Cal Thomas, Ken Cuccinelli and Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer joined WMAL on Wednesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C RECAP OUR BROADCAST AT THE WHITE HOUSE

5am – D/E     TRUMP / FALLEN SOLDIER CONTROVERSY:

• White House says Pres. Trump has spoken to the families of all four soldiers killed in an ambush Oct. 4 in Niger. (TPM) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday spoke to the families of four Green Berets killed in Niger earlier in October, according to the White House, almost two weeks after the soldiers died. Trump on Monday acknowledged that he had not yet contacted the families of the soldiers who died in the attack on Oct. 4, but said he had “written them personal letters.” “They’ve been sent, or they’re going out tonight,” Trump said. “I’m going to be calling them. I want a little time to pass.” He also accused former President Barack Obama and other former presidents of not making calls to Gold Star families.
• Congresswoman says Trump told widow of fallen soldier ‘he knew what he  signed up for’  (CNN)President Donald Trump told the widow of a US serviceman killed in the ambush in Niger that “he knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt,” according to Rep. Frederica Wilson. The body of Sgt. La David Johnson was returned home to the Miami area late Tuesday afternoon, with the plane receiving a water cannon salute as it arrived near the gate. The call from the President to Johnson’s widow came shortly before Johnson’s casket arrival, Wilson, a Florida Democrat, said on “CNN Tonight with Don Lemon” Tuesday.

6am – A/B/C NFL NEWS:

• N.F.L. Owners Won’t Penalize Players for Kneeling During Anthem
• NFL Announces Plans to ‘Promote Social Change and Address Inequalities in Our Communities’
• COLIN KAEPERNICK UNSURPRISINGLY WASN’T INVITED TO THE NFL’S ANTHEM MEETING
• Kaepernick’s attorney on NFL collusion case: We will have a smoking gun

6am – D         INTERVIEW – CAL THOMAS – syndicated columnist – discussed the latest on health care and tax reform.

• TAX REFORM: President Trump gave tax reform speech at Heritage event last night and did big push on talk radio yesterday
• HEALTH CARE: Trump promises GOP will return to Obamacare repeal after tax reform

6am – E         CLINTON / RUSSIA:

• Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 19m19 minutes ago: Wow, FBI confirms report that James Comey drafted letter exonerating  Crooked Hillary Clinton long before investigation was complete. Many..
• Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 12m12 minutes ago: …people not interviewed, including Clinton herself. Comey stated under oath that he didn’t do this-obviously a fix? Where is Justice Dept?
• REPORT: FBI Sat On Evidence Tying The Clintons To A Russians Bribery Scheme: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reportedly buried evidence tying the Clinton Foundation to a Russian bribery scheme underway as the Obama administration decided whether or not to give Moscow control over U.S. uranium reserves. FBI officials collected evidence of a Russian bribery scheme that started as early as 2009, including “an eyewitness account — backed by documents — indicating Russian nuclear officials had routed millions of dollars to the U.S. designed to benefit former President Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation during the time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served on a government body that provided a favorable decision to Moscow,” The Hill reported Tuesday.
• Harris Poll Chairman: Russia Ads Had Little Effect on Election. Mark Penn, the chairman of the Harris Poll and former chief strategist for Bill and Hillary Clinton’s campaigns, said that Russia buying ads did little to influence the 2016 presidential election. “We have got to be careful about fake news,” Penn said Tuesday on “Fox & Friends.” Penn noted the time frame of a majority of the ads. “Fifty-six percent were after the election. Maybe somebody should have told them when the election was,” Penn said. “Maybe half” of the ads were targeted to the swing states, and most did not mention candidates, Harris said. “We can’t over-exaggerate the effect here,” Penn said, noting the number of supporters of President Barack Obama who voted for President Donald Trump in the election. “It’s clear this was no devilishly effective plot,” Penn wrote in a Sunday opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal discussing the Russian ads.

6am – F         We won’t give back a cent of Harvey Weinstein’s tainted $250,000 says the Clinton Foundation – we’ve spent accused rapist’s every cent claims group run by Bill and Chelsea. (Daily Mail) — The Clinton Foundation told DailyMail.com it will not return as much as $250,000 in donations from Harvey Weinstein, saying on Sunday the money had already been spent on the organization’s programs and used for charitable purposes. The foundation’s decision comes as politicians and philanthropic groups grapple with whether to return donations they have received from Weinstein, after numerous women stepped forward this month to accuse the movie mogul of sexual assault, harassment and rape. Over a dozen Democratic politicians have said they will give back or donate Weinstein’s campaign contributions to charity. The Clinton Foundation faced questions about Weinstein’s funding after Hillary Clinton said last week she would re-gift his campaign donations to charity.

