wmal.com/ **** 888-630-WMAL (9625)  

Facebook: facebook.com/wmaldc ** Twitter: @wmaldc

** E-mail: [email protected] **

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

5am – A/B/C Sessions

5am – D Appeals court blocks DC’s concealed-carry law on Second Amendment grounds (Fox News) A federal appeals court on Tuesday struck down a District of Columbia gun-control measure that the court said is essentially an outright ban in violation of the Second Amendment. D.C. requires gun owners to have a “good reason” to obtain a concealed carry permit. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit struck down the regulation as too restrictive in a 2-1 decision, The Washington Post reported.

5am – E Bernie Sanders Has Reportedly Been Stealing His Neighbor’s Newspaper (Mediaite) It can get expensive to purchase a newspaper subscription for multiple homes, even if you’re as rich as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Sanders, a man who was once reportedly kicked out of a hippie commune for being too lazy, is now being accused of helping himself to someone else’s property. According to a recent report, the socialist Senator has decided that the process of redistributing wealth should extend to his neighbor’s Washington Post becoming his Washington Post. It would appear as though Bernie believes that, like health care, having access to the news of the day in print is a basic human right and not a privilege.

6am – A Pence Breaks 50-50 Tie; Replacement Plans to Be Debated (New York Times) The Senate narrowly voted to begin debate on a bill to repeal major provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote and Senator John McCain returned to Washington despite his diagnosis of brain cancer. Senators will now begin a period of debate, lasting up to 20 hours, on various amendments to the House version of the bill, which passed in May. After debate, they will begin a “vote-a-rama” — a period of successive votes on the offered amendments. Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, could introduce a substitute amendment that would replace all of the others. Finally, the legislation would move to a final vote. If it passes, the same version will have to be approved by the House before being sent to the president to sign.

6am – B Feds arrest IT staffer for Wasserman Schultz trying to leave country (Fox News) A House IT staffer at the center of a congressional computer equipment scandal has been arrested by federal officials and charged with bank fraud, Fox News has learned. Fox News is told officers and agents from the U.S. Capitol Police, the FBI and Customs and Border Protection were involved in the arrest of Imran Awan at Dulles International Airport. Awan, 37, of Virginia, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to one count of bank fraud during his arraignment in federal court in Washington, D.C. He was released but will have to wear a GPS monitor and abide by a curfew. Awan also was ordered to turn over all his passports. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 21. Law enforcement authorities for months have been looking into how Awan may have double-billed the House for equipment like computers, iPads, monitors, keyboards and routers. Several relatives of Awan worked for House Democrats and were fired months ago. Awan, however, was kept on staff by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., even though he was no longer allowed access to the House server network.

6am – C Tillerson ‘taking a little time off’ amid exit rumors (New York Post) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is “taking a little time off” amid reports that he’s sick of being in Washington, a spokesperson says. Rumors have been swirling about the former Exxon-Mobil CEO’s frustration with the Trump administration and their involvement in foreign policy decisions after two sources told CNN they wouldn’t be surprised if there was a “Rexit” on the horizon.

6am – D INTERVIEW – CAL THOMAS – syndicated columnist

TOPIC: Healthcare bill, Trump bashes Sessions and McCain’s comeback speech

-Pence Breaks 50-50 Tie; Replacement Plans to Be Debated. The Senate narrowly voted to begin debate on a bill to repeal major provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote and Senator John McCain returned to Washington despite his diagnosis of brain cancer. 

-Top White House aides press Trump to pull back on Sessions criticism. President Donald Trump has publicly rebuked Attorney General Jeff Sessions, expressing regret for appointing him to the post and disparaging him as “beleaguered” and “very weak.” But inside the West Wing, Trump has often found himself the odd man out.

-McCain, battling cancer, returns to Senate. Sen. John McCain returned to the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday afternoon to cast a critical vote in favor of health care legislation less than a week after undergoing surgery and revealing he has brain cancer. And then, in typical McCain fashion, he took to the floor and blasted both the Senate’s draft health care bill and the process that produced it.

6am – E BART officials withholding crime surveillance tapes for ‘fear of racial stereotyping’ (Fox News) The transit system that serves San Francisco is under fire for refusing to release video from surveillance cameras that captured several recent train attacks by gangs of young black riders. Assault, robbery and rape are up 41 percent over last year on the vast train system known as BART, or Bay Area Rapid Transit. But several recent attacks by gangs of young men has the agency under public scrutiny. One victim is suing to warn riders of the risk they face when riding BART. “Approximately 30 of them invaded our car. They beat and robbed a number of individuals,” said Rusty Stapp, who was returning home with his wife and 19-year-old daughter. “They jumped on me, and began kicking me in the ribs. The individuals (police) saw on video were repeat offenders. They knew who they were. They had them in the system.” Yet BART refused to release the video, claiming several of the alleged gang members might be under 18.

