Director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies Jessica Vaughan, Media reporter for The Hill Joe Concha, and RNC spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany joined WMAL on Thursday!

Mornings on the Mall

Monday, April 16, 2018

Hosts: Mary Walter and Hans von Spakovsky

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C Trump signs executive order on family separation but says “zero tolerance” to stay (CBS News) – President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to solve the issue of family separation at the border. The policy keeps in place key components of the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy of prosecuting illegal border crossings along the U.S-Mexico border.  While the administration will continue prosecuting crimes of “improper entry,” the administration will “maintain family unity, including by detaining alien families together where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources,” according to the order’s text.  In a shift from previous policy, families will now be held together during the process of prosecution and deportation at the border.  “We are keeping families together and this will solve that problem. At the time we are keeping a very powerful border and it continues to be a zero tolerance, we have zero tolerance for people that enter our country illegally,” Mr. Trump said. He added that no one has had the “political courage” to take care of the issue which he claims has gone on for over 60 years.

5am – D Anti-Trump FBI agent Peter Strzok deserves to be fired – it should have happened months ago (OPINION-Hans von Spakovsky, Fox News) – News Tuesday that FBI agent Peter Strzok was escorted from the FBI building and effectively suspended from his duties was long overdue and a welcome development. Strzok improperly sent numerous harsh anti-Trump texts during the 2016 presidential campaign in exchanges with an FBI colleague he was romantically involved with.  Strzok was removed last summer by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as the lead FBI agent in Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the presidential election and possible Trump campaign collusion with the Russians, after Strzok’s texts blasting candidate Donald Trump were discovered. Strzok was reassigned to the FBI’s Human Resources Division until he was escorted out of the agency, reportedly on Friday.

5am – E Burger King Russia apologizes for World Cup promotion offering Whoppers, money to women impregnated by players (Fox News) – Burger King Russia is apologizing for a whopper of a blunder.  The Russian arm of the restaurant chain was forced to pull a promotion offering money and free food to women impregnated by World Cup athletes after the fast-food community found the ad to be “too insulting.”  “We apologize for the statement we made,” Burger King Russia stated in a post shared to the Russian social media platform VK.com, as translated by Google. “It turned out to be too insulting. We thank you for the feedback and hasten to inform you that we have already removed all materials related to the application.”

6am – A Mark Meadows throws down on Paul Ryan in heated immigration house floor exchange: ‘I’m done’ (Breitbart) – House Freedom Caucus chairman Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) lambasted House Speaker Paul Ryan in a heated exchange over immigration on Wednesday on the floor of the House of Representatives, captured partially on C-SPAN but in view of the whole House and onlookers from the gallery above.

6am – B Flake threatens to limit Trump court nominees: report (The Hill) – Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) is reportedly considering using votes on President Trump’s appellate court nominees as a bargaining chip for demands on two separate issues.  CNN reported that Flake may block votes on the court nominations while he attempts to secure action on tariffs and travel restrictions to Cuba.  “We’re discussing it,” he told the network.   Flake is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Republicans hold a one-seat advantage over Democrats.  If Flake does not support the appellate nominees, it could compromise their nominations. Most judges are voted out of the committee along party lines.

6am – C 70 years ago, America won its first fight against communism without firing a shot (The Daily Signal) – Two weeks ago, on June 6, we commemorated D-Day—the start of the land battle to free Europe from Nazi tyranny.  On Thursday, we celebrate another significant anniversary. It was 70 years ago, on June 20, 1948, that the U.S. and its allies started their first major fight of the Cold War, aiming to stop mass murderer and tyrant Josef Stalin from enslaving more people in Europe: the Berlin Airlift.  When World War II ended, Germany was divided into four zones, with one each controlled by the Americans, the British, the French, and the Russians. Berlin, which was entirely in the Russian sector, was also divided into four zones, to the great annoyance of the Russians.  The Russians had brutally subjugated their portion of Germany, including Berlin, raping and pillaging like the Mongols during the Middle Ages. Everyone who could—including my grandmother—tried to get out of the Russian zone. She bribed a guide to smuggle her and her 10-year-old daughter past Russian patrols into the American sector, where she was reunited with my mother and her other two daughters in a refugee camp.

6am – D Corey Lewandowski refuses to apologize for mocking disabled child separated from family (The Hill) – Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is refusing to apologize for mocking the story of a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome who was separated from her family.  Asked on Fox News on Wednesday if he’d like to apologize, Lewandowski doubled down, asking, “An apology? I owe an apology to the children whose parents are putting them in a position that is forcing them to beseparated?”  In a Tuesday night appearance on Fox News, Lewandowski said “womp womp” in response to Zac Petkanas, a former rapid response director for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign, who at the time was discussing a Wall Street Journal report about a child with Down syndrome being separated from her parents.

6am – E RNC has record-setting May, brings in $14.6 million (Washington Examiner) – The Republican National Committee raked in $14.6 million in May, according to new fundraising figures from the party, setting a record for the month of May during a non-presidential year.  With its May haul, the party has raised $199.1 million this cycle and has $47.4 million cash-on-hand.

