Washington Post’s Tim Carman, Former Rep. Frank Wolf, Bret Baier and guest host ACU’s Matt Schlapp joined WMAL on Friday!

Mornings on the Mall

Friday, July 20, 2018

Hosts: Vince Coglianese and Matt Schlapp

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C PUTIN / RUSSIA:

• WH: Trump disagrees with Putin’s “incredible offer” for access to indicted Russians
• Trump to invite Putin to US in fall
• SANDERS: In Helsinki, @POTUS agreed to ongoing working level dialogue between the two security council staffs. President Trump asked @Ambjohnbolton to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall and those discussions are already underway.
• SCHUMER: Until we know what happened at that two hour meeting in Helsinki, @realDonaldTrump should have no more one-on-one interactions with Putin. In the United States, in Russia, or anywhere else.
• Rep. Swalwell on discussions for Putin to visit Washington this fall: “When your home is burglarized, you don’t invite the burglar to dinner … you put in a home security system”

5am – D         MSNBC AND CNN EMPLOYEES DOMINATE WHITE HOUSE PRESS BRIEFINGS (Daily Caller) — The daily White House press briefing is meant to give a chance for reporters, from a variety of publications with their own perspectives and agendas, to ask the Trump administration various questions in the hopes of soliciting information for their respective outlets. In reality, a disturbing amount of these White House correspondents are also employees of just two networks: CNN and MSNBC. Moreover, these reporters overwhelmingly work for legacy newspapers and broadcasters like The New York Times and The Washington Post, in addition to their gigs moonlighting as commentators on television. Research by The Daily Caller News Foundation found a total of at least nine members of the WH press corps who currently receive compensation for their commentary on CNN and MSNBC. Currently, CNN employs The Time’s Maggie Haberman, the Post’s Josh Dawsey, American Urban Radio Network’s April Ryan, and Playboy’s Brian Karem. MSNBC has contracts with PBS’s Yamiche Alcindor, the Post’s Phil Rucker and Ashley Parker, TheTime’s Peter Baker and the Associated Press’s Jonathan Lemire. Additionally, both MSNBC (as well as its parent network NBC) and CNN employ their own White House correspondents, meaning that these networks could have anywhere from eight to potentially a dozen employees at each daily briefing — well over 10 percent of the total attendees.

5am – E         NYT: ‘Best Professor.’ ‘Very Evenhanded.’ ‘Great Hair!’: Brett Kavanaugh, as Seen by His Law Students

 

6am – A         ‘Boy or girl?’ Parents raising ‘theybies’ let kids decide. One way of shielding children from gender stereotypes: Keep their biological sex secret.  (NBC News) — CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Three-year-old twins Zyler and Kadyn Sharpe scurried around the boys and girls clothing racks of a narrow consignment store filled with toys. Zyler, wearing rainbow leggings, scrutinized a pair of hot-pink-and-purple sneakers. Kadyn, in a T-Rex shirt, fixated on a musical cube that flashed colorful lights. At a glance, the only discernible difference between these fraternal twins is their hair — Zyler’s is brown and Kadyn’s is blond. Is Zyler a boy or a girl? How about Kadyn? That’s a question their parents, Nate and Julia Sharpe, say only the twins can decide. The Cambridge, Mass., couple represent a small group of parents raising “theybies” — children being brought up without gender designation from birth. A Facebook community for these parents currently claims about 220 members across the U.S. “A theyby is, I think, different things to different people,” Nate Sharpe told NBC News. “For us, it means raising our kids with gender-neutral pronouns — so, ‘they,’ ‘them,’ ‘their,’ rather than assigning ‘he,’ ‘she,’ ‘him,’ ‘her’ from birth based on their anatomy.” Parents in the U.S. are increasingly raising children outside traditional gender norms — allowing boys and girls to play with the same toys and wear the same clothes — though experts say this is happening mostly in progressive, well-to-do enclaves.

