Ron Hosko, former US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Andrew McCarthy and Scott Allen joined WMAL on Thursday!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Mary Walter

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C James Comey’s replacement at FBI could come from these six people. (USA Today) — WASHINGTON — The White House said Wednesday that President Trump is considering “several individuals” to replace the FBI director he abruptly fired on Tuesday. White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the first step is for the Justice Department to identify an interim head of the agency. including Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Four other current FBI officials are also being considered for the temporary post. White House officials wouldn’t discuss potential candidates to replace James Comey permanently, but media reports seemed to focus on six candidates:

• Chris Christie. The New Jersey governor was a U.S. attorney in the George W. Bush administration with a reputation for tackling public corruption. But he himself has been the target of investigations into the Bridgegate scandal. And Christie has expressed a desire to remain as governor through 2018.
• David Clarke. The Milwaukee County Sheriff has emerged as a pro-Trump law enforcement voice as an African-American lawman in the era of Black Lives Matter. But Clarke would be the first FBI director in history without previous federal law enforcement experience.
• Trey Gowdy. He was a career state and federal prosecutor before being elected to Congress in 2010. He made his name as the chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, investigating Hillary Clinton’s role in the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya.
• Ray Kelly. The former New York police commissioner held Treasury posts in the Clinton administration, and was mentioned as a possible FBI chief in under presidents Clinton and Obama.
• Andrew McCabe. He’s currently the deputy director, and the Justice Department has confirmed that he’s being interviewed for the interim job. McCabe helped oversee the Clinton email investigation, but also comes with political baggage: His wife, Dr. Jill McCabe, was a Democratic candidate for state senate in Virginia.
• John Pistole. Now the president of Anderson University in Indiana, Pistole is a former dep

• COMEY’S REPLACEMENT. (ABC News) — Four candidates are being interviewed today, fielded from senior FBI and Justice Department officials and the heads of FBI field offices across the country, according to a Justice Department official. The four candidates: FBI Executive Assistant Director Paul Abbate, who leads the agency’s cyber and criminal branch; National Counterintelligence Executive William Evanina; Special Agent Adam Lee, who runs the Richmond field office; and Special Agent Michael Anderson, who runs the Chicago field office. A new FBI director is expected to be chosen and announced within the next 24 to 48 hours. S.C.’s Trey Gowdy among possible FBI director candidates. WASHINGTON — Shortly after news broke that President Donald Trump had fired FBI Director James Comey, U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy issued a statement expressing hope that “our President will select an independent minded person to serve as the head of our nation’s premier law enforcement agency.” The South Carolina Republican might actually be in the running for the job himself. A former prosecutor and solicitor, Gowdy’s name is among those being floated to succeed Comey as FBI director.

5am – D         Bad credit scores a big turn-off, study says. (Fox Business) — It might not be the first thing that catches your eye, but nearly half of Americans (42%) say that someone’s credit score can impact the decision on whether or not to pursue dating them, according to a new study. And women are the harshest credit critics. According to Bankrate.com’s latest survey, half of women say a low credit score would make them look the other way, whereas men came in at 35%.

• WOULD YOU DATE SOMEONE WITH BAD CREDIT? Some 42% of adults say knowing someone’s credit score would affect their willingness to date that person. More than 40% of Americans won’t date a person who has this one financial problem.  Some people inquire about a potential mate’s age or how many previous partners they’ve had. Others are more interested in another number. Some 42% of adults say knowing someone’s credit score would affect their willingness to date that person, according to a survey released on Wednesday of 1,000 adults by personal finance website Bankrate.com. That’s up from nearly 40% last year. Women were nearly three times as likely to consider credit score a major influence on a potential partner compared to men (20% versus 7%). Younger daters are not as concerned about these three digits: 45% of older millennials, defined here as those aged 27 to 36, said that knowing someone’s credit score would only have a minor impact on their desire to date.

