Marc Lotter, Steven Mosher, Dr. Tony Zeiss and Rep. Steve King joined WMAL on Thursday!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C   Why Is Bill Clinton Now Fair Game?

• Liberals finally hold Bill Clinton accountable for sexual misconduct. Whenever a Republican — in this case, Alabama Senate hopeful Roy Moore — is accused of sexual harassment, his backers are sure to counter the Democratic onslaught with three little words: Remember Bill Clinton? Democrats have been foiled time and again from claiming the moral high ground on sexual misconduct thanks in large part to their decision in the 1990s to ignore, excuse and rebut the well-documented sexual transgressions of the president. After 25 years, however, some liberals finally are asking whether it’s time to deal with their Bubba problem. “It’s only taken 20 years, but the tide seems to finally be turning against Clinton,” the conservative news website Resurgent said Wednesday.
• Chelsea Handler now believes Juanita Broaddrick: Chelsea Handler @chelseahandler: I’m sorry I’m just seeing this, @atensnut. You are right and I apologize to you for not knowing your story. Democrats along with Republicans and the rest of the worlds’s political parties all need to do better and respect the firsthand accounts of victims. I believe you.

5am – D/E     President Trump touts his accomplishments in Asia and the media obsesses over his water drinking.

6am – A/B     ROY MOORE:

• Two more women describe unwanted overtures by Roy Moore at Alabama mall
• Moore falls 12 points behind Jones in new NRSC poll
• Bannon not backing down on Moore because he believes denials
• Embattled GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore’s attorney implies his signature in a girl’s high school yearbook was a forgery
• Roy Moore’s team demands access to accuser Beverly Young Nelson’s yearbook

6am – C         TAX BILL VOTE:

• Tax bill teed up for House vote. GOP leaders are confident they will pass the bill Thursday.
• Ron Johnson becomes first GOP senator to announce opposition to tax plan (Axios) – First GOP senator announces opposition to tax cuts plan. Sen. Ron Johnson (WI) says the tax plan benefits corporations more than any other kind of business, and for that reason he is opposed to the bill, the Wall Street Journal reports. “If they can pass it without me, let them. I’m not going to vote for this tax package,” Johnson told WSJ. Why it matters: Unless they get Democrats on board, Republicans can only afford to lose two GOP votes. This is one.
• DEBATE BEGINS ON THE TAX BILL (Washington Times) – The plan, which cleared the Ways and Means Committee last week on a party-line vote, slashes the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent and sets a new 25 percent rate for certain small businesses that file their taxes as individuals. It also lowers individual tax rates, nearly doubles the standard deduction, increases the child credit and adds in a new family credit as Republicans pitch it as a boon to the middle class. The plan also preserves a local property-tax deduction of up to $10,000 while doing away with deductions for other state and local income taxes — a compromise aimed at winning over blue-state Republicans who objected to the full repeal of the state and local tax break.

6am – D/E     UCLA THANK YOU:

• Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump: 17m17 minutes ago To the three UCLA basketball players I say: You’re welcome, go out and give a big Thank You to President Xi Jinping of China who made…..
• Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump !2m12 minutes ago ….your release possible and, HAVE A GREAT LIFE! Be careful, there are many pitfalls on the long and winding road of life! 1,370 replies 1,480 retweets 6,287 likes
• UCLA basketball players thanked President Trump for “helping us out,” after a Twitter nudge from the commander-in-chief who worked to get China to drop shoplifting charges against them. “I would like to thank President Trump and the United States government for the help that they’ve provided as well,” LiAngelo Ball said in a press conference on Wednesday. “To President Trump and the United States government, thank you for taking the time to intervene on our behalf,” another player, Cody Riley, said. “We really appreciate you helping us out.” “Thank you to the United States government and President Trump for your efforts to bring us home,” the third player, Jalen Hill, said. But earlier in the day, Trump was apparently hearing crickets from the trio and asked where was the gratitude. “Do you think the three UCLA Basketball Players will say thank you President Trump? They were headed for 10 years in jail!” the president tweeted.

