Heritage Foundation’s Steve Bucci, Daily Caller Supreme Court reporter Kevin Daley, Senator Ben Cardin, and Raheem Kassam joined WMAL on Tuesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C Judge Brett Kavanaugh named Trump’s second Supreme Court justice (CBS News) – President Trump announced his selection of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to be his second Supreme Court justice Monday night. Speaking in the East Room of the White House, the president said that what mattered to him was “not a judge’s political views, but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the Constitution require.”  “I am pleased to say that I have found, without a doubt, such a person,” he said in announcing Kavanaugh’s nomination. “There is no one in America more qualified for this position and no one more deserving,” the president also said.

5am – D/E   DC FIGHTS BUSINESSES GOING CASHLESS: DC Council Bill Looks To Outlaw Cashless Restaurants Because It’s “Discriminatory”:

• As restaurants go cashless, a backlash is building.  Will D.C. intervene? (Washington Post) – Aaron Bateman pulled out a few bills to pay for a taco lunch in the nation’s capital. To his surprise, his money was no good in the city where money is printed.  Surfside, a 24-hour Mexican eatery in Dupont Circle, doesn’t take cash. No cash means no register for robbers to empty out, no bills for workers to slip into their pockets and no change-counting holding up lines.  The global cashless movement has reached Washington, where a growing number of fast-casual establishments and other spots are saying no to greenbacks in favor of plastic and mobile payments. Sweetgreen, the national salad chain founded by Georgetown University graduates, went cashless in most of its locations last year. Other cashless spots include a Menchie’s frozen-yogurt shop downtown, the posh Barcelona Wine Bar on 14th Street NW and the Bruery beer store at Union Market.

6am – A/B/C   RED STATE DEMS DILEMMA ON KAVANAUGH:

• Dick Durbin: Blocking Trump’s Supreme Court pick more important than red state Dems getting re-elected
• Trump is starting to pressure red-state Democrats to support his Supreme court pick (Vox) – In the looming battle over President Donald Trump’s pick of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court, there’s a big question: Can Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer keep his Democratic caucus united to vote against the new nominee?  Republicans don’t need Democratic votes to confirm Kavanaugh, but they will matter if any Republican senators defect. (The Republican senators to watch here are Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.)  The most closely watched Democratic votes will be the three red-state Democrats who voted for Justice Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation in 2017: Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Joe Donnelly of Indiana. 
• Ann Coulter @AnnCoulter 9h9 hours ago: Dems in a pickle! If conservative Dems vote against Kavanaugh, they risk losing their seats — creating a MORE Republican senate that will confirm Kavanaugh or anyone else.  

6am – D INTERVIEW – STEVE BUCCI – former Army Special Forces officer and top Pentagon official, is a visiting research fellow at The Heritage Foundation @SBucci

• TRUMP FLIES TO BRUSSELS THIS MORNING…
• Trump ‘making an impact’ on NATO as allies ramp up defense spending: Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison (Fox News) — President Trump has already made a major, unprecedented impact in getting NATO allies to spend more on their own defense, U.S. NATO Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison told “Fox News Sunday.””I’ve worked for three presidents, all of whom have said the same thing,” Hutchison said. “Now, I think for the first time, we are really seeing the Europeans start going in the same direction. Every ally is now increasing defense spending — we’ve had the largest increase in defense spending snce the Cold War.” Trump departs Tuesday on a four-nation tour amid simmering disputes over trade and military spending with fellow Western democracies and speculation about whether he will rebuke or embrace Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump meets the Russian leader in Helsinki as the finale of a trip with earlier stops in Belgium, England and Scotland. After meeting in Brussels with NATO leaders, who he has long pressured to spend more on their own defense, he’ll travel to the United Kingdom.
• President Trump blasts NATO allies ahead of trip, says contribution on defense not acceptable. WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday rebuked European allies on the eve of a NATO summit, complaining that the United States spends more on collective defense than its 28 North Atlantic partners.”The United States is spending far more on NATO than any other Country. This is not fair, nor is it acceptable,” Trump tweeted a day before departing on a seven-day European trip to Belgium, the United Kingdom and Finland. “While these countries have been increasing their contributions since I took office, they must do much more.” Trump singled out Germany, which spent an estimated 1.24 percent of its 2017 economic output on defense, according to the latest figures from NATO. Comparably, the United States spent an estimated 3.57 percent. And he connected the issue to his protectionist trade policies, noting that the European Union has a trade surplus with the United States. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/07/09/donald-trump-blasts-nato-allies-defense-spending/767179002/

6am – E Giuliani wants to see ‘all’ Mueller team members’ text messages (Daily Caller) – Rudy Giuliani wants to see all Mueller team members’ text messages to check for anti-Trump bias, the Trump attorney said Monday.  “I want to see all their texts. I want to see if they’re texting the same thing,” Giuliani said in an interview on “Fox & Friends.” “I’m willing to bet a dinner that they are. You’ve got two or three of them that are texting horrible things about Trump.”  Three FBI officials who worked on special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation have been found to have sent text messages criticizing President Donald Trump.

6am – F Dem candidates bringing in record-breaking donations (Daily Caller) – Democratic members and candidates for the House are bringing in huge donations heading into the November midterm elections.  In only the first six months of 2018, Democratic House nominees have raised over $1 million in a quarter. Democratic candidates Gina Ortiz Jones, Lizzie Pannill Fletcher and Andy Kim have all brought in over a million in one quarter.