5am – E         SPORTS NEWS: The latest in DC sports playoffs:

• Capitals Choke Yet Again. CAPS LOST.  Penguins 2 – Capitals 0. Through the first six games of their series with the Penguins, the Capitals were the superior team. They outshot the Pens by 11 shots per game through Game 6, and entered Game 7 on a high, winning the previous two games and scoring nine goals in the process. Naturally, they faceplanted, just like they did last year.
• The Wizards handed the Celtics their series / WIZARDS LOST: Boston Celtics 123 – Washington Wizards 101
• BUT GOOD NEWS: NATS WON – Baltimore Orioles (22-11) 6  –  Washington Nationals (22-12)  7

6am – A         COMEY FALLOUT NEWS:

• Comey committed ‘atrocities,’ Sarah Huckabee Sanders says. Washington (CNN)FBI Director James Comey committed “atrocities” when investigating former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s emails, deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday. Sanders addressed journalists just one day after President Donald Trump — citing the recommendation of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein — fired Comey, who was overseeing an ongoing FBI investigation into Russia’s interference into the 2016 election. Sanders cited Comey’s July news conference which he held without notifying his superiors at the Justice Department. “I think also having a letter like the one that he (Trump) received, and having that conversation (with Rosenstein) that outlines the basic atrocities in circumventing the chain of command in the Department of Justice,” Sanders said when asked why Trump’s position on Comey changed since the campaign.

• Comey invited to testify before Senate panel. Ousted FBI Director James Comey has been invited to testify in a closed session next Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, according to a committee aide. The session would provide a first chance for Comey to weigh in on the circumstances of his firing and update senators behind closed doors on the status of the FBI’s investigation into allegations of coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. The bipartisan invitation was from Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and top Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia, and it comes as GOP leaders are struggling to keep the Senate’s Russia investigation contained within the secretive intelligence panel.
• Deputy AG Rosenstein reportedly threatened to quit over depiction of his role in Comey dismissal. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein threatened to quit over the depiction of his role in President Donald Trump’s firing of James Comey, The Washington Post reported late Wednesday, citing a person close to the White House. Trump said Comey was terminated because of his handling of the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. The White House has insisted that Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions initiated the conversation about Comey and that the president simply accepted their recommendation for his removal. But the Post reported that Rosenstein made his resignation threat after White House press officials repeated that narrative, painting him as the key influence that led to Comey’s dismissal.
• Comey pens farewell letter to FBI staff. “I’m not going to spend time on the decision or the way it was executed.”  (Politico) – Former FBI director James Comey, who was fired Tuesday by President Donald Trump, sent a farewell letter Wednesday to the bureau’s staff and his friends. In the letter, obtained by ABC News, Comey concedes that the commander in chief has the right to do as he sees fit. “I have long believed that a President can fire an FBI Director for any reason, or for no reason at all,” he writes. Comey also seems to be at peace about the surprise dismissal, writing, “I’m not going to spend time on the decision or the way it was executed. I hope you won’t either. It is done, and I will be fine, although I will miss you and the mission deeply.”
• Trump gave WH comms team almost zero notice of Comey firing—then became irate when it didn’t play well on cable news (Washington Post) –  Trump kept a close hold on the process. White House press secretary Sean Spicer and communications director Michael Dubke were brought into the Oval Office and informed of the Comey decision just an hour before the news was announced. Other staffers in the West Wing found out about the FBI director’s firing when their cellphones buzzed with news alerts beginning around 5:40 p.m. The media explosion was immediate and the political backlash was swift, with criticism pouring in not only from Democrats, but also from some Republicans. Trump and some of his advisers did not fully anticipate the ferocious reaction — in fact, some wrongly assumed many Democrats would support the move because they had been critical of Comey in the past — and were unprepared to contain the fallout. When asked Tuesday night for an update on the unfolding situation, one top White House aide simply texted a reporter two fireworks emoji.

6am – B         CRAZY DEMS:

• Pelosi slurs and sounds incoherent overseas: U.S. lawmakers visit Dalai Lama, highlight situation in Tibet, India. A U.S. Congressional delegation visited the Dalai Lama at his headquarters in India on Tuesday, seeking to draw world attention to human rights in Tibet as President Donald Trump eyes warmer ties with China. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi flew with a bipartisan delegation to the Himalayan hill town where the 81-year-old Buddhist leader is based. The meeting is likely to upset China, which regards the Dalai Lama as a separatist. “As we visit His Holiness the Dalai Lama, our bipartisan delegation comes in his spirit of faith and peace. We come on this visit to be inspired by His Holiness and demonstrate our commitment to the Tibetan people, to their faith, their culture and their language,” Pelosi said.
• CRAZY MAXINE WATERS: Huh? Nonsensical Maxine Waters Says Hillary Would Have Fired Comey But Trump Shouldn’t Have. Democrat darling Maxine Waters told MSNBC on Wednesday that Hillary Clinton should have fired James Comey if she won the White House.

