Eli Lake, Michael Auslin, Peter Doocy, Matt Schlapp, Mark Krikorian and Sara Carter joined WMAL on Tuesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C Mueller Has Dozens of Inquiries for Trump in Broad Quest on Russia Ties and Obstruction. (NY Times) — WASHINGTON — Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russia’s election interference, has at least four dozen questions on an exhaustive array of subjects he wants to ask President Trump to learn more about his ties to Russia and determine whether he obstructed the inquiry itself, according to a list of the questions obtained by The New York Times. The open-ended queries appear to be an attempt to penetrate the president’s thinking, to get at the motivation behind some of his most combative Twitter posts and to examine his relationships with his family and his closest advisers. They deal chiefly with the president’s high-profile firings of the F.B.I. director and his first national security adviser, his treatment of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and a 2016 Trump Tower meeting between campaign officials and Russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton.

5am – D/E     Netanyahu says Iran ‘brazening lying’ after signing nuclear deal, moved weapons to a secret location.

6am – A/B/C Police identify, charge ‘porch pirate’ caught stealing Amazon box from Rockville townhome. ROCKVILLE, Md. (ABC7) — A mother of a newborn child is accused of stealing an Amazon package containing body lotion and women’s clothing from a home in Rockville’s King Farm neighborhood. “To me it was total astonishment, watching the nerve of this person do what she did,” theft victim Patty Edwards told ABC7 News while sitting in her living room Thursday. On Monday, Edwards returned home from work, expecting delivery of an Amazon package, but nothing was there. Edwards said she did not think much of it. After all, she averages around one package per week from the online retail giant. By Tuesday, Edwards logged into her Amazon Prime account, only to discover the package had in fact been delivered at precisely 4:01 p.m. Monday. The tracking registry included a picture of the parcel sitting on Edwards front stoop. Edwards had recently purchased a basic plug in home security camera. It cost around $35. She placed it in a sidelight window alongside the front door. Hoping to get to the bottom of the growing mystery, Edwards’ boyfriend accessed the camera’s online video archive and was mesmerized by what he found.

Kevin Lewis

‏ @ABC7Kevin

13h13 hours ago

NEW: Cops say Rockville porch pirate *kept* stealing 📦s after being charged + profiled on @ABC7News

• April 2nd – theft one
• April 4th – theft two
• April 4th – Rockville PD file charge
• April 5th – ABC7 story airs
• April 9th – theft three
• April 17th – MoCo PD file charges

 6am – D         INTERVIEW – ELI LAKE – Columnist for Bloomberg View – discussed Netanyahu’s announcement of Iran’s nuclear program

• Netanyahu says Iran ‘brazening lying’ after signing nuclear deal, moved weapons to a secret location (Fox News) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed new “dramatic” intelligence Monday which he claimed shows Iran is “brazenly lying” about its nuclear weapons program and shows the country is not complying with the vaunted nuclear deal it signed in 2015. The information was obtained within the past 10 days, Israeli officials told Fox News. Netanyahu said the “half a ton” of files were moved to a “highly secret” location in Tehran after the deal was signed, and contained materials spread over 55,000 pages and 55,000 files on 183 CD’s. “These files conclusively prove that Iran is brazenly lying when it says it never had a nuclear weapons program,” he said. Netanyahu displayed what he said was “an exact copy” of the original materials, which are now in a “very safe place” and include incriminating documents, charts, presentations, blueprints, and photos.

• Israel Exposes Iran’s Nuclear Lies, and the Limits of U.S. Intelligence. Advocating for a pact in 2015, John Kerry said American agencies had “absolute knowledge” about the regime’s past nuclear efforts. Oops. (Bloomberg / Eli Lake) — Since Iran and six world powers reached an agreement to pause Iran’s enrichment of uranium and allow weapons inspectors into declared facilities, Israel’s prime minister has argued the deal would give Iran a glide path to a nuclear weapon. On Monday he announced that he had proof. If the West can verify the new Israeli intelligence that Iran had preserved its design and research work into a nuclear weapon, that’s a big deal — particularly now in light of the May 12 deadline that President Donald Trump has imposed on U.S. negotiations with Europe to come up with fixes to strengthen the nuclear bargain. The trove of data would be a blow not only to Iran’s credibility but also to the reputation of American intelligence gathering.