6am – F         Mariah Carey cancels Christmas concerts on her doctor’s orders. (Fox News) – The holiday season is already off to a bad start for Mariah Carey fans. The singer has announced that she’ll be canceling several shows on orders from her doctor. Carey has been a definitive name in holiday entertainment for years, but 2017 fans were disappointed to learn that a respiratory infection is going to make it impossible for her to perform at the first several venues for her Christmas show.  The “All I Want For Christmas Is You” singer took to Twitter on Wednesday to break the bad news to fans. “Lambs! Just in time for the holiday gift-giving season, it seems I’ve received a present of my own; a lovely upper respiratory infection after last week’s flu. Bleak,” she wrote. “You know there is nothing I love more than celebrating the holidays with my festive Christmas show, but I have to take my Doctor’s orders and rest until he says I can sing on stage. Until then, unfortunately, I have to cancel the first several shows of my upcoming Christmas tour. I’m going to do all that I can so that I can see you soon!”

7am – A         INTERVIEW — MARC LOTTER – Former Vice President Mike Pence’s spokesperson

• Tax bill teed up for House vote. GOP leaders are confident they will pass the bill Thursday.

7am – B/C     INTERVIEW – STEVEN MOSHER –  head of the Population Research Institute,  an internationally recognized authority on China and author of upcoming book, “Bully of Asia: Why China’s Dream is the New Threat to World Order”

• TOPIC: Discuss President Trump’s speech yesterday highlighting his accomplishments from his Asia trip
• MOSHER: Trump represents the US far better in Asia trip than Obama ever did
• Steve’s upcoming book, “Bully of Asia: Why China’s Dream is the New Threat to World Order,” which will be published Nov. 27.

7am – D         INTERVIEW — DR. TONY ZEISS – executive director of the BIBLE MUSEUM

• Tony Zeiss is the executive director of the museum where he leads the daily operations of the facility and museum staff in Washington, D.C.
• TOPIC: PREVIEW THE OPENING OF THE BIBLE MUSEUM ON FRIDAY: The massive Museum of the Bible, scheduled to OPEN FRIDAY in Washington, has three main exhibit floors, lecture and meeting space, restaurants and a rooftop garden, a ballroom and a 472-seat theater with wraparound projection walls. The museum is located three blocks from the Capitol and was largely funded by the owners of the Hobby Lobby arts and crafts chain.

7am – E         Cards Against Humanity buys land on US-Mexico border to block Trump’s wall: (The Hill) – The company that makes Cards Against Humanity is trying to prevent President Trump’s proposed border wall from being built by purchasing a plot of vacant land along the country’s border. “Donald Trump is a preposterous golem who is afraid of Mexicans. He is so afraid that he wants to build a twenty-billion dollar wall that everyone knows will accomplish nothing,” a statement said on the website Cards Against Humanity Saves America. “So we’ve purchased a plot of vacant land on the border and retained a law firm specializing in eminent domain to make it as time-consuming and expensive as possible for the wall to get built.” The effort is part of a holiday promotion that encourages the game’s users to send in $15 in exchange for “six America-saving surprises.”

8am – A         INTERVIEW – REP. STEVE KING – R-IA – discussed DACA and the TAX VOTE.

• Tax bill teed up for House vote. GOP leaders are confident they will pass the bill Thursday.
• Steve King: Trump’s DHS Nominee Has ‘Disqualified’ Herself for Supporting ‘Anti-Rule of Law’ DACA Amnesty.
• Committee clears Trump’s pick to lead DHS. The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted Tuesday to approve Kirstjen Nielsen as the next Homeland Security secretary.
• Dems in the driver’s seat on DACA Dems in the driver’s seat on DACA

8am – B         ENTERTAINMENT NEWS:

• People names Blake Shelton its 2017 ‘Sexiest Man Alive’. NEW YORK (AP) – People magazine named Blake Shelton its Sexiest Man Alive for 2017 on Tuesday, but it took some convincing by his girlfriend Gwen Stefani to get her guy on board. The country music superstar and coach on NBC’s “The Voice” hates being the center of attention, the magazine said.
• Princes Harry and William Play Stormtroopers in New ‘Star Wars’ Film. The royals — along with Tom Hardy and singer Gary Barlow — were rumored to make an appearance in Stormtrooper outfits in the film releasing Dec. 15. In August, Star Wars: The Last Jedi star John Boyega spilled the beans that not only did Prince William and Prince Harry film scenes when they visited Pinewood Studios in April 2016, but Tom Hardy also was milling around the set at the same time. By then, Take That singer Gary Barlow had already revealed that he had shot a scene in March. Much like Daniel Craig’s famously clandestine cameo in 2015’s The Force Awakens (opposite Daisy Ridley’s Rey as she fools him with her Jedi mind-trickery), the four were rumored to be squeezing themselves into Stormtrooper outfits. Sources now tell The Hollywood Reporter that not only will the two royals, plus Hardy and Barlow, appear in The Last Jedi and as Stormtroopers, but they all appear together in the same scene. THR understands that the four will be seen guarding Boyega’s character, Finn, in an elevator, surely making it Star Wars’ most secretly star-studded sequence of all time.

