Peter Morici, Joe diGenova, Peter Navarro, and Christian Toto joined WMAL on Monday!

Mornings on the Mall

Monday, March 5, 2018

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

5am – A/B/C Inside an accused school shooter’s mind: A plot to kill ‘50 or 60. If I get lucky maybe 150.’ (Washington Post) — Two days later, he debated whether he should attack his middle school, from which he’d been expelled, or his elementary school, just up the road. He decided on Townville Elementary because it was closer and had no armed security. Jesse, who considered himself the victim of an unfair world, announced online that he would kill kids he didn’t know and had never met “before they bullie the nobodys.” “Itll be like shooting fish in a barrel,” he wrote his friends, whose identities remain unclear, along with whether the FBI has tracked any of them down. The agency declined to comment, citing Jesse’s open case. In the chat, he said he had researched police response times for the area and found that it would take them 15 minutes to get there, maybe 45 for SWAT.

5am – D         W.Va . teachers unions say they will remain on strike after the state Senate voted to cut the 5 percent pay raise they negotiated with governor. (AP News) — Unions representing West Virginia teachers and service personnel say they will stay out on strike after the state Senate voted to cut the 5 percent pay raise they had negotiated with the governor. A joint legislative committee has been formed to address differences in the pay raise bills of the state Senate and House. In a joint statement Saturday, the American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia, West Virginia Education Association and the School Service Personnel Association said Senate President Mitch Carmichael and his leadership team had left them with no choice after they voted to reduce the raise to 4 percent. The statement said all public schools in West Virginia would be closed again Monday “and remain closed until the Senate honors the agreement that was made.” Teachers walked out of classrooms statewide starting Feb. 22. The Republican-controlled Senate voted Saturday evening to approve the lower pay raise, bucking teachers, Republican Gov. Jim Justice and the Republican-controlled House, which approved the 5 percent raise Wednesday. House members later Saturday wouldn’t agree to the Senate’s move, and the two bills will now have to be reconciled by a legislative conference committee.

5am – E         Mueller Update:

• Mueller team looking into possible United Arab Emirates money into Trump campaign (Fox News) — Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team is now purportedly looking into whether the United Arab Emirates, with perhaps help from a top adviser, tried to gain political influence by putting money into Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign — a tack that would indicate Mueller’s investigation continues to expand beyond whether campaign officials colluded with Russia. Mueller’s investigators in recent weeks have questioned the adviser, Lebanese-American businessman George Nader, and asked witnesses for information about whether the UAE tried to buy political influence by giving money to the Trump campaign, according to The New York Times. Nader has been a frequent visitor to the Trump White House. And the president has praised the UAE for the Persian Gulf nation’s efforts to work with the United States on economic issues and squashing terrorism in the region, thanking Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed for his efforts just last week, according to the White House.
• Mueller subpoenas witness for documents tied to Trump, campaign associates: reports (The Hill) — Special counsel Robert Mueller has requested various documents tied to President Trump and a number of his associates, according to multiple reports. Mueller has subpoenaed a witness for all communications between that person and a number of people, including Trump, with the requested documents including emails, work documents, text messages, telephone logs and other records spanning back to November of 2015, NBC News reported. Mueller wants communications between the witness and Hope Hicks, Stephen Bannon, Roger Stone, Carter Page, Michael Cohen, Keith Schiller, Rick Gates, Corey Lewandowski and Paul Manafort, according to Axios, which first reported on the subpoena.

6am – A         INTERVIEW – PETER MORICI – University of Maryland economist – discussed the President’s proposed steel tariffs

6am – B         Trump’s top jokes from the Gridiron dinner (CNN) — When President Donald Trump announced he would attend the annual Gridiron Club Dinner last month, many wondered whether he would be able to joke about sensitive subjects like himself and his administration. The dinner, hosted in Washington and attended by hundreds of journalists, is similar to the White House Corespondents’ Dinner in that it is replete with roasts and laughter. But for a president who rarely provides the country with laughs — and who opted out of attending both dinners last year — the spotlight on his jokes at the dinner was all the brighter. Add to the mix his administration’s struggles in some key policy areas, Trump’s harshly critical tweets, and an ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election that has inched closer to Trump’s orbit, and one question jumps out: Does the President ever stop to joke about it all? Indeed he does, as only Trump can. “My staff was concerned that I couldn’t do self-deprecating humor,” Trump said. “And I told them not to worry, nobody does self-deprecating humor better than I do.” Before launching into a litany of humorous jokes at both his and his administration’s expense, Trump told the room of journalists that even Sen. Orrin Hatch — the Utah Republican whose over-the-top praise of Trump after the GOP passed its tax cut bill garnered him some notice — even agreed that he is the best at self-deprecating humor. “Orrin said that ‘Donald Trump is the best at self-deprecation in the history of America. Better than Washington and better than Lincoln,'” Trump said.

6am – C         Cherry blossoms to reach peak early, if weather permits (WTOP) — The National Park Service predicts the famous cherry blossoms will reach peak bloom in D.C. in about two weeks. The robust display of pretty pink petals are expected to dot the Tidal Basin between March 17 and March 20, if the weather permits. The weather forecast for the upcoming week is in line with monthly weather predictions, and “what things look like right now will stay pretty steady,” said Michael Stachowicz, a National Park Service horticulturalist who makes the annual peak bloom prediction. Typically, the peak bloom date is when 70 percent of the Yoshino cherry blossoms are open. Next week, the buds will progress to this stage if everything goes as expected.