7am – A         FALLEN SOLDIER CONTROVERSY:

• White House says Pres. Trump has spoken to the families of all four soldiers killed in an ambush Oct. 4 in Niger. (TPM) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday spoke to the families of four Green Berets killed in Niger earlier in October, according to the White House, almost two weeks after the soldiers died. Trump on Monday acknowledged that he had not yet contacted the families of the soldiers who died in the attack on Oct. 4, but said he had “written them personal letters.” “They’ve been sent, or they’re going out tonight,” Trump said. “I’m going to be calling them. I want a little time to pass.” He also accused former President Barack Obama and other former presidents of not making calls to Gold Star families.
• Congresswoman says Trump told widow of fallen soldier ‘he knew what he signed up for’  (CNN)President Donald Trump told the widow of a US serviceman killed in the ambush in Niger that “he knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt,” according to Rep. Frederica Wilson. The body of Sgt. La David Johnson was returned home to the Miami area late Tuesday afternoon, with the plane receiving a water cannon salute as it arrived near the gate. The call from the President to Johnson’s widow came shortly before Johnson’s casket arrival, Wilson, a Florida Democrat, said on “CNN Tonight with Don Lemon” Tuesday. “Basically he said, ‘Well, I guess he knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt,’ ” Wilson said, adding that she listened to part of the call on speaker phone while in a vehicle with the family.

7am – B         #MeToo campaign shines light on those sexually harassed or assaulted. A social media campaign highlighting and empowering victims of sexual assault and abuse has taken over Twitter and other social media platforms since it began Sunday afternoon. Actress Alyssa Milano was one of the first to share the call for a “me too” hashtag, writing, “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.” She shared a note from a friend, which read, “If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote, ‘Me too’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.”

7am – C         DC bill proposed to ban gas-powered leaf blowers. WASHINGTON – Fall is in full force and that means leaves are falling all over the area. However, leaf blowers can also be heard all over too.  Now, a D.C. councilmember said she has heard so many complaints over the years that she wants to ban gas-powered leaf blowers. Several years ago, D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh proposed a bill that would phase out gas-powered blowers by 2022, leaving people to use only electric or battery-powered equipment that would produce less noise and pollution. But her proposal has gone nowhere. “It’s not moving in the council because it’s not in my committee, and committee chairs, they decide what moves and it hasn’t been moving,” Cheh said. However, there is support out there for this legislation. A group called Quiet Clean D.C. are against gas-powered blowers and shifting to battery-powered leaf blowers would result in less pollution, less noise and less health risk for workers and residents. But George Seen said he prefers his gas-powered blower.

7am – D Ivanka Trump Says She Had a ‘Punk Phase’ & Was ‘Really Into Nirvana.’ “My wardrobe consisted of ripped corduroy jeans and flannel shirts.” Ivanka Trump, the first daughter and current presidential advisor, would like the world to know that she had what she calls a “punk phase.” That, in any case, is what she writes in her mother Ivana Trump’s new memoir Raising Trump, as The Cut points out. She even claims that this phase turned out to be foundational — not because she internalized any sort of ideas or philosophies but because it indirectly led her to rock the current shade of blonde that she uses for her hair. Quoth Ivanka: “During my punk phase in the nineties, I was really into Nirvana. My wardrobe consisted of ripped corduroy jeans and flannel shirts. One day after school, I dyed my hair blue. Mom wasn’t a fan of this decision. She took one look at me and immediately went out to the nearest drugstore to buy a $10 box of Nice ‘N Easy. That night, she forced me to dye my hair back to blond. The color she picked out was actually three shades lighter than my natural color… and I have never looked back!” Trump also writes that she was a huge Nirvana fan and that she was inconsolable after Kurt Cobain’s suicide: “It wasn’t too long after this that Kurt Cobain, the singer, songwriter, and guitarist for Nirvana, committed suicide. It was a shock and I was distraught. Mom had no idea who Kurt Cobain was, and she sympathized only so much. After twenty-four hours of my crying inconsolably in my room, alone — major melodrama — Mom had to pull me out of there to go down to dinner.”

7am – E  Mandalay Bay security guard resurfaces on Ellen in LA for his first interview. Hero Mandalay Bay security guard resurfaces on Ellen in LA for his first interview after he vanished hours before Hannity appearance and MGM said he would tell his story when he was ready. (Daily Mail) —  The hero Mandalay Bay security guard who vanished hours before he was due to give interviews with major TV networks will now break his silence on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Jesus Campos, who was shot and wounded in the Las Vegas massacre, disappeared from the public eye last week ahead of several TV interviews, including with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.  But DeGeneres has now confirmed that the security guard sat down with her for a pre-taped interview that is set to air on Wednesday.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – KEN CUCCINELLI – President, Senate Conservatives Fund – discussed the latest on health care and tax reform.

• TAX REFORM: President Trump gave tax reform speech at Heritage event last night and did big push on talk radio yesterday. LAST WEEK: Conservative groups call for Mitch McConnell’s ouster: ‘You have done nothing.’  
• HEALTH CARE: Trump promises GOP will return to Obamacare repeal after tax reform

8am – B/C   INTERVIEW – LT. COL. TONY SHAFFER on ISIS giving up in RAQQA – discussed ISIS and the fallen soldier phone call controversy.