6am – B         President Trump opens up to CBS Evening News’ Jeff Glor about possible opponents in the 2020 presidential election: “I dream about Biden” (Daily Caller) — President Donald Trump actively wants to run against former Vice President Joe Biden, he told CBSNews in a recent interview. “I dream — I dream about Biden,” Trump said of a possible run against the former vice president in 2020. “That’s a dream. Look, Joe Biden ran three times. He never got more than 1 percent, and President Obama took him out of the garbage heap, and everybody was shocked that he did. You know, there’s probably – the group of seven or eight right now. I’d really like to – I’d like to run against any one of them, but Biden — never by himself — could never do anything.” Trump has repeatedly said he will run for office again in 2020, hiring Brad Parscale as his new campaign manager. The president’s re-election campaign has raised a stunning 88 million dollars since he took office.

6am – C         Trevor Noah defends ‘Africa won the World Cup’ joke (BBC) — US-based South African comedian Trevor Noah has defended himself after being criticised by a French diplomat for saying “Africa won the World Cup”. The Daily Show host made the comments on his satirical show a day after France beat Croatia to win football’s most coveted prize on Sunday. More than half of the French squad can trace their heritage back to Africa. The French ambassador to the US said the comedian was denying their “Frenchness” by calling them African. “This, even in jest, legitimises the ideology which claims whiteness as the only definition of being French,” Gérard Araud said in a stern letter to Noah. “They were educated in France, they learned to play soccer in France, and they are French citizens. They are proud of their country, France.” The Daily Show posted a video of the South African comic reading out the letter on Wednesday (later tweeted by the French embassy in the US) – and going on to argue that the players’ African identity should be celebrated. Noah said he understood where the ambassador was coming from and how his comment could be perceived as “joining the attack” with France’s far right. But he said his statement should be put in context: “When I am saying, ‘They are African’, I am not saying it as a way to exclude them from their Frenchness, but using it as a way to include them in my Africanness.”

6am – D         Whoopi Goldberg and Jeanine Pirro get into explosive argument backstage at ‘The View’ (Page Six) — Whoopi Goldberg and Jeanine Pirro got into an explosive argument backstage at “The View” on Thursday — after an intense on-the-air exchange got even more heated behind-the-scenes, sources exclusively tell Page Six. The confrontation ended with liberal Goldberg allegedly shouting, “F–k you, get the f–k out!” at President Trump supporter and Fox News host Pirro. During the screaming match, Pirro told Goldberg, “I’ve done more for abused women than you will ever do,” we hear.

The trouble, sources told us, started before Pirro even went on-air to promote her new book, “Liars, Leakers, and Liberals: The Case Against the Anti-Trump Conspiracy” — when Pirro arrived at “The View” to learn that anti-Trump CNN contributor Ana Navarro was filling in for Joy Behar. “When Jeanine arrived on set she was looking for a fight and refusing to be on with Ana, demanding [Ana] not be in the segment,” an insider said. “[Pirro] was yelling at [‘The View’] executive producer and her staff like, ‘You need to handle this.’” Another source told us that Pirro “was upset that Ana was there because she wasn’t told until the last minute. Ana is 24-7 anti-Trump. Jeanine wasn’t yelling, but you could tell they felt like the segment was being hijacked by shoving in an anti-Fox, anti-Trump person.” Navaro did appear in Pirro’s segments, and things came to a head on the ABC show when the “Justice with Judge Jeanine” host accused left-wing Goldberg of having “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Goldberg responded of Trump, “I have never seen anybody whip up such hate.” A shouting match started with Pirro declaring, “You know what’s horrible? When people who shouldn’t be here end up murdering the children of American citizens!” and Goldberg shot back, “What is horrible is when the president of the United States whips up people to beat the hell out of people … Say goodbye. I’m done!” Goldberg left the stage, but the fireworks went off again with the cameras off: Backstage when the two crossed paths, a source told us, “Jeanine tried telling her she’s fought for victims her whole life.” That’s when “Whoopi got in her face and said that they’ve known each other a long time, but still, ‘F–k you, get the f–k out of this building.’ Jeanine looked stunned.”

