Jonathan Schanzer, Michael Sargent, Jim Carafano, Tom Bevan and DOJ’s Devin O’Malley joined WMAL on Tuesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C DANA MILBANK: The West Virginia primary shows Trump’s election was no aberration.

5am – D         First Lady Melania Trump Announces Her “Be Best” Campaign:

• Minutes After Announcing Anti-Bullying Campaign, Reporters Mock Melania’s Looks, Accent, Kids
• President Trump signs a proclamation to mark May 7 as “Be Best Day”
• Melania Trump: “The three main pillars of ‘Be best’ will include well-being, social media use and opioid abuse.”
• Melania Trump: “I’m very excited to announce ‘Be best,’ an awareness campaign dedicated to the most valuable and fragile among us, our children.”

5am – E         Metro plans to close six stations for 98 days next year during work to rebuild 20 station platforms (Washington Post) — There will be no service on Metro’s Blue and Yellow lines south of Reagan National Airport for 98 days beginning in May 2019, as the transit agency embarks on a platform rebuilding project spanning six stations, part of an effort to refurbish 20 station platforms over three years. The work, which will at times target the Red, Blue, Yellow, Green and Orange lines, will focus on rebuilding crumbling station platforms that the agency says pose a safety risk to riders and will mark Metro’s first major capital project since securing $500 million a year in dedicated funding from the region.

 

6am – A/B/C NY AG SCHNEIDERMAN RESIGNS:

• New York AG Eric Schneiderman resigns over assault allegations. (CNN) New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has resigned, following a report on allegations of assault by multiple women in The New Yorker. “It’s been my great honor and privilege to serve as Attorney General for the people of the State of New York. In the last several hours, serious allegations, which I strongly contest, have been made against me,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “While these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operations of the office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the office’s work at this critical time. I therefore resign my office, effective at the close of business on May 8, 2018.” Shortly after announcing his resignation, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said they had opened an investigation into the allegations against Schneiderman, a spokesman told CNN. Schneiderman’s swift resignation, which came just hours after The New Yorker published its report, is a shocking fall from grace for a once rising star in Democratic politics. Schneiderman had cast himself as a fierce opponent and critic of President Donald Trump. Schneiderman has also been a vocal proponent of the #MeToo movement, bringing legal action in New York against film producer Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexually assaulting women.
• Eric T. Schneiderman @Schneiderman: “In the privacy of intimate relationships, I have engaged in role-playing and other consensual sexual activity.  I have not assaulted anyone. I have never engaged in non-consensual sex, which is a line I would not cross.”
• Salman Rushdie, who dated Manning Barish before Schneiderman did, says that she confided in him as well. “She called me and told me he had hit her,” Rushdie recalls. “She was obviously very upset. I was horrified.”
• Multiple women tell the New Yorker that NY AG Eric Schneiderman threatened to kill them and “repeatedly hit them, often after drinking, frequently in bed and never with their consent.”

6am – D         INTERVIEW – JONATHAN SCHANZER – a former terrorism-finance analyst for the US Department of the Treasury, is senior vice president at Foundation for Defense of Democracies.  @JSchanzer Schanzer discussed the pending decision on the Iran Deal.

• Trump says he’ll announce Iran deal decision Tuesday afternoon. TRUMP’S MUCH-ANTICIPATED DECISION: President Trump tweeted that he would announce a decision Tuesday on whether the United States will remain in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal … “I will be announcing my decision on the Iran Deal tomorrow from the White House at 2:00pm,” Trump tweeted Monday. The president had given himself a May 12 deadline over the deal, which he has long criticized. Trump has previously signaled that he will pull out of the agreement, but has faced intense pressure from European allies not to do so. Earlier Monday, Trump blasted former Secretary of State John Kerry for “shadow diplomacy” amid reports that Kerry had met with Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif as part of a bid to salvage the nuclear deal.
• Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump: I will be announcing my decision on the Iran Deal tomorrow from the White House at 2:00pm.

6am – E         Goddesses, angels and a pope rock Catholic-inspired Met Gala. (Reuters) — Bejeweled crosses, veils and halo-inspired headdresses ruled on the red carpet, dubbed the Oscars of the east Coast for its celebrity guest list and stunning outfits. From saints to sinners, guests took to heart the 2018 theme of “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute ball. Although some commentators had feared the Catholic theme might yield the most controversial Met Gala ever, most of the actors, models and music stars stayed on the right side of propriety in colors of red, white, gold and black. Rihanna, one of the Met Gala co-hosts, dressed like a pope, sporting a head-turning, jewel-encrusted mitre with matching mini-dress and a priestly-style cape designed by Maison Margiela. Katy Perry wowed in enormous, feathered six foot high white wings teamed with a Versace gold mini-dress paired with thigh-high gold boots.

