Adnan Mjalli, Ken Cuccinelli, Ryan Anderson, Joe diGenova and Campus Reform’s Cabot Phillips joined WMAL on Thursday!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Mary Walter

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C Comey Hearing: Huma Abedin had a regular practice of forwarding Hillary Clinton’s classified emails to Anthony Weiner.  Would You Have Gotten Away With This?

• Comey reveals why he announced a new Clinton investigation 11 days before the election
• Comey says Huma Abedin had a regular practice of forwarding Hillary Clinton’s emails to Anthony Weiner; some contained classified info.
• Comey says the investigation into Huma Abedin, Anthony Weiner over classified emails is completed, “couldn’t prove any sort of criminal intent.”
• Comey says “yes, that’s a fair statement” after Lindsey Graham says Anthony Weiner in 2016 shouldn’t have access to classified info.
• David Axelrod: James Comey ‘didn’t tell Hillary Clinton not to campaign in Wisconsin’
• Comey explains why Russia had a preference for Trump: “He wasn’t Hillary Clinton, who Putin hated and wanted to harm in any possible way”

5am – D         Trump to sign order allowing churches to participate in political activity: report. President Trump is set to sign an executive order Thursday to make it easier to for churches and other religious groups to participate in politics without jeopardizing their tax-exempt status. Trump plans to sign an order in the morning that attempts to overcome a provision in the federal tax code prohibiting religious organizations from directly opposing or endorsing political candidates. This prohibition is known as the “Johnson amendment,” because it was proposed by then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson (D-Texas) in the 1950s. Easing restrictions on church political activity has been a longtime priority for Trump, social conservatives and a number of congressional Republicans. They argue the Johnson amendment stifles churches’ First Amendment rights.

5am – E         Congress News:

• House passes $1.1T government spending bill, sends to Senate. House easily passes $1.1T spending bill to avoid government shutdown, with both parties claiming wins. WASHINGTON (AP) — The House easily passed a $1.1 trillion governmentwide spending bill on Wednesday, awarding wins to both Democrats and Republicans while putting off until later this year fights over President Donald Trump’s promised border wall with Mexico and massive military buildup. The 309-118 vote sends the bill to the Senate in time for them to act to avert a government shutdown at midnight Friday. The White House has said Trump would sign the measure, which is the first major legislation to pass in Trump’s short, turbulent presidency.
• House to vote Thursday on Obamacare repeal. GOP leaders are confident they have the support but acknowledge the tally will be very close. The House GOP’s seven-year crusade to abolish Obamacare all comes down to Thursday. Republican leaders have called a vote on a plan to replace the health care law, signaling surging confidence that they’re on the cusp of earning enough support to pass it. Though it’s still unclear whether House Speaker Paul Ryan and his team have commitments from the 216 members necessary to pass the bill, scheduling a vote suggests they believe they’re closer than ever.

 

6am – A/B/C PARKING SHAMING: Nasty stickers left on parked cars in DC neighborhood. WASHINGTON (WUSA9) – A person is going out of their way to criticize drivers’ parking habits in a Northwest, D.C. neighborhood. The mystery critic appears to conduct much of their work around the intersection of 35th and Albemarle streets. The person has been placing stickers on drivers’ cars that say anything from “WTF Award: Parking Disaster” to “YouParkLikeAn*sshole.com.” Residents told WUSA9 the person typically places the stickers on the front windows of cars. The stickers are also usually eye-level on the driver’s side. D.C. resident Susan Lowell said someone tagged her Car2Go with two stickers last week after its rear-end found itself hanging about a foot into a no-parking zone. “It’s not kind, it’s not nice,” Lowell said. “It’s not the way to go about something if what you really want to do is go about getting that person to change what their doing.” Some people say the parking critiques have been handed out for close to five months.

6am – D         INTERVIEW- ADNAN MJALLI – (“ADD-NON” “MUH-ZHOLLY”) – Executive Chairman, MIG HOLDINGS and member of the World Econmic Forum – discussed the Trump-Abbas meeting.