6am – E         MCCAIN BOOK:

• McCain torches Trump in new book: He prioritizes appearance of toughness over American values.  (The Hill) — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) lashes out at President Trump in a new book, saying the president seems to care more about “the appearance of toughness” than American values. “He has declined to distinguish the actions of our government from the crimes of despotic ones,” McCain writes of Trump in a newly released excerpt from his new book, “The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations.” “The appearance of toughness, or a reality show facsimile of toughness, seems to matter more than any of our values,” he continues. McCain, 81, also writes that this will be his last term in the Senate, a fact he said a brain cancer diagnosis forced him to admit last year. “I’m freer than colleagues who will face the voters again. I can speak my mind without fearing the consequences  And I can vote my conscience without worry,” McCain writes. “I don’t think I’m free to disregard my constituents’ wishes, far from it. I don’t feel excused from keeping pledges I made. Nor do I wish to harm my party’s prospects. But I do feel a pressing responsibility to give Americans my best judgment.”
• McCain in book excerpt: ‘This is my last term’: “If I hadn’t admitted that to myself before this summer, a stage 4 cancer diagnosis acts as ungentle persuasion,” McCain continues. “I’m freer than colleagues who will face the voters again. I can speak my mind without fearing the consequences much. And I can vote my conscience without worry. I don’t think I’m free to disregard my constituents’ wishes, far from it. I don’t feel excused from keeping pledges I made. Nor do I wish to harm my party’s prospects. But I do feel a pressing responsibility to give Americans my best judgment.”

6am – F         CARAVAN NEWS:

• Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump: The migrant ‘caravan’ that is openly defying our border shows how weak & ineffective U.S. immigration laws are. Yet Democrats like Jon Tester continue to support the open borders agenda – Tester even voted to protect Sanctuary Cities. We need lawmakers who will put America First.
• Nearly 200 caravan migrants to seek asylum, in direct challenge to Trump administration  via @foxnews // Almost 200 migrants parked at the nation’s busiest border crossing are planning to seek asylum in the U.S. following their dramatic journey in a caravan through Mexico, setting up a showdown with the Trump administration over immigration and asylum policy. Eight women and children entered a border facility on Monday to formally file asylum papers, with the rest to follow soon, organizers said. Immigration officials confirmed the facility had begun “processing undocumented arrivals again.” The caravan, which reached the border with San Diego after an approximately 2,000-mile trip, once included more than a thousand people. It is now down to a few hundred. The migrants’ decision to seek asylum comes just one day after U.S. officials closed the border facility there because it was at capacity.
• U.S. agency responsible for handling surge of migrants arriving by caravan at U.S.-Mexico border has no plans to increase capacity to process and temporarily house the roughly 150 Central Americans waiting in Tijuana, three U.S. officials tell @NBCNews.

 

7am – A         INTERVIEW – MICHAEL AUSLIN – the Fellow in Contemporary Asia at the Hoover Institution and latest book is “The End of the Asian Century: War, Stagnation, and the Risks to the World’s Most Dynamic Region” – discussed the talks about potential meeting place between Kim Jong-Un and President Trump.

