Cal Thomas, Steve Moore, Kevin McCarthy and Hogan Gidley joined WMAL on Wednesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C Trump backs off demand for $5 billion for border wall, but budget impasse remains ahead of shutdown deadline. (Washington Post) — President Trump on Tuesday abandoned months of strident demands for Congress to give him $5 billion for his border wall, bowing to political reality as Republicans scrambled to avoid shutting down large portions of the government this weekend. It was a stunning turnaround from one week ago, when Trump told Democratic congressional leaders during a bizarre on-camera sparring match that he’d be “proud” to shut down the government to get his wall money. Instead, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday, Trump does not want a shutdown and will identify “other ways” to fund a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.But the concession by the president, which came after lawmakers from both parties argued that his $5 billion wall plan wouldn’t get through Congress, did not break the impasse that’s overtaken Capitol Hill in the final days of unified GOP control of Washington.

5am – D/E     FLYNN’S SENTENCING DELAYED: The delay came after Flynn’s attorneys initially declined an offer Tuesday from U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan to delay the sentencing on charges of making false statements to the FBI, amid the judge’s questions over Flynn’s cooperation in a separate case involving illegal lobbying for Turkey. After Sullivan tore into the defendant and warned he couldn’t guarantee that Flynn wouldn’t get jail time, the defense asked for a sentencing delay.

 

6am – A/B/C Comey asked about Obama’s awareness of Hillary Clinton’s missing emails, House GOP transcript shows. Fired FBI Director James Comey was grilled by House GOP lawmakers about former President Obama’s knowledge of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, transcripts of Monday’s hearing show

6am – D         INTERVIEW – CAL THOMAS – Syndicated columnist

• Trump backs off demand for $5 billion for border wall, but budget impasse remains ahead of shutdown deadline. (Washington Post) — President Trump on Tuesday abandoned months of strident demands for Congress to give him $5 billion for his border wall, bowing to political reality as Republicans scrambled to avoid shutting down large portions of the government this weekend. It was a stunning turnaround from one week ago, when Trump told Democratic congressional leaders during a bizarre on-camera sparring match that he’d be “proud” to shut down the government to get his wall money. Instead, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday, Trump does not want a shutdown and will identify “other ways” to fund a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.But the concession by the president, which came after lawmakers from both parties argued that his $5 billion wall plan wouldn’t get through Congress, did not break the impasse that’s overtaken Capitol Hill in the final days of unified GOP control of Washington.
• CRIMINAL JUSTICE BILL: The Senate has overwhelmingly passed a criminal justice reform bill, delivering a bipartisan win to President Trump.  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed a sweeping criminal justice bill Tuesday that addresses concerns that the nation’s war on drugs had led to the imprisonment of too many Americans for non-violent crimes without adequately preparing them for their return to society. Senate passage of the bill by a vote of 87-12 culminates years of negotiations and gives President Donald Trump a signature policy victory, with the outcome hailed by scores of conservative and liberal advocacy groups. The House is expected to pass the bill this week, sending it to the president’s desk for his signature

6am – E         Trump administration moves to ban bump stocks. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration Tuesday banned bump stocks, the firearm attachments that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns and were used during the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.  The regulation gives gun owners until late March to turn in or destroy the devices. After that, it will be illegal to possess them under the same federal laws that prohibit machine guns. Bump stocks became a focal point of the gun control debate after they were used in October 2017 when a man opened fire from his Las Vegas hotel suite into a crowd at a country music concert, killing 58 people and injuring hundreds more. The regulation was signed Tuesday by Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker. It will take effect 90 days after it is published in the Federal Register, which is expected to happen Friday. Bump stock owners will be required to either destroy them or surrender them to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a senior Justice Department official said. It is impossible to know just how many bump stocks Americans own because the devices aren’t traceable, but ATF has estimated that between 280,000 and about 520,000 have been sold since 2010.

6am – F         The Debate Is Over: New Trailer Makes ‘Die Hard’ An Official Christmas Movie. (Huffington Post) — A recut trailer from 20th Century Fox calls it “the greatest Christmas story ever told.” “Die Hard” is officially a Christmas movie.