• Background: Dr. Adnan Mjalli, Executive Chairman of MIG holdings, is a member of the World Economic Forum.  He’s also an internationally recognized entrepreneur in healthcare, lives in Ramallah, and holds over 700 patents in the biotechnology field.    //  
• Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump: An honor to host President Mahmoud Abbas at the WH today. Hopefully something terrific could come out it between the Palestinians & Israel.
•  Mahmoud Abbas meets Donald Trump in key US visit. US President Donald Trump meets Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for the first time in the White House. US President Donald Trump has promised to revive the stalled Israel-Palestine peace process after hosting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, without, however, offering any details about how to resolve the long-running conflict.  Speaking after their first face-to-face meeting at the White House on Wednesday, Trump pledged to support Abbas “in being the Palestinian leader who signs his name to the final and the most important peace agreement that brings safety, stability, prosperity to both peoples and to the region”. He also said he believes Israelis and Palestinians are both willing to make a deal.
• Abbas’s White House talks on Wednesday follow a mid-February visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who moved quickly to reset ties after a frequently combative relationship with Trump’s predecessor, President Barack Obama.
• Though expectations are low, plans are being firmed up for Trump to visit the Israeli leader in Jerusalem and possibly Abbas in the West Bank, possibly on May 22-23, according to people familiar with the matter. US and Israeli officials have declined to confirm the visit.
• Before Peace, Give Us Something To Lose. (Daily Caller/By Adnan Mjalli, Executive Chairman, MIG Holdings)  — “Democracy, hope, and stability are not the first three words one usually associates with the state of Palestine.  But with the adoption of some hard truths by Palestinian leadership, the Palestinian people will be free, finally, to take command of our own destiny, construct lasting civil institutions, and revitalize our perilous economy.  Only from this position of newfound strength will enduring peace with Israel ever be realized.  Let us hope this week’s initial meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will lay the foundation for this transformational policy reversal. First, it must be acknowledged that 70 years of policy that ties the fate of our people to the outcome of negotiations with Israel has been a mistake.  We can no longer deny that this was a strategic blunder of enormous proportion.  And no longer should we tolerate our position as passive spectators of our own decline.”

6am – E         Fairfax County aims to be prime test track for self-driving cars.  (Fox 5) — FAIRFAX, Va. – According to experts, it is not a matter of if, but a matter of when – as some day we will all be riding around in cars that drive themselves. Fairfax County is making a big push to be at the forefront of the new technology. It is predicted that within five years, you will be able to sit back as a passenger in your own car with no one required to steer the wheel. Within 20 to 30 years, it is expected this will be the way most people will get around. However, there will be a tricky transition period and that is why Fairfax County is working to bring all of the players working on this driverless technology together that will help people get around safely. Some of the cutting edge technology already available on the market was on display Wednesday in Fairfax. But it is not just about automation. It is also about connectivity.

6am – F         May the Fourth be with you: Everything you need to know about ‘Star Wars’ Day. (ABC News) –  May 4 marks “May the Fourth be with you,” the official “holiday” dedicated to George Lucas’ galaxy far, far away. The pun was first used back in 1979, with Britain’s Conservative Party congratulating Margaret Thatcher in print for taking the prime minister post that day. According to Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper, the first organized “Star Wars” event on May 4 took place in 2011 at the Toronto Underground Cinema.

Star Wars Movie Marathon Set for TBS on May the 4^th. TBS is set to ring in the national Star Wars holiday, May the 4th, with a special movie marathon for the franchise this week on Thursday, May 4. You can check out a new promo for the movie marathon below. The Marathon will begin on 6:40AM EST with Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. All the episodes in the prequel and original trilogies will be shown in sequential order.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – KEN CUCCINELLI – president of Senate Conservatives Fund and the former Attorney General of Virginia

• House passes $1.1T government spending bill, sends to Senate
• House to vote Thursday on Obamacare repeal.
• Rough day for Obamacare as another insurer quits in Virginia. (DC Examiner) – The only remaining Obamacare insurer in most of Iowa announced it would probably stop selling plans there next year. This afternoon, there’s more trouble for the healthcare law in the Old Dominion, where Aetna will no longer sell plans beginning next year. This means that at least 24 Virginia counties are likely to have only one choice of insurer on the exchanges next year, joining the roughly one-third of U.S. counties where Obamacare has already resulted in a local monopoly in the subsidized health insurance market as of this year. Virginia may not be the last state where Aetna pulls the plug, either. It already did so in Iowa (before the smaller company Medica did so today), and it’s still pondering its future in Nebraska and Delaware, the other two states where it still sells individual plans. Until this year, the company had sold plans in 15 states. Aetna claims it lost $680 million before taxes on individual Obamacare insurance plans in the law’s first three years of operation, with the losses growing each year, and it expects to lose money again in 2017.

7am – B         Recap Comey Hearing:

• Comey reveals why he announced a new Clinton investigation 11 days before the election
• Comey says Huma Abedin had a regular practice of forwarding Hillary Clinton’s emails to Anthony Weiner; some contained classified info.
• Comey says the investigation into Huma Abedin, Anthony Weiner over classified emails is completed, “couldn’t prove any sort of criminal intent.”
• Comey says “yes, that’s a fair statement” after Lindsey Graham says Anthony Weiner in 2016 shouldn’t have access to classified info.