6am – C         SEACREST RETURNING TO ‘IDOL’… ‘American Idol’: Ryan Seacrest in Advanced Talks to Return as Host for ABC Revival. Meet the new host, same as the old host?  Variety hears through sources that Ryan Seacrest is in advanced talks to come back as host of “American Idol” when the show is rebooted on ABC next spring. According to an insider, final tweaks are being hammered out on a new contract for the multihyphenate, who recently joined Kelly Ripa as cohost of ABC’s long-running morning show, the newly named “Live with Kelly and Ryan.” Stakeholders in “Idol,” which include FremantleMedia and CORE Media Group, are hoping to nail down a look that’s “authentic and most like the original.” But another source close to Seacrest downplays the progress, noting that “conversations with producers about his potential involvement are in the early stages” and “there is a lot to work through given his other priorities and commitments.” Namely: to “Live” and his daily iHeartRadio syndicated program “On Air With Ryan Seacrest,” but also hosting and producing duties for E! and ABC’s “Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve with Ryan Seacrest.” That said, adds the insider: “Ryan has a lot of affection for ‘American Idol’ given the show’s significance to his career, and it taps into the things he loves — a live show, pop music, and discovering new talent.”

6am – D         Betsy DeVos Booed at Historically Black College. Daytona Beach, Florida (CNN) Education Secretary Betsy DeVos faced an auditorium of jeering Bethune-Cookman University graduates Wednesday as she gave a commencement address that many students and graduates said she was in no place to deliver. As she opened her remarks, some students stood and turned their backs to her. At times hecklers drowned out her remarks. Perhaps foreseeing the resistance she’d face during her speech, DeVos told the crowd, “While we will undoubtedly disagree at times I hope we can do so respectfully. Let’s choose to hear one another out. I want to reaffirm this administration’s commitment to and support for (historically black colleges and universities) and the students they serve.”

6am – E         In D.C. Battle Over Bans And Licenses, Cats And Chickens Emerge Victorious. (WAMU) – If chickens seem to be clucking a little more freely, or cats purring a little more luxuriantly, it might be because they stared down D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser — and won. Bowser has decided to pull a bill that would have both banned backyard chickens and required the city’s cats be licensed, as dogs are.  The news of Bowser’s decision was first tweeted out by NBC4’s Tom Sherwood, and confirmed by WAMU 88.5 The now-disappeared language, which was originally included in a legislative package accompanying Bowser’s 2018 budget, left chicken- and cat-owners alike pecking and clawing for answers. City officials argued both measures would promote health and safety, but fans of both felines and fowl argued that the proposed ban on chickens and mandatory licensing for cats were unnecessary. If the D.C. Council were to consider either, they added, it should do so as part of a stand-alone bill with its own public hearing. The fight over the bill even took on a hint of a possible mayoral battle to come during a Council budget hearing last week, where Council member Vincent Gray (D-Ward 7) repeatedly belittled Bowser’s proposals as a waste of time and unrelated to the budget they were included in.

6am – F         HEALTH CARE NEWS:

• Aetna Ditches Obamacare Entirely. Aetna announced Wednesday that it will stop offering Obamacare exchange plans in 2018, making it the latest major health insurance provider to completely opt out of former President Barack Obama’s landmark health care legislation. The company cites massive losses among exchange participants and projects the problems to increase over the short term. Aetna will also cease to sell individual plans in Nebraska and Delaware, Bloomberg reports. “Our individual commercial products lost nearly $700 million between 2014 and 2016, and are projected to lose more than $200 million in 2017 despite a significant reduction in membership,” an Aetna spokesman said in an email. Aetna is not the only insurance company leaving Obamacare exchanges. Humana announced in February that it will pull out of the exchanges entirely in 2018. It was the first major insurance provider to opt out of Obamacare under President Donald Trump. The company said it tried to provide plans on exchanges for years where it could offer a “viable product.” Its decision to stop offering plans came after “seeing signs of an unbalanced risk pool based on the results of the 2017 open enrollment period, therefore we’ve decided that we can’t continue to offer this coverage in 2018,” Bruce Broussard, chief executive of Humana, told reporters.
• One of Maryland’s biggest Obamacare insurers wants to hike rates 50 percent next year. (Washington Post) — The head of the largest insurer in the Mid-Atlantic region warned Thursday that the Affordable Care Act marketplaces were in the early stages of a death spiral, a statement that came as the company announced its request for massive, double-digit premium increases for next year. Projecting that by year’s end the company will have lost a total of $600 million since it started selling plans in the marketplaces four years ago, CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield is requesting a greater than 50 percent rate increase in Maryland, a 35 percent increase in northern Virginia and a 29 percent increase in D.C. “What we’re seeing is greater sickness levels. The pool of beneficiaries is becoming sicker, in part because healthier people are not coming in at the same level we hoped,” said Chet Burrell, chief executive of CareFirst, which insures about 215,000 people through the marketplaces set up by the Affordable Care Act in all three states.