8am – C         ‘Like Bond villains’: What happened when Steven Mnuchin and his wife posed with a sheet of money (Washington Post) – Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin did what just about anyone would do when presented with a newly minted sheet of American currency bearing their name and signature on Wednesday: He posed for a photo. Coming in the midst of tax-overhaul plans by President Trump and congressional Republicans that nonpartisan analysts say would disproportionately benefit corporations and wealthy individuals, among others, the photo of Mnuchin and wife Louise Linton holding up the sheet of new $1 bills became an instant meme and drew wide mockery around the Internet. The photo was snapped Wednesday by Jacquelyn Martin, a photographer for the Associated Press, as Mnuchin and Linton, along with U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza, toured the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington. The new $1 bills, with Mnuchin and Carranza’s signatures, are expected to go into circulation in December. The signatures of Treasury secretaries have appeared on U.S. currency for more than a century, and Mnuchin’s signature is more legible than that of his predecessor Jack Lew, the AP noted.

8am – D         HARASSMENT NEWS:

CONGRESS

• House to require anti-sexual harassment training. Speaker Ryan said “that the House will require anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training for all members and their staffs,” AP reports. “The announcement came just hours after a hearing in which two female lawmakers spoke about sexual misconduct involving sitting members of Congress.””The move comes days after the Senate unanimously approved a measure requiring all senators, staff and interns to be trained on preventing sexual harassment.” Lawmakers introduce “Me Too” bill targeting harassment in Congress. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced a bill Wednesday aimed at streamlining the response to sexual harassment in Congress. The “Me Too” Act calls for more transparency, an overhaul of the flawed complaint process, and better support for victims.  Key quote: “There is a serious sexual harassment problem in Congress, and too many congressional offices are not taking this problem seriously at all,” said Gillibrand.Get smart: The rules on Capitol Hill regarding sexual assault require an extensive reporting process, and several critics argue the that the system values the institution over the victims.

BILL CLINTON

• Liberals finally hold Bill Clinton accountable for sexual misconduct. Whenever a Republican — in this case, Alabama Senate hopeful Roy Moore — is accused of sexual harassment, his backers are sure to counter the Democratic onslaught with three little words: Remember Bill Clinton? Democrats have been foiled time and again from claiming the moral high ground on sexual misconduct thanks in large part to their decision in the 1990s to ignore, excuse and rebut the well-documented sexual transgressions of the president. After 25 years, however, some liberals finally are asking whether it’s time to deal with their Bubba problem. “It’s only taken 20 years, but the tide seems to finally be turning against Clinton,” the conservative news website Resurgent said Wednesday.
• Chelsea Handler now believes Juanita Broaddrick: Chelsea Handler @chelseahandler I’m sorry I’m just seeing this, @atensnut. You are right and I apologize to you for not knowing your story. Democrats along with Republicans and the rest of the worlds’s political parties all need to do better and respect the firsthand accounts of victims. I believe you.

ROY MOORE

• Two more women describe unwanted overtures by Roy Moore at Alabama mall
• Moore falls 12 points behind Jones in new NRSC poll
• Bannon not backing down on Moore because he believes denials
• Embattled GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore’s attorney implies his signature in a girl’s high school yearbook was a forgery
• Roy Moore’s team demands access to accuser Beverly Young Nelson’s yearbook

8am – E         UCLA basketball players thanked President Trump for “helping us out,” after a Twitter nudge from the commander-in-chief who worked to get China to drop shoplifting charges against them. “I would like to thank President Trump and the United States government for the help that they’ve provided as well,” LiAngelo Ball said in a press conference on Wednesday.