7am – C         Trump won’t hold White House Cinco de Mayo celebration.  VP Pence will host White House Cinco de Mayo party. The White House’s Cinco de Mayo party will go on, without Trump. President Trump is doing away with the White House Cinco de Mayo celebration, a 16-year-old tradition, Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion reported Wednesday. Instead of a White House celebration this year, one headlined by Vice President Pence will be held at a to-be-determined location and with a reduced guest list, the report said. The White House did not respond to a request for comment and has not issued an official announcement of any planned events for the holiday.  Both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama used Cinco de Mayo to connect with the Hispanic community — inviting Cabinet members, Latino celebrities and Mexican Embassy officials to the White House — and to promote immigration reform.

7am – D         INTERVIEW – RYAN ANDERSON – Senior Research Fellow, Heritage Foundation and author of upcoming book “Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination”

• PREVIEW: Trump set to sign religious liberty executive order: report. President Trump has reportedly invited conservative leaders to visit the White House on Thursday for the signing of an executive order on religious liberty.
• Trump to sign order allowing churches to participate in political activity. President Trump is set to sign an executive order Thursday to make it easier to for churches and other religious groups to participate in politics without jeopardizing their tax-exempt status.
• At 11am, the White House will hold a signing ceremony for a religious liberty executive order. Religious Liberty expert Ryan Anderson is attending.  Ryan has written extensively on the need for religious liberty protections in his upcoming book, “Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination.”

7am – E        Teachers Are Totally Fed Up With The Fidget Spinner Craze

Schools are starting to impose bans. (Huffington Post) – It’s no shock that children have trouble sitting still, especially when they have to do it in a classroom. But the new widespread craze for fidget spinners, gadgets that are supposed to keep help kids focus, is driving teachers absolutely up the wall.  For those not up on the latest trends, fidget spinners are the latest in the line of “fidget toys” being sold. The little plastic toy seems to have everyone, young and old, totally mesmerized. Even Forbes called the fidget spinner a “must-have office toy.”  These spinners are supposed to help provide an outlet for restless energy while also improving memory and focus. The sensory toys were initially designed to be helpful for parents of children with autism, anxiety and ADD/ADHD. It all sounds good, but some teachers are noting that fidget spinners are becoming more of a distraction in the classroom than a relief.

 jab83 @jessaanne83: I need the name and number of the sadistic human who created the #fidgetspinners that have taken over my classroom and my sanity. 3:08 PM – 3 May 2017

I’m going to have a nice collection of fidget spinners by the end of next week. Hopefully the fad dies before next August. #TeacherProblems — Korianne Moore (@Ko_Cox) May 3, 2017

8am – A         INTERVIEW – JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney to the District of Columbia – discussed FBI Director Comey’s hearing.

8am – B/C     INTERVIEW – CABOT PHILLLIPS – Campus Reform

• TOPIC: Latest campus news:
• AMERICAN UNIVERSITY’S RACIST BANANAS:F.B.I. Helping American University Investigate Bananas Found Hanging From Nooses. The F.B.I. is helping American University in Washington, D.C., investigate an episode in which bananas were found hanging from nooses on campus this week, a spokeswoman for the agency said on Wednesday. The bananas were found at the university on Monday, the same day a black woman took office as the student government president for the first time in the institution’s history. The bananas had short messages scrawled on them, including “AKA FREE,” an apparent reference to Alpha Kappa Alpha, a predominantly black sorority of which Taylor Dumpson, the new student body president, is a member; and “HARAMBE BAIT,” referencing the gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo who was killed last May after a child fell into its enclosure. Several pairs of bananas were discovered around campus, each strung together with a thin black rope fashioned to resemble a noose.
• Video Shows Suspect in American University Hate Crime. (NBC Washington) – Campus police have distributed two videos of the person suspected in a racially motivated hate crime on American University’s campus. The blurry video clips show someone walking on the empty campus. Campus police believe at least three bananas hung in nooses were placed on campus Monday between 3:45 a.m. and 4:10 a.m.
• GWU RA’s Want to Unionize: Resident Advisor Union Election Canceled At GWU.  (DCist) – SEIU Local 500 has cancelled a planned union election for resident advisors at George Washington University, which would have been an unprecedented vote. The election was originally scheduled for today following a decision by the National Labor Relations Board, which found that residents advisors meet the definition of an employee and have the right to unionize. GW hires about 110 resident advisors each year to live in the university dorms. They receive free housing and a stipend in exchange for spending about 20 hours a week on coordinating programming, advising students, and other duties.
• Nearly half of Dartmouth Dems don’t want conservative roommate (Campus Reform) – Nearly half of self-identified Democratic students at Dartmouth College would be uncomfortable with a conservative roommate, according to a recent survey, while far fewer Republicans registered such compunctions. A survey conducted by The Dartmouth reviewed survey responses from 432 students answering four questions intended to discern the extent to which the Dartmouth community reflects contemporary political tensions. “[Democrats] operate under the false belief that they know…what is best for other people and the world.”   Overall, 63 percent of respondents identified as Democrats, while 23 percent called themselves Republicans and the remaining 14 percent claimed political “independent” status. Fully 85 percent of those students—including every single Democrat—registered disapproval of President Trump’s job performance, with 69 percent saying they “strongly disapprove.” Only 11 percent said they approve (five percent of them “strongly”) and four percent were neutral.