7am – A         INTERVIEW — RON HOSKO – former assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division and currently the ‎President at Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund – discussed the fallout of the FBI Director Comey’s firing.

7am – B         Second mayoral appointee identified in school-lottery scandal. (Washington Post) — Two appointed officials working for D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) received preferential treatment from the former schools chancellor, who directly placed their children in schools and allowed them to bypass the notoriously stressful and competitive lottery system, according to an investigation by the District’s inspector general. D.C. Council member David Grosso (I-At Large) said he learned during a briefing from Inspector General Daniel Lucas on Tuesday that two of the three government officials aided by former schools chancellor Kaya Henderson in the summer of 2015 were mayoral appointees. The third was a principal in the school system, Grosso said. In addition, four other people also received improper school placements from Henderson, Grosso said: a former District elected official, the head of a nonprofit that works with the school district, a staffer in the Obama White House and a former classmate of Henderson. None of the seven parents are named in the inspector general’s report on the investigation, and Lucas did not share their names during the briefing, Grosso said. The disclosure of additional information about those who the inspector general found skirted the requirements of the District’s public-school lottery with Henderson’s help comes a day after The Washington Post reported that a top Bowser official, D.C. Deputy Mayor for Greater Economic Opportunity Courtney Snowden, was probed over her son’s placement at Capitol Hill Montessori at Logan, a school with a waiting list of more than 1,000 families. Bowser’s spokesman, Kevin Harris, said the mayor did not know the identities of those Henderson had shown favoritism toward and had not asked, although Lucas briefed her on his findings in February. If true, that would mean Bowser received a report stating that two of her appointees had circumvented the school lottery through improper placements by Henderson but took no steps to find out who they were. Harris said Wednesday that the inspector general’s report did not indicate Bowser’s appointees had done anything wrong by asking for school placements outside the lottery, even if the chancellor’s response to those requests was determined to be improper. “There’s nothing wrong because they asked,” Harris said. “The subject of the investigation is whether Kaya used her authority properly.”

7am – C         White House chooses Ricky Waddell to replace K.T. McFarland as deputy national security adviser. (Washington Examiner) — With K.T. McFarland on her way out, Army Reserve Maj. Gen. Ricky Waddell has been tapped to replace her as deputy national security adviser, according to a report Wednesday. Waddell, who in 2015 became commander of the 76th Operational Response Command infantry, will answer to President Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, Politico reports. Among his duties will be organizing meetings and putting together a long-term strategy. White House chief of staff Reince Priebus opposed Waddell replacing McFarland, Politico said in a previous report. The new addition to the White House security team comes as McFarland is expected to be nominated as ambassador to Singapore.

7am – D         INTERVIEW – ALBERTO GONZALES – former U.S. Attorney General, currently the DEAN of BELMONT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW and author of TRUE FAITH AND ALLEGIANCE.

• BIO: Alberto R. Gonzales is the former United States Attorney General and the former Counsel to President George W. Bush. He is currently the Dean at Belmont University College of Law and the author of True Faith and Allegiance: A Story of Service and Sacrifice in War and Peace.  True Faith and Allegiance was released on September 6th.
• Alberto Gonzales: Trump Should Have Fired Comey Sooner. (Newsmax) — Fired FBI Director James Comey is a “talented, deeply dedicated public servant,” former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Wednesday, but there are many on both sides of the aisle who think his actions over the past year show “he no longer is the right person to lead the FBI.”
• Comey committed ‘atrocities,’ Sarah Huckabee Sanders says. Washington (CNN)FBI Director James Comey committed “atrocities” when investigating former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s emails, deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday.