20th Century Fox has released a new trailer for the 1988 action movie that plays up the film’s humor as well as its holiday angle. Then, the preview cheekily declares “Die Hard” to be “the greatest Christmas story ever told.”  The new trailer is unlikely to settle the long-raging debate among fans. Those in favor can point to all the Christmas elements in the film, which takes place at a holiday office party and is loaded with seasonal sounds and images. Those opposed, on the other hand, can note it hit theaters in July during its initial release. Then there’s the film’s star, Bruce Willis.  “Now please, listen very carefully: ‘Die Hard’ is not a Christmas movie,” he cracked at his Comedy Central Roast over the summer. “It’s a goddamn Bruce Willis movie!”

 

7am – A         INTERVIEW – STEVE MOORE – former campaign economic advisor to President Trump and economist at The Heritage Foundation and author of new book “Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy”

• Trump backs off demand for $5 billion for border wall, but budget impasse remains ahead of shutdown deadline – The Washington Post. Congressional Republicans promised Trump several months ago that if he would delay a fight over the border wall until after the midterm elections, they would help him obtain the money in December. But those efforts never materialized, and the president was under heavy pressure to avoid a partial government shutdown just a few days before Christmas. “The advice he’s getting is to not do this, to just sign the bill, get this over with, and get into 2019 and then have this fight,” said Steve Moore, who was an adviser to Trump during the 2016 campaign.

7am – B/C     Calls on the wall funding surrender.

7am – D/E     STOLEN PACKAGES:

• Ex-NASA Engineer’s Fart-Laced ‘Glitter Bomb’ Stuns Package Thieves. Mark Rober’s ingenious device unwraps a whole lot of humiliation on crooks in a viral. All that glitters is not gold for package thieves if they run afoul of Mark Rober’s booby-trapped device. Rober, a former NASA engineer who worked on the Curiosity rover, put his smarts to a more earthly concern recently: stopping jerks who pilfer holiday package deliveries.  Rober, himself a victim, spent six months developing a baited box that blasts glitter and fart spray on would-be thieves when they open their surprise. The device also takes cellphone video of the culprits, uploads the footage to the cloud and can be tracked by GPS.  Rober’s viral YouTube video, posted Monday, covers the development of his clever boxes of whoop-ass, but the best part is watching them detonate on real suspects. The most common reaction was: “What the fuck!?” “The moral of the story is, just don’t take other peoples’ stuff,” Rober said. “Not only is it not cool, but on the plus side you’ll never find yourself in this situation.”
• PGPD searching for thieves who clearly didn’t think this crime thru. Surv camera shows 1 suspect stealing a TV off a porch in Fort Washington. But it won’t fit in his getaway car! After several attempts, the suspect shoves it in the backseat & driver takes off! #DMV @wusa9

 

8am – A         INTERVIEW – KEVIN MCCARTHY – film critic for FOX 5 DC

• RIP PENNY MARSHALL: Penny Marshall, co-star of ‘Laverne & Shirley’ and director of ‘A League of Their Own,’ dead at 75. (CNN) Actress Penny Marshall, who found fame in TV’s “Laverne & Shirley” before going on to direct such beloved films as “Big” and “A League of Their Own,” has died. She was 75. Marshall died peacefully in her Hollywood Hills home on Monday night due to complications from diabetes, said Michelle Bega, a spokeswoman for the family.

• PREVIEW/REVIEW THE LATEST FILMS THIS SEASON
• DIE HARD A CHRISTMAS MOVIE? YIPPEE KI YES???

8am – B/C     DIE HARD A CHRISTMAS MOVIE? (Huffington Post) — A recut trailer from 20th Century Fox calls it “the greatest Christmas story ever told.” “Die Hard” is officially a Christmas movie. 20th Century Fox has released a new trailer for the 1988 action movie that plays up the film’s humor as well as its holiday angle.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – HOGAN GIDLEY – Deputy Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy Press Secretary at The White House — discuss the budget and the border

• Trump retreats on government shutdown. Trump backs off demand for $5 billion for border wall, but budget impasse remains ahead of shutdown deadline. (Washington Post)  — President Trump on Tuesday abandoned months of strident demands for Congress to give him $5 billion for his border wall, bowing to political reality as Republicans scrambled to avoid shutting down large portions of the government this weekend.