8am – D         Congress News:

• House passes $1.1T government spending bill, sends to Senate. House easily passes $1.1T spending bill to avoid government shutdown, with both parties claiming wins. WASHINGTON (AP) — The House easily passed a $1.1 trillion governmentwide spending bill on Wednesday, awarding wins to both Democrats and Republicans while putting off until later this year fights over President Donald Trump’s promised border wall with Mexico and massive military buildup. The 309-118 vote sends the bill to the Senate in time for them to act to avert a government shutdown at midnight Friday. The White House has said Trump would sign the measure, which is the first major legislation to pass in Trump’s short, turbulent presidency.
• House to vote Thursday on Obamacare repeal. GOP leaders are confident they have the support but acknowledge the tally will be very close. The House GOP’s seven-year crusade to abolish Obamacare all comes down to Thursday. Republican leaders have called a vote on a plan to replace the health care law, signaling surging confidence that they’re on the cusp of earning enough support to pass it. Though it’s still unclear whether House Speaker Paul Ryan and his team have commitments from the 216 members necessary to pass the bill, scheduling a vote suggests they believe they’re closer than ever.

8am – E         Susan Rice And Intercepts:

• President Obama’s team sought NSA intel on thousands of Americans during the 2016 election. (Circa/by John Solomon) — During his final year in office, President Barack Obama’s team significantly expanded efforts to search National Security Agency intercepts for information about Americans, distributing thousands of intelligence reports across government with the unredacted names of U.S. residents during the midst of a divisive 2016 presidential election. The data, made available this week by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, provides the clearest evidence to date of how information accidentally collected by the NSA overseas about Americans was subsequently searched and disseminated after President Obama loosened privacy protections to make such sharing easier in 2011 in the name of national security. A court affirmed his order. The revelations are particularly sensitive since the NSA is legally forbidden from directly spying on Americans and its authority to conduct warrantless searches on foreigners is up for renewal in Congress later this year. And it comes as lawmakers investigate President Trump’s own claims his privacy was violated by his predecessor during the 2016 election. In all, government officials conducted 30,355 searches in 2016 seeking information about Americans in NSA intercept metadata, which include telephone numbers and email addresses. The activity amounted to a 27.5 percent increase over the prior year and more than triple the 9,500 such searches that occurred in 2013, the first year such data was kept.  The government in 2016 also scoured the actual contents of NSA intercepted calls and emails for 5,288 Americans, an increase of 13 percent over the prior year and a massive spike from the 198 names searched in 2013. The searches ultimately resulted in 3,134 NSA intelligence reports with unredacted U.S. names being distributed across government in 2016, and another 3,354 reports in 2015. About half the time, U.S. identities were unredacted in the original reports while the other half were unmasked after the fact by special request of Obama administration officials. Among those whose names were unmasked in 2016 or early 2017 were campaign or transition associates of President Donald Trump as well as members of Congress and their staffers, according to sources with direct knowledge.

• Rice declines Senate request to testify on Russian hacking. Washington (CNN) Susan Rice, President Barack Obama’s former national security adviser, on Wednesday declined Sen. Lindsey Graham’s request to participate in a judiciary subcommittee hearing next week on Russian interference in the US election, CNN has learned. A letter obtained exclusively by CNN from Rice’s lawyer, Kathryn Ruemmler, outlines the grounds for her decision not to appear. It was addressed to Graham, the Republican chairman of the judiciary subcommittee on crime and terrorism, which is holding the hearing, and senior Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse. “Senator Whitehouse has informed us by letter that he did not agree to Chairman Graham’s invitation to Ambassador Rice, a significant departure from the bipartisan invitations extended to other witnesses,” Ruemmler wrote. “Under these circumstances, Ambassador Rice respectfully declines Senator Graham’s invitation to testify.” A source familiar with Rice’s discussions told CNN that when Graham invited her, Rice believed it was a bipartisan overture and was prepared to accept. However, Whitehouse indicated to her that the invitation was made without his agreement, as he believed her presence was not relevant to the topic of the hearing, according to the source.