7am – E         Dorothy McAuliffe, wife of Virginia governor, says she will not run for Congress. (Washington Post) — Dorothy McAuliffe, wife of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, said Wednesday she will not seek the Democratic nomination to challenge Rep. Barbara Comstock (R) next year. The first lady of Virginia was considering a run and spent the last few weeks calling Democratic members of Congress as well as state delegates and senators to gather their input. “I’ve decided that I can have more impact in the role that I have now and not wanting to give that up, having to separate myself from that earlier than I’d like,” she said in a phone interview. “I have a lot of people counting on me — children in need, schools that we work with, our school nutrition directors, the works we’ve done across the board with military families — and I am not ready to disengage from that role,” she added. The McAuliffes are scheduled to vacate the governor’s mansion when his term expires on Jan. 13, 2018; he is prohibited by the state constitution from seeking a second consecutive term. The couple, who have five children, own a home in McLean. Her decision clears the way for state Sen. Jennifer Wexton (D-Loudoun), a former prosecutor who was recruited by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to try to unseat Comstock. Democrats are targeting the congressional district, the only one in the D.C. metropolitan area held by a Republican. It spans the Washington suburbs of Loudoun, Fairfax and Prince William counties and the conservative strongholds of Clarke and Frederick counties.

8am – A         INTERVIEW — ANDREW MCCARTHY –  is a contributing editor at National Review, former Chief Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York and author of “Faithless Execution” – discussed the fallout of the FBI director’s firing.

8am – B         Study reveals the 25 most-dangerous intersections in D.C. and says most pedestrian collisions happen downtown. (NBC Washington) – A new study has named the 25 most-dangerous intersections in the District and says distracted drivers are to blame for trouble on the roads. About 5,300 pedestrians were struck by cars in D.C. between 2009 and 2015, according to the study done by the law firm Trombly & Singer, PLLC. The highest concentration of pedestrian collisions happened in Downtown D.C., followed by Dupont Circle and Columbia Heights, the study found. The study named the intersection of Minnesota Avenue and Benning Road NE the most dangerous place for pedestrians, with 10 collisions and 14 injuries. The intersection earned a “danger index” of 53, which is based on the high volume of high-speed traffic and pedestrians in the area. Southern Avenue SE near Owens Road took the second spot on the danger list, with a danger index of 51. The third intersection, 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, also earned a danger index of 51 and the fourth most-dangerous intersection went to 14th and U Street NW, with a danger index of 47. “I’m finding that in some of our cases, we are learning as we drill down, that the person who was operating the car, who hit our client was on a cell phone,” said attorney Kenneth Trombly, who teamed up with data visualization and visual content agency 1 Point 21 Interactive for the study. But drivers are not the only ones who are distracted.

8am – C         PUTIN NEWS:

• Trump and Putin will meet in July as part of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Russian state media says. (CNN) US President Donald Trump will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in July as part of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Russian state media said Thursday. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the announcement after meeting with Trump in Washington Wednesday, according to Tass. If confirmed, it would be the two men’s first meeting since Trump took power in January. The White House has yet to confirm.
• Putin tells CBS News “we have nothing to do with” firing of Comey, says Trump is “acting accordance with his law”
• Trump’s meeting with Russians closed to U.S. media, but not to TASS photographer. (USA Today) — At a time of strain between the White House and the media over coverage of the new administration, reporters raised questions Wednesday as to why a photographer from the Russian media, but not the U.S. press, was apparently allowed into an Oval Office meeting between President Trump and Russian officials. The issue surfaced after photos of the meeting, including Trump shaking hands with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and controversial Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak, appeared in the Russian media. The images were taken by a photographer from TASS, the Russian state-owned new agency.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – SCOTT ALLEN – Sports reporter, Washington Post — discussed the latest in DC sports playoffs

• Capitals Choke Yet Again. CAPS LOST.  Penguins 2 – Capitals 0. Through the first six games of their series with the Penguins, the Capitals were the superior team. They outshot the Pens by 11 shots per game through Game 6, and entered Game 7 on a high, winning the previous two games and scoring nine goals in the process. Naturally, they faceplanted, just like they did last year.
• The Wizards handed the Celtics their series / WIZARDS LOST: Boston Celtics 123 – Washington Wizards 101
• BUT GOOD NEWS: NATS WON – Baltimore Orioles (22-11) 6  –  Washington Nationals (22-12)  7

8am – E         Last night on MARTHA MACCALLUM’S SHOW, law professor JONATHAN TURLEY questions ‘what is the crime Trump admin committed?’