• Kim Jong-un ‘agrees to meet Trump at the same spot as last week’s peace summit’
• “We’re looking at various countries, including Singapore. We are also talking about the possibility of the DMZ. Peace House and there’s something that I thought was intriguing,” Trump said on possible locations for North Korea meeting.
• Lindsey Graham: Liberals would “kill themselves” if Trump won Nobel Prize

7am – B         JOHN KELLY RUMORS:

• White House chief of staff John Kelly slams report he called President Trump
• John Kelly on ‘solid footing’ with Trump despite leaks saying he’s on thin ice  (Washington Examiner) — President Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly is on “solid footing” inside the West Wing and has no plans to leave unless he’s asked to, a senior White House official said Monday after NBC reported that Kelly has repeatedly called the president an “idiot” and plans to make his exit in July. “He’s on solid footing, but if the president asked him to move on, he would say, ‘I’ve served my country three times now,’ move on, and be perfectly happy,” Zach Fuentes, a special assistant to Trump and Kelly’s deputy, told the Washington Examiner in an interview Monday evening. Fuentes, who is present for “every single one of [Kelly’s] meetings” with the president, lawmakers, and other White House officials, said the chief of staff was with Trump on Monday afternoon when the NBC story broke and has full confidence in his relationship with the president.
• Chief of Staff John Kelly calls ‘BS’ on report he called Trump an idiot via @latimes / White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly is calling a report that he called President Trump an idiot “total BS.” Kelly, in a statement, says he and Trump have “an incredibly candid and strong relationship.” He adds, “He always knows where I stand and he and I both know this story is total BS.” NBC reported Monday that Kelly has criticized Trump’s knowledge on issues like immigration and cast himself as a protecting the country from Trump’s impulses. The report, citing current and former White House staffers, said Trump was growing tired of Kelly’s attitude.
• Sarah Huckabee Sanders sends along the following from John Kelly: “I spend more time with the President than anyone else and we have an incredibly candid and strong relationship. He always knows where I stand and he and I both know this story is total BS. I am committed to the President, his agenda, and our country. This is another pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from the administration’s many successes.” –Chief of Staff John Kelly
• John Kelly told aides women are “more emotional” than men: report

7am – C         DANCING WITH THE STARS

• Adam Rippon, Mirai Nagasu and Josh Norman rule the first night of all-athletes Dancing with the Stars. And somehow Tonya Harding advances. The opening night of the special all-athletes Dancing With the Stars season was all about the Olympic figure skaters.
• Tonya Harding sobs after ‘DWTS’ premiere, ‘I haven’t felt this alive in so long’
• Redskins’ Josh Norman Brings The Sizzle And Sex Appeal To ‘DWTS’

7am – D         INTERVIEW – PETER DOOCY – Reporter, Fox News Channel – previewed the West Virginia debate tonight.

• “Top tier” candidates ahead of the MAY 8 PRIMARY: Don Blankenship, Evan Jenkins and Patrick Morrisey. These three candidates will face off in a Fox News debate on May 1.
• Fox News Hosting Debate in West Virginia GOP Senate Primary. MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Fox News Channel is kicking off its midterm election series with a debate in the West Virginia Republican Senate primary race. The network said in a news release that candidates who reach a threshold of 10 percent in a Fox News poll being released this week will be invited to the May 1 debate. Co-moderators for the debate in Morgantown will be chief political anchor Bret Baier and anchor Martha MacCallum. The network will also host with the Florida GOP a Republican primary debate in Florida’s governor’s race on June 28.

7am – E         KANYE NEWS:

• Kanye’s Tweet About Freeing The Slaves Will Enrage Democrats. Kanye West has embarked on a weeklong journey toward truth and enlightenment. That’s at least according to his Twitter feed. And in today’s most recent installment, West tweeted out a screenshot of a conversation he’s been having with someone named Steve. “Abe Lincoln freed and protected the slaves and he was republican,” Kanye’s friend texted him. “Republicans were the ones who’s helped black people. democrats protected the rights of the slave owners in the south.” West has been heavily criticized by high profile celebrities and late night talk show hosts. South African national Trevor Noah quickly turned on Kanye, claiming the rapper must have “realized he’s too rich to not be Republican.” West’s close friend and entertainment peer John Legend urged Kanye to “reconsider aligning” his thoughts  with popular liberal ideology. But it doesn’t look like these tactics are working.