6am – F Thousands sign petition to replace Confederate statue with tribute to Snooty the manatee (The Hill) More than 5,000 people have already signed an online petition calling for officials to replace a Florida Confederate memorial statue with one of a beloved manatee named Snooty that died in a “tragic accident” this week. “To honor Snooty’s legacy as a positive icon in Bradenton, I propose that the negative symbol of racism and oppression that is the Confederate monument be relocated and replaced with a statue of Snooty the Manatee,” wrote Anthony Pusateri, who started the petition to the Manatee County Commission. The petition states that a statue of Snooty would be a “more positive symbol” than the Confederate one in place at a courthouse. The statue is blocks from the aquarium where Snooty lived. Snooty, the oldest-known manatee in captivity, died Sunday at the South Florida Museum, days after his 69th birthday.

7am – A INTERVIEW – JOHN LOTT – President, Crime Prevention Research Center

TOPIC: Guns in D.C. and Maryland

-Appeals court blocks D.C.’s concealed-carry law on Second Amendment grounds. A federal appeals court on Tuesday struck down a District of Columbia gun-control measure that the court said is essentially an outright ban in violation of the Second Amendment. D.C. requires gun owners to have a “good reason” to obtain a concealed carry permit. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit struck down the regulation as too restrictive in a 2-1 decision, The Washington Post reported. “The good-reason law is necessarily a total ban on most D.C. residents’ right to carry a gun in the face of ordinary self-defense needs,” Judge Thomas B. Griffith wrote, according to the paper. “Bans on the ability of most citizens to exercise an enumerated right would have to flunk any judicial test.” The decision deals another legal blow to efforts by city officials to rewrite gun regulations since the Supreme Court declared a Second Amendment right to gun ownership in a 2008 D.C. gun case, the paper reported.

-Tensions flare at Baltimore City Council hearing on gun bill

7am – B/C POTUS’ Rally in Youngstown, Ohio

7am – D INTERVIEW – SUSAN FERRECHIO – Chief Congressional Correspondent for the Washington Examiner.

TOPIC: Congressional news: healthcare, Sessions, Donald, Jr., and Manafort

-Pence Breaks 50-50 Tie; Replacement Plans to Be Debated

-McCain, battling cancer, returns to Senate.

-Senate Judiciary Committee drops Manafort subpoena in Russia probe

7am – E This New Dating App Is Only For Verified Twitter Users (New York Post) Since dating apps like Tinder broke into the mainstream, companies have found increasingly specific ways to make matchmaking more exclusive. While The League uses an “advanced screening algorithm” to limit membership to educated elites, Raya restricts membership to celebrities. Now, the dating app Loveflutter has created a new way to filter the dating pool — restricting membership to Twitter celebrities. Loveflutter recently unveiled BLUE, a new premium version of the app exclusive to those who are verified on Twitter. This means celebrities, journalists and other public figures with little blue checks next to their Twitter accounts will be among the eligible singles.

8am – A House poised to approve $1.6B down payment for border wall promised by Trump (Dallas News) The House is poised to set aside $1.6 billion to start construction of the border wall promised by President Donald Trump — a costly yet modest down payment on a massive project that would cost far more if ever finished. Lawmakers made no effort to extract payment from Mexico, as the president’s oft-stated campaign vow fades into memory.

8am – B Feds arrest IT staffer for Wasserman Schultz trying to leave country (Fox News) A House IT staffer at the center of a congressional computer equipment scandal has been arrested by federal officials and charged with bank fraud, Fox News has learned. Fox News is told officers and agents from the U.S. Capitol Police, the FBI and Customs and Border Protection were involved in the arrest of Imran Awan at Dulles International Airport. Awan, 37, of Virginia, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to one count of bank fraud during his arraignment in federal court in Washington, D.C. He was released but will have to wear a GPS monitor and abide by a curfew. Awan also was ordered to turn over all his passports. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 21. Law enforcement authorities for months have been looking into how Awan may have double-billed the House for equipment like computers, iPads, monitors, keyboards and routers. Several relatives of Awan worked for House Democrats and were fired months ago. Awan, however, was kept on staff by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., even though he was no longer allowed access to the House server network.

8am – C Sen. Susan Collins apologizes to Rep. Blake Farenthold for calling him ‘fat’ and ‘unattractive’ (Fox News) Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, apologized to Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, after she was caught on a hot mic making derogatory comments about Farenthold at the end of a Senate hearing Tuesday. “Neither weapons nor inappropriate words are the right way to resolve legislative debates,” Collins said in a statement Tuesday to CNN. “I received a handwritten apology from Rep. Farenthold late this morning. I accept his apology, and I offer him mine.”

8am – D INTERVIEW – JONATHAN SWAN – National political reporter for Axios

TOPIC: Trump news

-Top White House aides press Trump to pull back on Sessions criticism

-Pence Breaks 50-50 Tie; Replacement Plans to Be Debated. The Senate narrowly voted to begin debate on a bill to repeal major provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote and Senator John McCain returned to Washington despite his diagnosis of brain cancer.

-Thoughts on Trump’s Ohio rally last night: Trump discussed immigration, health care, Iran and slammed the media

8am – E Chipotle says employee worked while ill at Va. Location (WJLA)

Chipotle is adding chorizo to its menu in yet another move intended to get people back in stores following an e. coli outbreak last year. The company says it believes an employee was working while sick at a Virginia location where dozens of customers reported becoming ill earlier this month with what health officials think was norovirus. After reporting improved sales for the second quarter Tuesday, CEO Steve Ells said that a company investigation into the illnesses found that its leadership at the store didn’t adhere to its protocols.