Monday.