6am – F         Trump Administration to Step Up Prosecution of Border-Crossing Parents. (The Hill) –  US doubling down on strategy that separates families to curb border crossings. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday is reportedly set to announce that the administration will increase its prosecution of parents crossing the U.S. border illegally, in the hope it will convince people to avoid making the trek for fear they will be separated from their children. “The Attorney General directed the U.S. Attorney’s offices to adopt a zero-tolerance policy for all offenses referred for prosecution,” a Homeland Security official told The Wall Street Journal.  The Los Angeles Times was the first to report the planned announcement. Sessions and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acting Director Thomas Homan will reportedly be making the announcement in San Diego on Monday. The new policy is aimed mostly at those from Central American nations who arrive at the border seeking political asylum with their children.  Adults will still be able to apply for asylum under the new policy, but they could be detained while their cases are reviewed. Children will be handled as if they came to the U.S. without an adult. By prosecuting adults and then treating their children as unaccompanied minors at the border, families would be separated as children are placed in shelters or with family while their cases for asylum are considered.

7am – A         INTERVIEW MICHAEL SARGENT – policy analyst specializing in transportation and infrastructure issues at the Heritage Foundation – discussed the latest DC metro news.

• Michael Sargent, “If it works better than Metro, tax it more,” Washington Post op-ed: “Transit Authority have slipped a tax increase into the District’s budget that would make even the most brazen robber baron blush. The troubled transit system has been pushing local governments to hike its subsidies by $500 million. But the real rub is who gets stuck with the bill: Metro’s competition. The plan would nearly quintupling the city’s tax on ride-hailing services.”
• Metro plans to close six stations for 98 days next year during work to rebuild 20 station platforms (Washington Post) — There will be no service on Metro’s Blue and Yellow lines south of Reagan National Airport for 98 days beginning in May 2019, as the transit agency embarks on a platform rebuilding project spanning six stations, part of an effort to refurbish 20 station platforms over three years.

7am – B         Primary Day Today, particularly in West VA: West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio and North Carolina, all states Trump won in the 2016 presidential election.

• Stakes high for GOP in Tuesday’s primaries in West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio and North Carolina
• Two West Virginia Internal Campaign Polls Show Blankenship Narrowly Edging GOP Rivals (Weekly Standard) – Republicans are panicking as internal polls show Don Blankenship, a coal baron who spent time in jail for a mining disaster that killed 29 workers, surging into the lead in the West Virginia Senate GOP primary over Attorney General Patrick Morrissey and Congressman Evan Jenkins. The results of an internal campaign poll conducted for one rival Senate campaign on Saturday and Sunday were: Blankenship 31 percent, Jenkins 28 percent, Morrissey 27 percent. The results of another internal poll conducted Friday and Saturday were: Blankenship 28 percent, Morrissey 27 percent, Jenkins 14 percent. Two weeks earlier, the same rival campaign found Blankenship at 14 percent, Morrissey at 29 percent, and Jenkins at 26 percent.
• Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump: To the great people of West Virginia we have, together, a really great chance to keep making a big difference. Problem is, Don Blankenship, currently running for Senate, can’t win the General Election in your State…No way! Remember Alabama. Vote Rep. Jenkins or A.G. Morrisey!
• Blankenship’s response to Trump: ‘As some have said I am Trumpier than Trump, and this morning proves it.’
• WV Sen candidate Patrick Morrisey called Don Blankenship’s probation officer, to see if failing to release financial disclosure violates terms of Blankenship’s release. But Blankenship says his Probation officer doesn’t care.

7am – C         Lt. Col. Oliver North to become NRA president, organization says. (Fox News) – Lt. Col. Oliver North is set to become the president of the National Rifle Association of America, a process the NRA Board of Directors initiated Monday, the group announced. North will be retiring from his role at Fox News effective immediately. He will be taking over the position occupied by Pete Brownell, who did not seek a second term as NRA president. “I am honored to have been selected by the NRA Board to soon serve as this great organization’s President,” North said in a news release. “I appreciate the board initiating a process that affords me a few weeks to set my affairs in order, and I am eager to hit the ground running as the new NRA President.”

7am – D         INTERVIEW – JAMES CARAFANO – a leading expert in national security and foreign policy challenges, is The Heritage Foundation’s vice president for foreign and defense policy studies @JJCarafano / Carafano discussed the pending decision on the Iran Deal.