6am – E         Lawsuit looks to revoke Trump International Hotel’s liquor license (Fox 5 DC) — WASHINGTON – A D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commission is supporting a petition that seeks to revoke the Trump International Hotel’s liquor license. The commissioners in ANC 4C unanimously voted to support a petition to revoke the Trump Hotel’s liquor license because the law says licensees should be people of “good moral character,” and the commissioners believe President Donald Trump is not of good moral character. “What the complaint says is that the owner of the Trump International Hotel doesn’t meet that definition and so ABRA, the Alcohol Beverage Regulation Administration, should take action,” Zach Teutsch, ANC Commissioner 4C, said. D.C. attorney Joshua Levy filed the petition to revoke the license on behalf of 7 D.C. residents and the move by the ANC 4C commissioners is to support that filing. But ANC 4C is located about three miles from the Trump Hotel, which means the hotel isn’t in their jurisdiction. While the Trump Hotel is not in their jurisdiction, D.C.’s Alcoholic Beverage Regulatory Administration says any civic group can file a complaint against a licensee any time. The Trump Hotel’s license is up for renewal in 2019, but not everybody’s on board with the effort to revoke the license.

6am – F         Trump breaks taboo on Fed, says ‘not thrilled’ about rate hikes (Politico) — President Donald Trump broke a traditional taboo Thursday by openly criticizing the Federal Reserve for its campaign of gradual interest rate hikes, arguing that the central bank could counteract the positive effects of his economic policies. “I don’t like all of this work that we’re putting into the economy and then I see rates going up,” Trump told CNBC, in his first critical remarks on the Fed since becoming president. The president tempered his criticism by saying that Chairman Jerome Powell — his own appointee — is a “very good man.” He also stopped short of directly calling on the Fed to stop raising interest rates. “I’m not thrilled,” he said. “Because we go up and every time you go up they want to raise rates again. I don’t really — I am not happy about it. But at the same time, I’m letting them do what they feel is best.”

 

7am – A         PUTIN / RUSSIA:

• WH: Trump disagrees with Putin’s “incredible offer” for access to indicted Russians
• Trump to invite Putin to US in fall
• SANDERS: In Helsinki, @POTUS agreed to ongoing working level dialogue between the two security council staffs. President Trump asked @Ambjohnbolton to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall and those discussions are already underway.
• SCHUMER: Until we know what happened at that two hour meeting in Helsinki, @realDonaldTrump should have no more one-on-one interactions with Putin. In the United States, in Russia, or anywhere else.
• Rep. Swalwell on discussions for Putin to visit Washington this fall: “When your home is burglarized, you don’t invite the burglar to dinner … you put in a home security system”

7am – B/C     REPORT: MUELLER HAS OFFERED TONY PODESTA IMMUNITY TO TESTIFY IN MANAFORT CASE (Daily Caller) — Special counsel Robert Mueller has offered Clinton-connected superlobbyist Tony Podesta immunity in order to testify against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, according to Fox News host Tucker Carlson. “Tonight we can report exclusively based on two separate sources we spoke to today that Tony Podesta has been offered immunity by Robert Mueller to testify against Paul Manafort,” reported Carlson. The Daily Caller News Foundation has not independently confirmed the report. Podesta, whose brother is Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, worked with Manafort’s consulting firm in 2012 on a project to help a Ukrainian non-profit group that supported then-Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych. Manafort has been indicted on numerous counts of conspiracy and fraud related to the work, which ended two years before the longtime Republican operative joined the Trump campaign. Both Manafort and Podesta’s now-defunct lobbying firm, the Podesta Group, retroactively registered in 2017 with the Department of Justice as foreign agents of Ukraine. Mueller’s prosecutors informed a federal judge Tuesday in Virginia, where Manafort is set to go to trial, that five witnesses would be granted immunity in order to compel them to testify. The five witnesses had indicated they would invoke their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. Carlson asserted that Podesta receiving immunity from Mueller reveals an anti-Trump double standard in the special counsel’s probe. “In other words, for a near identical crime, Bill and Hillary’s friend could skate and emerge completely unscathed while Paul Manafort may rot in jail,” Carlson said. “Only one of them made the mistake of chairing Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.”

7am – D         INTERVIEW – TIM CARMAN –  food reporter at The Washington Post @timcarman

• TOPIC: Could the Trump hotel lose its liquor license because of the president’s character?