6am – F Splinter staff still using Twitter to post Stephen Miller’s phone number (NewsBusters) – Twitter reportedly took action against Splinter News’s Twitter account after it tweeted the personal cell phone number of White House advisor Stephen Miller. Despite this action, Splinter’s editor-in-chief shared the number, yet again, by retweeting a screenshot with information about Splinter’s temporary Twitter ban.  Throughout the day, Splinter has been promoting its story with Miller’s cell phone number on multiple social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter. In one particular tweet, Splinter reportedly posted Miller’s full phone number and instructed people to call him. According to Jon Eiseman, who runs social media for Gizmodo Media Group, Twitter punished Splinter for posting Miller’s information by restricting some of the site’s features for 12 hours.

7am – A INTERVIEW – Jessica Vaughan – Director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies – discussed proposed immigration bills in Congress and President Trump’s executive order 

7am – B/C DOJ News:

• DOJ turns over docs to House Intelligence following explicit threats by Republicans (Washington Examiner) – The Justice Department has begun to provide documents to the House Intelligence Committee this week, following explicit threats by Republican chairmen.  A small cache of documents was given to intelligence panel staff on Tuesday, followed by another tranche on Wednesday, a congressional source told the Washington Examiner.  The exact content of those records was not disclosed, but they came on the heels of tough talk from House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy over the weekend.

• Who are the protesters who crashed Kirstjen Nielsen’s dinner and what are they planning next? (Washington Examiner) – Activists who protested Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen as she dined at a Mexican restaurant Tuesday say others involved in enforcing tough immigration policies should take notice, though dinner disruptions won’t necessarily be a recurring form of activism.  The unconventional demonstration inside downtown D.C.’s MXDC Cocina Mexicana featured about 10 minutes of chants — including “Kirstjen Nielsen, you’re a villain, locking up immigrant children” — after a tip from a fellow restaurant diner.  In less than 45 minutes, activists from the local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America assembled a dozen people to protest Nielsen, blasting out social media invites and emails to DSA and Industrial Workers of the World members.  Two DSA members who participated told the Washington Examiner that restaurant protests aren’t a specific strategy, and that the group is instead focused on monthly protests at the D.C.-area homes of deportation “profiteers.”

7am – D Peter Fonda apologizes for saying Barron Trump should be kidnapped, caged with pedophiles (The Daily Caller) – Actor Peter Fonda found himself in the middle of a media firestorm Wednesday after tweeting that the president’s 11-year-old son Barron should be ripped away from his family and caged with pedophiles.  Fonda has since deleted the tweet.  Fonda’s manager Alan Somers sent The Daily Caller an apology from Fonda, blaming the vulgar tweet on the images of children on migrant the U.S. border. The statement reads:  “I tweeted something highly inappropriate and vulgar about the president and his family in response to the devastating images I was seeing on television. Like many Americans, I am very impassioned and distraught over the situation with children separated from their families at the border, but I went way too far. It was wrong and I should not have done it. I immediately regretted it and sincerely apologize to the family for what I said and any hurt my words have caused.”

7am – E World Cup fans in Russia drinking beer supply faster than anticipated (Fox News) – Soccer fans gathering to watch the World Cup might soon be in for a rude awakening as beer shortages loom across Moscow, and other parts of Europe.  As crowds descend upon Moscow and other cities to watch their favorite teams battle it out on the field, bars and restaurants in the Russian capital say they’re running low on the popular drink and are having to wait longer for fresh supplies, Reuters is reporting.  “We just didn’t think they would only want beer,” one waiter at an upscale eatery in central Moscow told Reuters.

8am – A Trump holds rally in Minnesota after touting progress on immigration, trade (Fox News) – President Trump kicked off a rally Wednesday night in Duluth, Minn., by running through what he called a string of White House victories from the economy to North Korea, and promising tight security at the Mexican border amid the ongoing immigration controversy.  The president told a raucous crowd that he expects to win the historically liberal state in 2020.  “I hate to bring this up — but we came this close to winning the state of Minnesota,” Trump said, referring to Hillary Clinton’s narrow win there in 2016. “And in two and a half years, it’s going to be really easy, I think.”

8am – B/C INTERVIEW – Joe Concha – Media reporter, The Hill – discussed the media’s role in the immigration debate           

8am – D INTERVIEW – Kayleigh McEnany – RNC spokesperson – discussed upcoming midterms and the RNC’s record-setting fundraising          

8am – E ‘Was that a man or a woman?’ Trump mocks protester at Minnesota rally (USA Today) – After protesters interrupted President Donald Trump’s Minnesota rally, the president mocked one protester’s appearance questioning whether they were a man or a woman.  “Was that a man or a woman? Because he needs a haircut more than I do,” Trump joked as the protester was escorted out of the Duluth event. “I couldn’t tell. Needs a haircut.”  The protester appeared to hold a picture of Trump with another person. Trump also told the protester to “go home to your mom, darling. Go home.”  The crowd chanted “USA” as the demonstrator was escorted out of the crowd.