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Mornings on the Mall

Monday, July 31, 2017

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

5am – A/B/C Trump replaces White House chief of staff Reince Priebus with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. Kelly starts on Monday.

5am – D Pelosi Agrees: Blame Falls On Hillary’s Campaign (The Daily Caller) House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi seemed to take an underhanded shot at the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign Sunday, while defending the Democratic Party’s new message known as “a better deal.” “You call for higher wages, lower prescription drug costs, job training, infrastructure,” Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace said to Pelosi. “I’m not saying any of that is wrong, what I am saying is none of it is new. We’ve been hearing it for years. We heard it from the Democrats and Hillary Clinton in 2016 and you lost.” Pelosi didn’t disagree with Wallace, instead highlighting the fact that Congressional Democrats are in charge of the messaging for the first time since 2006 and that they, unlike Clinton in 2016, won.

5am – E Democrats & the Russians (Wall Street Journal) What if, all this time, Washington and the media have had the Russia collusion story backward? What if it wasn’t the Trump campaign playing footsie with the Vladimir Putin regime, but Democrats? The more we learn about Fusion, the more this seems a possibility.

6am – A/B/C Scaramucci’s fed-up wife filed for divorce while nine months pregnant (New York Post) Anthony Scaramucci’s wife demanded a divorce three weeks ago, while she was nine months pregnant, sources told The Post. Deidre Scaramucci, 38, fed up with her three-year marriage to the new White House communication director, filed divorce papers on July 6 in Nassau County Supreme Court. On Monday, while Anthony was in West Virginia with President Trump for the Boy Scouts Jamboree, Deidre gave birth to the couple’s baby boy James. As of Friday evening, a full four days after delivery, her 53-year-old husband had yet to meet his newborn son, though an associate close to Anthony said he visited the child late that night. He visited his Manhasset, L.I., homestead Saturday. “When James was born, he sent her a text saying, ‘Congratulations, I’ll pray for our child,’” said a source close to the situation. Anthony’s associate said, “There was discussion between him, her and the divorce attorneys about Anthony going to the hospital and unfortunately … the delivery was sudden.”

6am – D/E OBAMACARE NEWS: Is Trump Stuck or Can He Move On From Health Care? Can Congress Selling Tax Reform During Recess? Do You Want Trump To Move On From Obamacare? U.S. President Donald Trump and members of his administration on Sunday goaded Republican senators to stick with trying to pass a healthcare bill, after the lawmakers failed spectacularly last week to muster the votes to end Obamacare. For the second day running, the Republican president tweeted his impatience with Congress’ inability to deliver on his party’s seven-year promise to replace the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare bill commonly known as Obamacare. Members of his administration took to the airwaves to try to compel lawmakers to take action. But it was unclear whether the White House admonishments would have any impact on Capitol Hill, where Republicans who control both houses signaled last week that it was time to move on to other issues. Republicans’ zeal to repeal and replace Obamacare was met with both intra-party divisions between moderates and conservatives and also the increasing approval of a law that raised the number of insured Americans by 20 million. Polling indicates a majority of Americans are ready to move on from healthcare at this point. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Saturday, 64 percent of 1,136 people surveyed on Friday and Saturday said they wanted to keep Obamacare, either “entirely as is” or after fixing “problem areas.” That is up from 54 percent in January. With the U.S. legislative branch spinning its wheels, the executive branch pledged to look at rewriting Obamacare regulations. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price told ABC’s “This Week” that he would change those regulations that drive up costs or “hurt” patients.

7am – A INTERVIEW – JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney to the District of Columbia

TOPICS: Joe can discuss where the Russia investigation stands and his thoughts on the White House shakeups with JOHN KELLY and SCARAMUCCI in the mix

-Podesta: New White House chief of staff needs to protect special counsel Mueller from Trump. John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s former campaign chairman, on Sunday urged newly appointed White House chief of staff John Kelly to protect special counsel Robert Mueller and his ongoing investigation into Russian election interference in last year’s election.

-What if, all this time, Washington and the media have had the Russia collusion story backward? What if it wasn’t the Trump campaign playing footsie with the Vladimir Putin regime, but Democrats? The more we learn about Fusion, the more this seems a possibility.

-The quest to prove collusion is crumbling. While everyone is fixated on President Trump’s unbecoming and inexplicable assault on Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the media has been trying to sneak away from the “Russian collusion” story.

7am – B IMMIGRATION NEWS: IMMIGRANT TRAINING SHIFT TO “ASSIMILATION” (Breitbart) The Trump administration has changed the immigrant citizenship training program from “integration” to “assimilation”.

7am – C MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER REFUSES TO ANSWER CITIZENSHIP (San Diego Union Tribune) QUESTION: Bell Middle School teacher Shane Parmely was detained for over an hour by Border Patrol agents at a checkpoint in New Mexico because she refused to say whether she was a U.S. citizen.  Would you cooperate with an immigration checkpoint?