6am – D/E/F  Highlights of the Oscars: THE ‘SHAPE’ OF A POSITIVELY POLITICAL OSCARS: “The Shape of Water” took home the award for best picture at the 2018 Academy Awards on Sunday as host Jimmy Kimmel and some stars brought things to a political place during Hollywood’s biggest award show of the year with jabs at President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and even Fox News viewers … Despite calling for a show filled with positivity, both the host and stars like Common, Kumail Nanjiani and Lupita Nyong’o made the show political. Kimmel began with an old-timey announcement in which he listed the stars in attendance, making his first political jab with “Black Panther” actress Lupita Nyong’o. “The stunning Lupita Nyong’o, she was born in Mexico and raised in Kenya,” Kimmel said at the top of the show. “Let the tweetstorm from the president’s toilet begin!” From there, the host launched into a positive monologue that poked fun at the whirlwind year in Hollywood, which saw the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements dominate the headlines and previous award shows. However, other stars took up Kimmel’s political mantel. Kumail Nanjiani and Nyong’o shared a message of support to Dreamers ahead of announcing “Shape of Water” as the winner of best production design. Common and Andra Day performed  “Stand Up for Something” as an ode to American activism with politically charged lyrics about topics like the NRA, the Parkland shooting, immigration, feminism and Puerto Rico.

7am – A          INTERVIEW – JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney to the District of Columbia – discussed the latest on the Mueller investigation and President Trump making jokes at the Gridiron Dinner.

7am – B         Alec Baldwin returns to “SNL” as confused Trump flip-flopping on gun-control policy (The Hill) — Actor Alec Baldwin returned to “Saturday Night Live” this week, portraying President Trump sharing his varying policy ideas on gun control. This week’s “SNL” cold open parodied the bipartisan gun control meeting between Trump and lawmakers this week. The meeting came after 17 people were killed and 14 others were injured in a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., last month.

7am – C         Power Outage Delays:

• All Prince William and Fauquier schools are now on a two-hour delay today
• 7 Fairfax County schools remain without power Sunday night and will be closed on Monday, March 5. Meanwhile, all schools in Prince William County will open on a 2-hour delay after power was restored to two remaining schools on Sunday. (WUSA9)
• Almost 50,000 still without power in DC region (WTOP) — Though utility crews have been working around the clock since Friday’s storm brought record winds to the area, almost 50,000 people in the D.C. region are still without power as of Monday morning — and some might not get service restored until mid-week.

7am – D         INTERVIEW – PETER NAVARRO – Director of the White House National Trade Council – discussed President Trump’s proposed steel and aluminum trade tariffs

7am – E         STATUE OF MARION BARRY IS UNVEILED (Daily Mail) — The eight-foot statue by sculptor Steven Weitzman now looms over Pennsylvania Avenue just blocks from the White House. Barry is the first locally-elected official to be honored with a statue in the city. Marion Barry was known to many in Washington, DC, as a man who advocated for the city’s poor, but the country knew him as the controversial mayor who served prison time after he was caught on video smoking crack cocaine in a 1990 FBI sting. But in DC, Barry’s legacy is far more complicated and emotional. The man who dominated a generation of Washington politics is still adored by many as a champion of civil rights and advocate for the city’s downtrodden. On Saturday, these complexities were put on display after a bronze statue of Barry, who died in 2014, was unveiled outside the Washington City Council building. The eight-foot statue by sculptor Steven Weitzman now looms over Pennsylvania Avenue just blocks from the White House. Barry is the first locally-elected official to be honored with a statue in the city.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – CHRISTIAN TOTO – Film Critic, HollywoodInToto.com and Host of “The Hollywood in Toto” podcast  (available on iTunes) – discussed politics in the Oscars, and gave an overview of the Oscars

8am – B/C     More discussion about Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue at the Oscars

8am – D         More News on West VA Teacher Strike

8am – E         Europe News:

• Italian election: Exit polls show right-wing, populist parties ahead but no clear winner (Fox News) — Italy’s national elections Sunday looked set to result in strong support for right-wing and populist parties, according to initial exit polls, but not enough to crown a clear winner — suggesting that a hung parliament and lengthy negotiations are the most likely immediate outcome. Italian voters cast their ballots on Sunday to elect a new government, with final opinion polls ahead of the vote pointing to one of the most unpredictable elections in decades and a high likelihood of a hung parliament. The anti-establishment 5Star Movement led by Luigi Di Maio — projected to win around 30 percent of the vote — is on track to become the single largest party, but is likely to fall short of the votes it needs to rule alone. Media mogul Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right coalition, meanwhile — which includes Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, plus the Northern League of Matteo Salvini and the right-wing Brothers of Italy — is predicted to get between 35 and 38 percent of the vote, which could be enough for a razor-thin majority.
• NYT Gets Around To Reporting On Sweden’s Immigrant Crime Problem, Leaves Out A Few Key Details (Daily Caller) – The New York Times published a report Sunday on Sweden’s growing problem with immigrant gangs — more than a year after the paper chided President Donald Trump for calling attention to the same worrisome development. Entitled “Hand Grenades and Gang Violence Rattle Sweden’s Middle Class,” the report examines how weapons of war and clan-like violence have accompanied an influx of immigrants from certain parts of Europe and the greater Middle East. The story centers on the death of a man in the town of Varby Gard, a once tranquil Stockholm suburb that is now the home base of an increasingly destructive immigrant gang. He was killed in early January when he picked up a mysterious object lying in the street that turned out to be a live hand grenade. The device exploded when he touched it, killing him instantly. It was one of more than 100 incidents involving military-grade explosives in the Stockholm metro area that police have attributed to an “arms race” among immigrant gangs, reports TheNYT. There were only a few such incidents in Sweden until 2014, but since then, the number of explosions and seizures of grenades has shot up and remained worryingly high.