• KANYE MET W/CHARLIE KIRK & CANDACE OWENS: Kanye West has been spotted meeting with conservative commentators Candace Owens and Charlie Kirk in Los Angeles following the rapper’s praise for President Donald Trump. The trio were pictured smiling together as they left their meeting in Calabasas on Sunday.
• Rapper Issues ‘Crip Alert’ For Kanye… A former member of Snoop Dogg’s rapping entourage is calling for gang members to assault Kanye West for his recent support of President Donald Trump. Daz Dillinger, who recorded several successful hip hop records as part of Tha Dogg Pound duo in the 1990s, made the apparent threat in a video posted to his Instagram, which was later removed.

 

8am – A         INTERVIEW – MATT SCHLAPP – chairman of the American Conservative Union (ACU) — shared his reaction to the WHCD.

8am – B/C     INTERVIEW – MARK KRIKORIAN –  a nationally recognized expert on immigration issues, has served as Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS)    @MarkSKrikorian – analyzed the caravan on the border.

• Nearly 200 caravan migrants to seek asylum, in direct challenge to Trump administration via @foxnews // Almost 200 migrants parked at the nation’s busiest border crossing are planning to seek asylum in the U.S. following their dramatic journey in a caravan through Mexico, setting up a showdown with the Trump administration over immigration and asylum policy. Eight women and children entered a border facility on Monday to formally file asylum papers, with the rest to follow soon, organizers said. Immigration officials confirmed the facility had begun “processing undocumented arrivals again.” The caravan, which reached the border with San Diego after an approximately 2,000-mile trip, once included more than a thousand people. It is now down to a few hundred. The migrants’ decision to seek asylum comes just one day after U.S. officials closed the border facility there because it was at capacity.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – SARA CARTER – Investigative journalist and Fox News Contributor… you can view her work at SaraACarter.com

• SARAACARTER.COM: THIS IS CNN: Hiring of Suspected Leaker Clapper Raises Ethical Questions
• Turley: Clapper Has a ‘Serious Problem’ If He Leaked Info to CNN About Dossier.   Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley said that James Clapper could have a “serious problem” legally if he leaked information to CNN about the Trump-Russia dossier. Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, said in a March 12 CNN interview that he had no contact with anyone from the media until after he left the government. The House Intelligence Committee, though, found in a heavily redacted report that he provided “inconsistent testimony” about his contacts with the media regarding information leaks. Turley said on “Fox & Friends” Monday that if Clapper did in fact inform CNN about the briefing former FBI director James Comey had with the president about the dossier, “then he has a serious problem.” Turley added that Comey told the president that CNN was looking for a “hook” in order to run the story regarding the existence of the salacious dossier. “That hook ultimately became that briefing with Comey. … But CNN reported that high-level people had confirmed this information with them. If one of those individuals is Clapper, then he has a serious problem. He could be accused again of perjury,” said Turley.  Clapper was accused of perjury previously for testimony in March 2013 about mass surveillance by the NSA.

8am – E         NRA FAKE NEWS:

• President Trump will appear at the National Rifle Association convention in Dallas on Friday, the White House has confirmed.
• Fake News: AP, WaPo Claim NRA Bans Guns at Mike Pence Speech/ Establishment news outlets put forth stories suggesting the NRA was banning concealed carry during the May 4 segment of the upcoming NRA Annual Meetings in Dallas, Texas.
• FAKE NEWS: Associated Press Deletes Tweet That Spread Lie About NRA
• Parkland students brand firearm ban during Pence speech as NRA hypocrisy (ABC News) — The National Rifle Association’s annual leadership forum later this week will feature Vice President Mike Pence on Friday, and while members can carry their firearms at all other times, the U.S. Secret Service will not allow any weapons into the convention center during Pence’s speech.  While it’s a Secret Service security protocol, the move triggered criticism of the NRA from their loudest opponents of late — students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and their families. Cameron Kasky, one of the most outspoken survivors of the Parkland. Fla., shooting, immediately ripped into the NRA for becoming what he said was “a hilarious parody of itself.”