7am – A INTERVIEW – Kevin Daley – Daily Caller News Foundation Supreme Court reporter – discussed Judge Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination

7am – B Judge Brett Kavanaugh named Trump’s second Supreme Court justice (CBS News) – President Trump announced his selection of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to be his second Supreme Court justice Monday night. Speaking in the East Room of the White House, the president said that what mattered to him was “not a judge’s political views, but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the Constitution require.”  “I am pleased to say that I have found, without a doubt, such a person,” he said in announcing Kavanaugh’s nomination. “There is no one in America more qualified for this position and no one more deserving,” the president also said.

7am – C Australian experiment wipes out over 80% of disease-carrying mosquitos (CNN) – In an experiment with global implications, Australian scientists have successfully wiped out more than 80% of disease-carrying mosquitoes in trial locations across north Queensland.  The experiment, conducted by scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and James Cook University (JCU), targeted Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which spread deadly diseases such as dengue fever and Zika.  In JCU laboratories, researchers bred almost 20 million mosquitoes, infecting males with bacteria that made them sterile. Then, last summer, they released over three million of them in three towns on the Cassowary Coast.  

7am – D/E STUDENTS IN MoCo WANT CHINESE NEW YEAR OFF: Holidays for all: Asian students ask for a day off school on Lunar New Year (Washington Post) – For Angelina Xu, one of the best holidays of the year is like Thanksgiving and Christmas rolled into one. It brings the chance to see far-flung relatives and friends, to laugh and tell stories around the dinner table, to revel in plates and plates of Chinese food.  But schools don’t close for Lunar New Year in her Maryland school system, so the ­12-year-old said she and others are forced to choose between their classes and their culture — an “impossible decision.” “It’s important to me to be off because it’s the best chance I get to relate to my family in China, and to connect more with my parents and my brother, and to learn more about my culture,” said Xu, who attends Roberto Clemente Middle School in Germantown. The rising seventh-grader is part of a growing call for recognition of Lunar New Year in Montgomery County, a sprawling school district outside Washington that ranks as the largest in the state — and one of the largest in the nation — with more than 161,000 students.

8am – A  INTERVIEW – SENATOR BEN CARDIN – D-MARYLAND — shared his thoughts on the Supreme Court nomination pick.

• Dick Durbin: Blocking Trump’s Supreme Court pick more important than red state Dems getting re-elected
• Politico: Trump is starting to pressure red-state Democrats to support his Supreme Court pick. Key Democrats face a tough balancing act on Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation
• Senator Ben Cardin @SenatorCardin:The Supreme Court was designed as an independent check on both legislative and executive power. It should not be a rubber stamp on the extreme partisan positions of the president. #ScotusPick #WhatsAtStake
• Senator Ben Cardin @SenatorCardin: A grim reminder that @POTUS is continuing to destabilize our #healthcare system. This is astoundingly irresponsible. These ongoing efforts to sabotage the #ACA put lives at risk, as families will see coverage move further and further out of reach.

8am – B Political Double Standard:

• Democratic lawmaker says he received free food for standing up to Trump (CNN) – California’s Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu tweeted Monday morning that his experiences in restaurants are improving after he spoke out against the Trump administration’s immigration policies.  “My experience in restaurants: I ordered take out at a Greek restaurant. When I arrived, the owner saw me & threw in a free baklava (one of my favorite desserts),” Lieu wrote. “He said he appreciated what I was doing. I guess that’s what happens when one opposes ripping kids away from parents.”
• Fox News’ Shannon Bream forced to ‘bail’ on live show at Supreme Court after feeling ‘threatened’ by protesters (Washington Examiner) – Fox News anchor Shannon Bream said she had to “bail” on her live show from the Supreme Court after feeling “threatened” by protesters.  In a pair of tweets Monday evening, about an hour after President Trump announced his nomination of federal appeals court Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, Bream alluded to a “volatile” atmosphere on the scene.

8am – C Pelosi forgets McConnell’s name in interview (Daily Caller) – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi forgot the name of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell during a Sunday interview, while explaining that recent criticism of her is sexist.  In the interview with Rolling Stone, Pelosi was asked what margin she believes she needed to win to become speaker of the House, bringing up sexism in the Republican Party.    

8am – D/E INTERVIEW – RAHEEM KASSAM – Former chief of staff to Brexit leader Nigel Farage @RaheemKassam ‏ — previewed President Trump heading to Europe: NATO Summit and UK trip

• NATO: Trump’s Europe trip: Where he’s going on his 7-day visit with NATO allies. (USA Today) — President Donald Trump departs Tuesday for the seventh foreign trip of his presidency, visiting Western European countries and then sitting down for a one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In combining meetings with NATO and British allies with a Russian tete-a-tete, Trump will display two hallmarks of his foreign policy: Getting tough on allies and trading partners over their defense spending and trade policies, while opening the door to better relations with longtime adversaries like Russia, China and North Korea. Trump is expected to make four stops over the seven days: Brussels; London; Glasgow, Scotland; and Helsinki.
• UK TRIP:
• Theresa May is facing the most serious crisis of her premiership after her foreign secretary and minister in charge of Brexit resigned within hours of each other. David Davis, the Brexit secretary, and his colleague Boris Johnson dramatically quit over what they see as a watering down of the UK’s position on leaving the European Union. So what does this mean for the British Prime Minister, and what will happen to Brexit?
• London: A long-awaited visit: Trump’s visit to the United Kingdom ends nearly six months of missed opportunities, scheduling conflicts and speculation about the state of the “special relationship.” Indeed, Trump has waited longer to visit the closest U.S. ally than any modern president – except for Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford, who skipped the country entirely.  In just over 24 hours in England beginning Thursday afternoon, he will attend a black-tie business dinner at Blenheim Palace, working meetings with Prime Minister Theresa May at her country home at Chequers, and a tea-time visit with Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle. He will travel to most of those meetings by helicopter, meaning he can likely avoid the large-scale protests in central London, including a giant “Baby Trump” blimp.