7am – D Known gang member arrested in Va. for Texas homicides (WTOP) A known MS-13 gang member wanted in connection with two homicides in Texas was caught in Arlington, Virginia. Arlington County police, along with federal agents, arrested 20-year-old Douglas Alexander Herrera-Hernandez on Saturday, while he was walking near Four Mile Run Drive and Columbia Pike. The Texas Department of Public Safety issued an all-points bulletin for Herrera’s arrest on July 26. Local law enforcement and ICE agencies received information that the suspect was possibly in Virginia.

7am – E Powerful Photo Shows That Women Aren’t The Only Ones Who Get Periods (Huffington Post) “Not all people who menstruate are women, and not all women menstruate.” A transgender artist released a powerful photo last week in an attempt to broaden the cultural understanding of the different types of people who experience menstruation. Cass Clemmer, who uses they/them pronouns, posted the photo of themself on Instagram on July 12, depicting them free-bleeding while holding up a sign that reads “Periods are not just for women #BleedingWhileTrans.” The photo was accompanied by a poem the artist wrote for a spoken word event at a menstrual health conference last summer. Clemmer, who works as a menstrual health activist, told HuffPost that they decided to stage the photo after the backlash to The Adventures of Toni the Tampon: A Period Coloring Book, a project they created to introduce kids of all genders to the human experience of menstruation.

8am – A INTERVIEW – MERCEDES SCHLAPP – Fox News Contributor, Washington Times columnist and is the former Director of Specialty Media for President George W. Bush

TOPIC: Mercedes to weigh in on the latest White House shakeups: Priebus-Kelly and Scaramucci-Spicer

-Trump replaces White House chief of staff Reince Priebus with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. Kelly starts on Monday.

-Rep. Barbara Lee: Trump putting ‘an extremist’ into the White House with John Kelly.  Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee said Friday evening that she is concerned that President Trump is placing the “executive branch in the hands of an extremist” by announcing Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly as his new chief of staff. “By putting Gen John Kelly in charge, Pres Trump is militarizing the White House & putting our executive branch in the hands of an extremist,” Lee, who hails from California, said in a tweet.

8am – B Comedian Kathy Griffin Cuts the Price of Her Hollywood Hills Home (Realtor.com) If at first you don’t succeed in a real estate sale, restage, find a new agent, drop the price, and try again. That seems to be Kathy Griffin’s strategy in selling her 8,095-square-foot home in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, with a view of Universal Studios and the Hollywood sign. She put the house on the market in October for $5.5 million and then took it off for a few months. Now the home’s popped back up for sale—for a shade under $5 million. The listing agent is Steve Frankel of Coldwell Banker Global Luxury.

8am – C Wasserman Schultz Seemingly Planned To Pay Suspect Even While He Lived In Pakistan (The Daily Caller) Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz seemingly planned to pay cyber-probe suspect and IT aide Imran Awan even while he was living in Pakistan, if the FBI hadn’t stopped him from leaving the U.S. Monday. Public statements and congressional payroll records suggest she also appears to have known that his wife, a fellow IT staffer, left the country for good months ago — while she was also a criminal suspect. In all, six months of actions reveal a decision to continue paying a man who seemingly could not have been providing services to her, and who a mountain of evidence suggests was a liability. The man long had access to all of Wasserman Schultz’s computer files, work emails and personal emails, and he was recently accused by a relative in court documents of wiretapping and extortion. Records also raise questions about whether the Florida Democrat permitted Awan to continue to access computers after House-wide authorities banned him from the network Feb. 2. Not only did she keep him on staff after the ban, but she also did not have any other IT person to perform necessary work that presumably would have arisen during a months-long period, according to payroll records.

8am – D INTERVIEW – NEWT GINGRICH – Former Speaker of the House and author of the new book “UNDERSTANDING TRUMP”

TOPIC: Thoughts on what to do next with Obamacare

-Trump tells Republicans to get back on healthcare bill. U.S. President Donald Trump and members of his administration on Sunday goaded Republican senators to stick with trying to pass a healthcare bill, after the lawmakers failed spectacularly last week to muster the votes to end Obamacare. For the second day running, the Republican president tweeted his impatience with Congress’ inability to deliver on his party’s seven-year promise to replace the Affordable Care Act.

-Donald Trump Threatens to Cancel Some Health-Care Benefits for Lawmakers. In tweet, president also targets insurance company payments. President Trump ratcheted up his pressure on lawmakers to pass a healthcare plan Saturday with a threat to end key ObamaCare payments and cancel some of lawmakers’ healthcare benefits.

“If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!” Trump tweeted.

–HIS THOUGHTS ON the latest White House shakeups: Priebus-Kelly and Scaramucci-Spicer

8am – E Pelosi Agrees: Blame Falls On Hillary’s Campaign (The Daily Caller) House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi seemed to take an underhanded shot at the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign Sunday, while defending the Democratic Party’s new message known as “a better deal.” “You call for higher wages, lower prescription drug costs, job training, infrastructure,” Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace said to Pelosi. “I’m not saying any of that is wrong, what I am saying is none of it is new. We’ve been hearing it for years. We heard it from the Democrats and Hillary Clinton in 2016 and you lost.” Pelosi didn’t disagree with Wallace, instead highlighting the fact that Congressional Democrats are in charge of the messaging for the first time since 2006 and that they, unlike Clinton in 2016, won.