• Trump says he’ll announce Iran deal decision Tuesday afternoon. TRUMP’S MUCH-ANTICIPATED DECISION: President Trump tweeted that he would announce a decision Tuesday on whether the United States will remain in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal … “I will be announcing my decision on the Iran Deal tomorrow from the White House at 2:00pm,” Trump tweeted Monday. The president had given himself a May 12 deadline over the deal, which he has long criticized. Trump has previously signaled that he will pull out of the agreement, but has faced intense pressure from European allies not to do so. Earlier Monday, Trump blasted former Secretary of State John Kerry for “shadow diplomacy” amid reports that Kerry had met with Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif as part of a bid to salvage the nuclear deal.
• Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump: I will be announcing my decision on the Iran Deal tomorrow from the White House at 2:00pm.

7am – E         HILLARY NEWS:

• Hillary Clinton Jokes: I Gave ‘Some Thought’ To Moving Abroad After Trump Won
• Hillary hiding back brace? Eagle-eyed Twitter users spot ‘weird protrusion’ coming from her back after she stepped out in New York’s warm weather bundled up in a coat and long scarf

 

8am – A         INTERVIEW – TOM BEVAN – the Co-Founder & Publisher of RealClearPolitics

• TOPIC: Primary Day Today, particularly in West VA: West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio and North Carolina, all states Trump won in the 2016 presidential election.

8am – B         New York AG Eric Schneiderman resigns over assault allegations. (CNN) New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has resigned, following a report on allegations of assault by multiple women in The New Yorker. “It’s been my great honor and privilege to serve as Attorney General for the people of the State of New York. In the last several hours, serious allegations, which I strongly contest, have been made against me,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “While these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operations of the office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the office’s work at this critical time. I therefore resign my office, effective at the close of business on May 8, 2018.” Shortly after announcing his resignation, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said they had opened an investigation into the allegations against Schneiderman, a spokesman told CNN. Schneiderman’s swift resignation, which came just hours after The New Yorker published its report, is a shocking fall from grace for a once rising star in Democratic politics. Schneiderman had cast himself as a fierce opponent and critic of President Donald Trump.

8am – C         Alex Ovechkin, Capitals put halt to 20-year East finals drought (ESPN) — PITTSBURGH — Alex Ovechkin had played in 1,003 regular-season games and 109 playoff games without advancing beyond the Eastern Conference semifinals. Barry Trotz had coached 1,524 regular-season games and 101 more in the playoffs, without ever advancing to even the conference finals. “It’s always thrown in your face, everywhere you turn,” said Trotz. “I know it’s thrown in Ovi’s face everywhere he turns, and he’s a great player in this league.” After Game 6 against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night, that particular smear against the Washington Capitals’ star player, their coach and the franchise itself was wiped away. Evgeny Kuznetsov’s goal in overtime eliminated the Capitals’ postseason tormentors in a 2-1 win, and propelled them to their first championship-round series in 20 years. Washington will face the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference finals for the right to play for the Stanley Cup.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – DEVIN O’MALLEY – Spokesperson, Department of Justice

• Trump Administration to Step Up Prosecution of Border-Crossing Parents. US doubling down on strategy that separates families to curb border crossings. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday is reportedly set to announce that the administration will increase its prosecution of parents crossing the U.S. border illegally, in the hope it will convince people to avoid making the trek for fear they will be separated from their children. “The Attorney General directed the U.S. Attorney’s offices to adopt a zero-tolerance policy for all offenses referred for prosecution,” a Homeland Security official told The Wall Street Journal.  The Los Angeles Times was the first to report the planned announcement. Sessions and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acting Director Thomas Homan will reportedly be making the announcement in San Diego on Monday. The new policy is aimed mostly at those from Central American nations who arrive at the border seeking political asylum with their children.  Adults will still be able to apply for asylum under the new policy, but they could be detained while their cases are reviewed. Children will be handled as if they came to the U.S. without an adult. By prosecuting adults and then treating their children as unaccompanied minors at the border, families would be separated as children are placed in shelters or with family while their cases for asylum are considered.

8am – E         Sex News:

• NETFLIX MAY BE KILLING OFF SEX: A study by researchers at Lancaster University in the UK reveals that the busiest hour for internet use is now between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., driven by those watching streaming services such as Netflix, iPlayer and YouTube. Evidence from nearly 400 devices shows a peak at this time — with viewers prolonging the “traditional” hours of TV watching.
• MILLENNIALS ARE PUTTING OFF SEX: Millennials are waiting longer to have sex, with one in eight still virgins at 26 years old, new research has found. The sharp rise in the number of young people waiting longer to have sex may be because of a “fear of intimacy” and the pressure of social media, according to analysts.