Daily Caller’s Saagar Enjeti, Washington Post’s Scott Allen and White House’s Hogan Gidley joined WMAL on Thursday!
Mornings on the Mall
Thursday, May 24, 2018
Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese
Executive Producer: Heather Hunter
5am – A/B/C Judge rules Trump can’t block users on Twitter (The Hill) — A federal district court judge on Wednesday ruled that President Trump can’t block people from viewing his Twitter feed over their political views. Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, said President Trump’s Twitter account is a public forum and blocking people who reply to his tweets with differing opinions constitutes viewpoint discrimination, which violates the First Amendment. The court’s ruling is a major win for the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which brought the lawsuit on behalf of seven people who were blocked from the @realDonaldTrump account because of opinions they expressed in reply tweets. Buchwald, who was appointed by former President Clinton, rejected Trump’s argument that the First Amendment does not apply in this case and that the president’s personal First Amendment interests supersede those of the plaintiffs. She suggested in her 75-page opinion that Trump could have ignored his opponents’ reply tweets. “No First Amendment harm arises when a government’s ‘challenged conduct’ is simply to ignore the [speaker], as the Supreme Court has affirmed ‘that it is free to do,’ ” she wrote. “Stated otherwise, ‘a person’s right to speak is not infringed when government simply ignores that person while listening to others,’ or when the government ‘amplifies’ the voice of one speaker over those of others.” Buchwald explained that blocking someone on Twitter goes further than just muting them.
5am – D/E New policy requires on-field players, personnel to stand for anthem (ESPN) – ATLANTA — NFL owners have unanimously approved a new national anthem policy that requires players to stand if they are on the field during the performance but gives them the option to remain in the locker room if they prefer, it was announced Wednesday. The policy subjects teams to a fine if a player or any other team personnel do not show respect for the anthem. That includes any attempt to sit or kneel, as dozens of players have done during the past two seasons to protest racial inequality and police brutality. Those teams also will have the option to fine any team personnel, including players, for the infraction. “We want people to be respectful of the national anthem,” commissioner Roger Goodell said. “We want people to stand — that’s all personnel — and make sure they treat this moment in a respectful fashion. That’s something we think we owe. [But] we were also very sensitive to give players choices.” Goodell said the vote was “unanimous” among owners, although San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York said he abstained. York said that all owners that voted in in the process supported the change. The policy will be part of the NFL’s game operations manual and thus not subject to collective bargaining. The NFL Players Association said in a statement that it will review the policy and “challenge any aspect” that is inconsistent with the CBA.
6am – A/B SPYGATE AND COMEY:
- Joe DiGenova: ‘Probable cause to arrest Comey’ for Spygate right now
- President Trump on former FBI director James Comey: “If you look at what he said, all of the lies, all of the fiction, I think he’s got a lot of problems… I did a great service to this country by firing James Comey
- Comey Responds to Trump’s ‘Spygate’ Claims: ‘How Will Republicans Explain This to Their Grandchildren?‘ (Fox News) — Former FBI Director James Comey slammed President Trump and the Republican Party for doing “lasting damage” to the United States with their attacks on the FBI. “How will Republicans explain this to their grandchildren?” Comey wrote on Twitter.
- Rank-and-File FBI Agents Eager to Blow Whistle on Comey, Holder, Lynch (Breitbart News) — A new report claims that a significant number of rank-and-file FBI agents are chomping at the bit to expose Obama-era leaders, alleging corruption and even criminal violations of the law. These agents are signaling that the only way they can safely and legally blow the whistle is if Congress subpoenas them individually to provide information about their former bosses.
6am – C Pompeo says China incident ‘entirely consistent’ with Cuba ‘sonic attacks’. (CNN) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that an incident involving a US government employee stationed in China who reported “abnormal sensations of sound and pressure” suggesting a mild brain injury has medical indications that are “very similar” and “entirely consistent” to those experienced by American diplomats posted in Havana. US officials have issued a health alert in China following the incident. Additionally, the US State Department is looking into whether the incident is similar to what happened in Cuba in 2016 and 2017, a US diplomatic official told CNN, which the US government characterized as a “sonic attack.” That incident led to a reduction in staffing at the US Embassy in Havana. The official who fell ill was assigned to the city of Guangzhou in southern China and reported a range of physical symptoms from late 2017 through to April 2018, the State Department said. The employee was sent back to the United States for assessment. The US Embassy in Beijing learned on May 18 that the clinical findings of the evaluation matched that of a “mild traumatic brain injury,” an embassy spokeswoman told CNN. Pompeo said the State Department is moving medical teams into place in Guangzhou and has asked for assistance from the Chinese government, which has committed to providing it.
6am – D MS-13 ROUNDTABLE: Trump takes on MS-13: Donald Trump heads to MS-13 hotbed in New York, calls on Congress to help fight gang.
