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Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday July 5, 2017

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

5am – A/B/C How CNN found the Reddit user behind the Trump wrestling GIF (CNN) The Reddit user who initially claimed credit for President Donald Trump’s tweet that showed Trump tackling CNN issued an apology Tuesday for the video and other offensive content he posted — one day after CNN identified the man behind the account and attempted to make contact with him. Reddit user “HanA**holeSolo” first shared the GIF last Wednesday of Trump pummeling a wrestler with CNN’s logo imposed on his face. CNN could find no earlier instance of the GIF. The GIF was later edited into a video with sound and tweeted by the President on Sunday. On Reddit, “HanA**holeSolo” took credit for inspiring the tweet. Soon after, “HanA**holeSolo’s” other posts on Reddit, some of which included racist and anti-Semitic imagery, quickly circulated on social media. CNN is not publishing “HanA**holeSolo’s” name because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again. In addition, he said his statement could serve as an example to others not to do the same.

5am – D  Democratic Bill Lays the Groundwork to Remove Trump From Office (NBC) House Democrats are on a mission to educate the American people about a little-known power of the 25th Amendment — the ousting of the president. Led by freshman Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a group of growing Democratic co-signers has put forth a bill that could force President Donald Trump from office if he were found mentally or physically unfit. Although it was introduced in April, the bill has gained steam in the past week as Trump’s tweet storms have grown in ferocity. “Given Donald Trump’s continued erratic and baffling behavior, is it any wonder why we need to pursue this legislation?” asked Rep. Darren Soto, D-Florida, a co-signer. “The mental and physical health of the leader of the United States and the free world is a matter of great public concern.”

5am- E Trump Is Wishing Everyone A ‘MAGA’ Fourth (Daily Caller) President Donald Trump wished the country a happy Independence Day by sharing a video of a band and chorus performing “Make America Great Again.” Trump shared the tweet just before 7 a.m. and captioned the video with a few hashtags related to the Fourth of July. The video itself opens with a band playing in front of an American flag, and most people probably expected the band to play the national anthem or “God Bless America.” Instead, when the chorus started singing, they belted out, “Make America Great Again.”

6am – A/B/C Poll: Many Americans share Mike Pence’s concern about interacting with opposite sex at work (Washington Examiner) A new poll by Morning Consult shows many Americans agree with some of Vice President Mike Pence’s “philosophy” about how to relate with the opposite sex while at work, especially in social settings. A small battle in the culture wars opened up earlier this year when Pence’s desire to not be in a place that’s serving alcohol without his wife and his refusal to be alone with a woman with no one else present surfaced. A majority of women polled said it’s inappropriate to have a drink (60 percent) or have dinner (53 percent) with a coworker of the opposite sex who is not your spouse. The response from men was not far behind, with 48 percent saying a drink alone with a woman coworker was inappropriate, and 45 percent saying the same thing about dinner alone with a woman coworker.

6am – D INTERVIEW – CAL THOMAS – Syndicated Author and Columnist

Topic: Hate between media and Trump

• President Trump once referred to the health care bill passed by the House as “mean.” So how should we characterize his remarks about MSNBC “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski? The president of the United States, reacting to her criticism of him, claimed Brzezinski was “bleeding” from a facelift when he saw her last New Year’s Eve at his Florida He further described her as being “dumb as a rock.” (Cal Thomas Column)
• In an interview with the magazine InStyle, Brzezinski speculated that first lady Melania Trump wants out of her marriage: “I know Melania. I haven’t talked to her in months, but if my gut is right, I don’t think she’s going to put up with it much longer. I know nothing. That’s just my instinct and I go with my gut and my gut’s always right.” (Cal Thomas Column)

6am – E Months of Russia controversy leaves Trump ‘boxed in’ ahead of Putin meeting (Washington Post) President Trump promised voters that he would strike “a great deal” with Russia and its autocratic president, Vladimir Putin. He has repeatedly labeled an investigation of Russian meddling in the U.S. election as “a hoax,” and he even bragged to Russian officials about firing the FBI director leading the probe. Now nearly six months into his presidency, Trump is set to finally meet Putin at a summit this week in Hamburg after a stop here in Warsaw — severely constrained and facing few good options that would leave him politically unscathed.

6am – F A Month Into Investigation, Kathy Griffin Was Reportedly Interviewed by Secret Service for More Than an Hour (Vulture) When Kathy Griffin first accused Donald Trump of “trying to ruin [her] life forever” for releasing that notoriously gory and violent photograph, most viewed it as an additional gaffe on the comedian’s part, a poorly conceived attempt to redirect the conversation away from how she’d been near-universally condemned for crossing the line. But while the intent of her rebuttal might still feel misguided a month or so later, it appears that, substantively, Griffin was onto something. Per political reporter Yashar Ali, she was recently interviewed for more than an hour by the Secret Service in-person, and the federal agency’s investigation into Griffin remains open.

7am – A INTERVIEW – JAMES CARAFANO – Vice President of the Heritage Foundation and a leading expert in national security and foreign policy challenges.

Topic: North Korea

• The U.S. Army and South Korean military responded to North Korea’s latest launch with their own exercise of missiles, launching them Wednesday into South Korean territorial waters along the country’s eastern coastline, U.S. Pacific Command said in a statement. The launches were directly in response to “North Korea’s destabilizing and unlawful actions,” Pacific Command said.
• On Tuesday, North Korea launched a missile that flew higher and remained in the air longer than previous attempts, enough to reach all of Alaska, experts said, in a milestone for North Korea’s weapons program.