7am – E         Gottlieb: FDA to crack down on labeling nondairy products as ‘milk’ (Politico) — The head of the FDA said Tuesday that the Trump administration will move to crack down on the use of the term “milk” for nondairy products like soy and almond beverages. The agency will soon issue a guidance document outlining changes to its so-called standards of identity policies for marketing milk, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said at the POLITICO Pro Summit. “An almond doesn’t lactate, I will confess,” Gottlieb said, referring to the fact that the agency’s current standards for milk reference products from lactating animals. The move would be a major boon for dairy groups, which have been struggling amid dropping prices and global oversupply. The industry has petitioned FDA to enforce marketing standards for milk, but the agency has not previously addressed the issue.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – Former Congressman FRANK WOLF – Senior Distinguished Fellow at 21 Wilberforce Initiative

• FBI director calls China ‘the broadest, most significant’ threat to the US and says its espionage is active in all 50 states. (Business Insider) — FBI Director Christopher Wray has described China as “the broadest, most challenging, most significant threat we face as a country.” Wray’s comments come after a week of controversy surrounding President Donald Trump’s response to Russian election meddling. Wray said that investigations into economic espionage linked to China were taking place in every US state and that China wanted to become the “sole dominant superpower.” China’s intelligence success is due in part to its ability to act in a “whole of state effort” and also to its capacity to take a patient, long-term view. Amid rampant discussion about Russian election interference and espionage, FBI Director Christopher Wray has deemed China the largest, most concerning threat to the US.

8am – B         Va. GOP operative who worked for Corey Stewart says N.Y. Times reporter broke into his apartment. (Washington Times) — A Virginia Republican operative is accusing a New York Times reporter of breaking into his Woodbridge apartment. Brian Landrum, who has worked for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Corey Stewart, said a friend of his went to his unlocked apartment around 2 p.m. Wednesday and came across an intruder, whom he identified as reporter Stephanie Saul. “Walking out of the bathroom taking a right, hearing something, she turned around and Stephanie was standing right [there]” Mr. Landrumtold Washington NBC affiliate WRC-TV on Thursday. He said Ms. Saul was not invited to his place. ‘I had had absolutely no heads up that she even had any interest in speaking with me, until she decided to break into my apartment,” Mr. Landrum told WRC. In an email to WRC, a Times spokesperson denied Ms. Saul had broken in. “Ms. Saul went to an address for Landrum Associates in Woodbridge looking for Mr. Landrum. She was told by a woman who opened the door that he was not present. She left a note with the woman for Mr. Landrum asking him to call. At no time did she enter the premises,” the Times spokesperson said. According to WRC, the Prince William County Police Department did respond to reports of a break-in at an apartment in that area.

8am – C         Andy Dick pleads not guilty to sexual battery (Page Six) — Andy Dick pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor sexual battery on Wednesday. Dick, 52, was not present in court for the hearing, The Blast reported. The troubled comedian was accused of groping a woman’s buttocks and making lewd comments to her on a Los Angeles sidewalk in April. Dick was also accused of groping cast and crewmembers on the set of an indie film last October, but he denied all claims, quipping, “I didn’t grope anybody. I might have kissed somebody on the cheek to say goodbye and then licked them. That’s my thing — I licked Carrie Fisher at a roast. It’s me being funny. I’m not trying to sexually harass people.” He was ultimately fired from the movie.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – BRET BAIER – Anchor, Special Report, Fox News Channel and author of “Three Days in Moscow: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire” @BretBaier

• Bret Baier will be anchoring for CHRIS WALLACE ON FOX NEWS SUNDAY

RUSSIA

• Trump to invite Putin to US in fall
• WH: Trump disagrees with Putin’s “incredible offer” for access to indicted Russians
• SANDERS: In Helsinki, @POTUS agreed to ongoing working level dialogue between the two security council staffs. President Trump asked @Ambjohnbolton to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall and those discussions are already underway.
• Pompeo is unequivocal: Russians won’t get to interview Americans

FUTURE OF DEM PARTY: OCASIO CORTEZ campaigning with Bernie Sanders

8am – E         William Shatner goes on Twitter rant after fans call his autograph policy ‘rude’ (Fox News) — William Shatner fans, don’t even think about asking the “Star Trek” actor for an autograph. It’s not going to happen. The 87-year-old actor announced the news on Twitter this week when he replied to a user who warned others not to request a signature from him. “You’ll probably just get yelled at,” the commenter claimed. “How about you just don’t ask me?” Shatner fired back. “Most who follow me know I don’t give autographs in public.”