6am – E Texas boy, 10, pens hilarious thank you note to Fulshear officer who pulled mom over: ‘She deserved it’ (Fox News) — Police officers in Texas were so tickled by a 10-year-old boy’s handwritten thank you letter that they decided to share it on social media. “We received the letter last Friday from a young man who attends Huggins Elementary School in Fulshear,” Captain Mike McCoy with the Fulshear Police Department told Fox News. “During National Police Week, students from this school write us many letters of support. This one, obviously, stood out.” The boy’s letter to a “Fulshear Police Officer” expressed gratitude for his mother getting stopped. “Thank you for pulling my mom over because she deserved it because she took my phone away and I did not like it and how she always brags about how good of a driver she is,” the student said. “And it just annoys me.” But that wasn’t the only incident he shared. “One time she got pulled over because she did not have a ezsticker on her window and when she came home and told me that I just laughed,” the boy continued. He went on to reference “that time when one of my moms back lights weren’t working and she got pulled over.” The police department decided to share the “completely honest” note with their nearly 20,000 Facebook followers, explaining that they receive letters from Huggins Elementary School students every year during police week. We always love reading them. Some of them are very funny due to their wonderful honesty,” the department commented on its post. Residents applauded the boy’s hilarious letter and thanked the police department for lighting up their week.
6am – F CAPS WIN! Washington Capitals are heading to Stanley Cup finals, extinguish Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7
7am – A INTERVIEW – SAAGAR ENJETI – White House Correspondent, The Daily Caller – discussed the latest White House news.
- Kushner’s security clearance restored, met with Mueller team a second time
- President Trump on former FBI director James Comey: “If you look at what he said, all of the lies, all of the fiction, I think he’s got a lot of problems… I did a great service to this country by firing James Comey”
- MS-13 ROUNDTABLE: Trump takes on MS-13: Donald Trump heads to MS-13 hotbed in New York, calls on Congress to help fight gang.
7am – B/C Trump rips on Clapper. Clapper goes on Tapper.
- Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump: “Trump should be happy that the FBI was SPYING on his campaign” No, James Clapper, I am not happy. Spying on a campaign would be illegal, and a scandal to boot! 7:33 AM – May 23, 2018
- Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump @foxandfriends “New Bombshell in the Obama Spying Scandal. Did other Agencies SPY on Trump Campaign?” Even Clapper, worlds dumbest former Intelligence Head, who has the problem of lying a lot, used the word SPY when describing the illegal activities! 6:45 AM – May 23, 2018
- Clapper: Informant on Trump Campaign a ‘Very Benign Thing.’ Wednesday on CNN’s “The Lead,” former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told host Jake Tapper that the FBI informant being involved in President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign was a “very benign thing.”
7am – D CNN’s Brooke Baldwin Had An AWKWARD Interview with 30-year-old Man Michael Rotondo Who Got Evicted from His Parents’ House by Court.
7am – E Oakland Mayor Fires Back After ‘Libby Schaaf Act’ Introduced. OAKLAND (KPIX 5) — Three months after Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf alerted the Bay Area about an impeding ICE raid, a Republican congressman introduced a bill Monday that could send any official to prison if they make such a warning. The bill is actually called the Libby Schaaf Act. Republican Congressman Steve King of Iowa introduced it. He tweeted, “How many rabid, violent MS-13 animals do mayors like @LibbySchaaf allow to prey on our citizens when they obstruct ice raids? Too many!” Mayor Schaaf fired back on CNN Monday. “I can tell you that I know a lot more about what makes my community safe than a Congress member from Iowa,” said Schaaf during an interview.
8am – A INTERVIEW – SCOTT ALLEN – Washington Post Sports reporter
- CAPS WIN: Washington Capitals are heading to Stanley Cup finals, extinguish Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7
8am – B/C CNN Pushes ‘Spygate’ As A Conspiracy Theory
8am – D INTERVIEW – HOGAN GIDLEY – White House Deputy Press Secretary – discussed President Trump’s MS-13 roundtable, CNN calling spygate a conspiracy theory, Kushner getting his security clearance restored and the White House sinkhole.
8am – E These are the 10 jobs most likely to attract psychopaths. Spotting a psychopath isn’t as easy as the movies would make it out to be. They aren’t axe-wielding maniacs obsessed with murdering everyone, but are often more manipulative and controlling types of people. There are ways of telling whether someone you work with or are dating is a psychopath – and according to psychologist and writer, Kevin Dutton there are ten professions in the world that lend themselves greatly to psychopathic tendencies. In his book The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success Dutton lists ten jobs that he believes are the top career choices for psychopaths. Some psychopath professions include civil servant, chef, clergy, police, journalist, surgeon, media, lawyer and CEO.