7am – B ‘Obamaphone’ program stashes $9 billion in private bank accounts (Washington Times) The controversial “Obamaphone” program, which pays for cellphones for the poor, is rife with fraud, according to a new government report released Thursday that found more than a third of enrollees may not even be qualified. Known officially as the Lifeline Program, the phone giveaway became a symbol of government waste in the previous administration. Now a new report from the Government Accountability Office bears out those concerns. The report, requested by Sen. Claire McCaskill, Missouri Democrat, also says the program has stashed some $9 billion in assets in private bank accounts rather than with the federal treasury, further increasing risks and depriving taxpayers of the full benefit of that money. “A complete lack of oversight is causing this program to fail the American taxpayer — everything that could go wrong is going wrong,” said Mrs. McCaskill, ranking Democrat on the Senate’s chief oversight committee and who is a former state auditor in Missouri. “We’re currently letting phone companies cash a government check every month with little more than the honor system to hold them accountable, and that simply can’t continue,” she said.

7am – C Are we seeing more rabbits in our area this year? (Washington Post)  Yes, says Karen Taylor of the Sleepy Hollow neighborhood in Falls Church, Va., who writes: “I’ve seen many more rabbits this year than the past four years. There are half a dozen little ones that run around my patio and come right up to the French doors.” Peter Wall, also of Falls Church, agrees: “Neighbors and I have spoken about the unusual number of bunnies and small/juvenile rabbits this year, with very few adults seen.” Here’s Maryland’s Dolores Milmoe: “We, too, have experienced an explosion of rabbits this year on our farm south of Poolesville. There are plenty of foxes this season as well, so no lack of predators.” And Ted Mastroianni of Washington’s Glover Park neighborhood: “We first started seeing one small, thin rabbit on our block last year. This year, several have been seen by us and our neighbors.”

7am – D INTERVIEW – KIMBERLY LEONARD – Washington Examiner’s Senior Healthcare Reporter

Topic: Healthcare

• Trump’s increased role in promoting the healthcare legislation came as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell headed into a weeklong recess with his caucus fractured and the fate of his Obamacare repeal measure uncertain.
• Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price hosted a “listening session” for people affected by Obamacare in Utah and traveled to Dallas for another healthcare “listening session” with doctors on Monday, and he placed a pair of op-eds that the White House later promoted.

7am – E Joey Chestnut, Miki Sudo win titles in Nathan’s hot dog contest  (ESPN) Joey “Jaws” Chestnut won his record 10th men’s title in the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest by consuming an event-record and personal-best 72 dogs and buns in 10 minutes on Tuesday. Miki Sudo also set a personal best by devouring 41 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes to win her record fourth consecutive women’s title at the annual Fourth of July event. During the men’s competition, five people were taken into custody for trying to disrupt the event, police said. The people appeared to be attempting to unfold a black banner before police stopped them and took them away. They were taken to a precinct where they were questioned and released, police said. The demonstrators later issued a statement saying they were from a group called Direct Action Everywhere, and want Nathan’s to stop holding the contest. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals members separately had been giving away free vegan hot dogs outside the event, but spokeswoman Tricia Lebkuecher said the people arrested inside weren’t affiliated with PETA. Chestnut’s previous personal best was 70 dogs and buns, which he set last year.

8am – A Should clubs be allowed to be exclusive? Fox Club Again All-Male After ‘Provisional’ Membership Revoked for Women (The Harvard Crimson) The Fox Club will not allow the nine women who had enjoyed “provisional” status in the group to become full members, effectively expelling the women and marking the club’s return to all-male status almost two years after it first became co-ed. The move, detailed in internal correspondence between recent Fox graduates, ends the club’s experiment in co-ed membership, which began in October 2015 when undergraduates admitted a group of upperclassmen women as members. That decision deeply divided the club, pitting graduate and undergraduate members against each other as Harvard administrators pressured final clubs to go gender-neutral.

8am – D G20 summit: When is it, what will happen (Independent Co) The G20 take place in Hamburg, Germany this Friday and Saturday. The summit was always likely to have been dominated by climate change, but will be even moreso since Donald Trump removed the United States from the Paris Agreement. It will also be the first public meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin since Trump became President. Bilaterals between major countries are arguably more significant than the set piece events. There are no formal votes on any issues. Events tend to be dominated by the political man of the hour.

8am – E  Emily Ratajkowski: Can’t Get Work in Hollywood ‘Because My Boobs Are Too Big’ (Breitbart) Actress Emily Ratajkowski called out Hollywood in the latest issue of Harper’s Bazaar Australia for what she claims is its “anti-woman” employment practices, explaining she is sometimes turned down for acting roles because her breasts are “too big.” In an interview with the Australian magazine, Ratajkowski said she faces gender discrimination in Hollywood, but not because she’s too old or not pretty enough, but because she’s “too sexy.” “There’s this thing that happens to me: ‘Oh, she’s too sexy’,” Ratajkowski told Harper’s Bazaar. “It’s like an anti-woman thing, that people don’t want to work with me because my boobs are too big,” the actress continued. “What’s wrong with boobs? They’re a beautiful feminine thing that needs to be celebrated. Like, who cares? They are great big, they are great small. Why should that be an issue?”