• ISIS Capital Under ‘Full Control’ Of US-Backed Forces. U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) claim to have full control over the Islamic State’s capital of Raqqa, according to a Tuesday statement. The U.S.-led, anti-ISIS coalition Operation Inherent Resolve hasn’t made the same claim, saying approximately 90 percent of the city was under SDF control. ISIS captured the city in January 2014 in the midst of the bloody Syrian civil war and heavily fortified the city. The city was used to plot external attacks on the West, to govern the territory under control of the terrorist group, and was the site of dozens of grisly execution videos. Near the end, however, ISIS moved most of its strategic assets out of the city and defended it for its symbolic value.
• Trump takes credit for ISIS ‘giving up.’ President Donald Trump claimed credit Tuesday morning for successes in the ongoing campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq, telling a radio host that he had “totally changed the attitudes of the military.” “It had to do with the people I put in and it had to do with rules of engagement. We weren’t fighting to win. We were fighting to be politically correct,” Trump told radio host Chris Plante, a seeming dig at the Obama administration. The president’s remark came on the same day that U.S. allies in Syria claimed that they had pushed Islamic State militants from Raqqa, the capital of their self-described caliphate — although the Pentagon separately cautioned that it doesn’t yet consider the city to have been fully liberated.
• Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 1h1 hour ago: Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!
• White House says Pres. Trump has spoken to the families of all four soldiers killed in an ambush Oct. 4 in Niger. (TPM) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday spoke to the families of four Green Berets killed in Niger earlier in October, according to the White House, almost two weeks after the soldiers died. Trump on Monday acknowledged that he had not yet contacted the families of the soldiers who died in the attack on Oct. 4, but said he had “written them personal letters.” “They’ve been sent, or they’re going out tonight,” Trump said. “I’m going to be calling them. I want a little time to pass.” He also accused former President Barack Obama and other former presidents of not making calls to Gold Star families.
• Congresswoman says Trump told widow of fallen soldier ‘he knew what he signed up for’  (CNN)President Donald Trump told the widow of a US serviceman killed in the ambush in Niger that “he knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt,” according to Rep. Frederica Wilson.

8am – D         Congressman To McConnell: End The Filibuster And Save Babies — Or Find A New Job. (Daily Caller) – Congressman Trent Franks wants his 20-week abortion ban to get a Senate vote. But to get there, he needs Mitch McConnell to end the filibuster — or find another line of work. The House passed the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act — or “Micah’s Law” — on October 3rd. If it becomes law, abortions would be banned after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. “We’re going to protect unborn children once they’ve reached the beginning of the sixth month, because that’s clearly at a time when there’s no real medical authority that would say that they don’t feel pain,” Franks told The Daily Caller in an exclusive “Newsmakers” interview. “They do indeed feel pain at that age.” Currently, the United States is one of only seven countries, including North Korea and China, which permits elective abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The bill now awaits a Senate vote, but Franks says there’s that massive roadblock in the way — the filibuster.

McCONNELL ANNOUNCES THAT THE 20 WEEK ABORTION BAN HAS THE FULL BACKING OF THE SENATE: Mitch McConnell announced that the 20-week abortion ban has the Senate’s full support following Monday’s press conference on tax reform.

LATE TERM ABORTION CLINIC OPENS IN BETHESDA: A controversial abortion provider plans to start a Bethesda office Tuesday, and abortion opponents have planned a protest for opening day. AbortionClinics.org advertised on its website that it plans to start offering “advanced gestation abortion care” in Bethesda, in addition to an office it currently runs in Nebraska.

8am – E         BAD FAMILIES:

• Mom who taped toddler to wall pleads guilty. (Fox News) — A mother in Ohio, who was arrested after she taped her 2-year-old son to the wall so she could clean, reportedly pleaded guilty to attempted child endangering on Monday. Shayla D. Rudolph, 19, could face up to 18 months in jail following the incident at her home, which she streamed on Facebook Live, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Rudolph posted a video on Jan. 1 that showed her son stuck to the wall, with packaging tape over his head and arms.  He could be heard crying in the background despite tape also covering his mouth. The mother spoke to her Facebook audience saying, “You can’t clean without them running around, tearing up? Tape them to the wall,” she said, according to The Dispatch. “You can’t cook or none of that because they’re running around? Tape them to the wall.” She also reportedly referred to herself as “the best mommy in the whole world” before threatening her son to “sit still” or she’d get more tape.
• 325-pound woman charged with killing girl by sitting on her. PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — A 325-pound (150-kilogram) Florida woman is charged with killing her 9-year-old cousin by sitting on the child as punishment. Veronica Green Posey, 64, was arrested and charged with homicide and cruelty toward a child, The Pensacola News Journal reported. The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office report identified Posey as the girl’s cousin. Paramedics and deputies responded to the family’s Pensacola home following a 911 call Saturday. Posey told deputies she sat on Dericka Lindsay as discipline “for being out of control.” During the punishment, Dericka told Posey and two other adult relatives, who are identified in the report as the girl’s parents, that she couldn’t breathe. When Posey got up, Dericka wasn’t breathing. Authorities said Posey called 911 and started CPR on the child. The arrest report said Grace Joan Smith, 69, and James Edmund Smith, are charged with child neglect.