ICYMI: Listen here to Thursday’s show with co-host @KenCuccinelli and special guests @susanferrechio, @michaelgwaltz, @esaagar, @braun4indiana & @KenPaxtonTX on @WMALDC: https://t.co/pxjCUd3t7H pic.twitter.com/UaKSJuARo4

— WMAL DC (@WMALDC) January 5, 2019

Susan Ferrechio, Rep-Elect Michael Waltz, Daily Caller’s Saagar Enjeti, Sen-elect Mike Braun, TX Attorney General Ken Paxton and guest co-host Ken Cuccinelli joined WMAL on Thursday!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, January 3, 2019

Hosts: Vince Coglianese and Ken Cuccinelli – President of Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF) & Senate Conservatives Action (SCA) and former attorney general of Virginia

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C Q &A with KEN CUCCINELLI

5am – D         Many Chinese think Americans lack resolve to prevail in battle, expert says (Stars and Stripes) — “A far larger number of Chinese believe it than I think is healthy,” said Brad Glosserman, a China expert and visiting professor at Tokyo’s Tama University. Glosserman was responding to comments by Chinese Rear Adm. Lou Yuan, who told an audience in Shenzhen last month that sinking a pair of U.S. aircraft carriers would settle issues of sovereignty in the South China Sea, according to the News Corp Australia network.

5am – E         CNN ASKS BROTHER OF DETAINED AMERICAN ABOUT HIS ANTI-CNN POSTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA. A CNN anchor asked the brother of a detained American about his anti-CNN social media posts in an interview Wednesday morning. Forty-eight-year-old Michigan businessman and ex-Marine, Paul Whelan, was detained in Russia this week on charges of espionage. CNN’s Alisyn Camerota interviewed David Whelan, who is the brother of Paul. Camerota used the opportunity to grill Whelan about his brother’s anti-CNN social media posts. Camerota asked Whelan about posts his brother made on a Russian social media platform, where he called CNN “fake news.”

 

6am – A         The new Congress will convene on Thursday, with Democrats taking control of the House and promising to pass legislation to reopen the government without funding for President Trump’s border wall

• Trump tells congressional leaders to return Friday, after border security sit-down in Situation Room | Fox News: A source inside the Situation Room told Fox News that it was the consensus of all participants that House Democrats would be able to negotiate once House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi is elected speaker of the House on Thursday, as expected. 60 votes in the Senate are needed to pass a spending bill and reopen the government. A White House official separately told Fox News that Trump began the meeting and then turned it over to Nielsen to provide information on the border. Just five or six seconds into the briefing, the official said, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer leaned over to Pelosi and suggested she interrupt Nielsen.
• Saagar Enjeti @esaagar: Leader McCarthy tells reporters that after Secretary Nielsen started speaking that Senator Schumer interrupted her
• WH official echoes McCarthy to @DailyCaller: Says Pelosi/Schumer refused to listen to border security briefing by Nielsen and that consensus was reached in room to hold off on next round of negotiations till Pelosi is officially speaker
• WH official tells @DailyCaller consensus was reached in sitiuation room meeting today to hold further negotiations till Pelosi is officially speaker

6am – B/C     Pelosi’s daughter: My mom will ‘cut your head off and you won’t even know you’re bleeding’: Filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi on Wednesday offered high praise for her mother’s negotiating skills, warning on CNN that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) would “cut your head off and you won’t even know you’re bleeding.” In an interview on “New Day,” Alexandra Pelosi was asked about her thoughts on the lawmaker’s shutdown discussions with President Trump ahead of a White House meeting with congressional leaders scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

6am – D         Bernie Sanders on why he was unaware of sexual harassment claims rocking campaign: ‘I was a little bit busy’” In an interview Wednesday night, Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders claimed he was too “busy” to know about the bombshell sexual misconduct allegations that internally rocked his 2016 presidential campaign, even as he apologized to any women who had not been “treated appropriately.”

6am – E         Former Editor: You’d Better Believe The NYT Is “Unmistakably Anti-Trump” (Hot Air) — You’d better believe that most of us already know that about the New York Times, but it’s good to get confirmation from its previous executive editor. In her new tell-all book Merchants of Truth, Jill Abramson dishes on her past experience at the Gray Lady but also on what has happened since her abrupt departure in 2014. Abramson accuses her successor Dean Baquet — who won a power battle to take over her job — of following a financial incentive to allow opinion to leach into news coverage at the Paper of Record: “Though Baquet said publicly he didn’t want the Times to be the opposition party, his news pages were unmistakably anti-Trump,” Abramson writes, adding that she believes the same is true of the Washington Post. “Some headlines contained raw opinion, as did some of the stories that were labeled as news analysis.” What’s more, she says, citing legendary 20th century publisher Adolph Ochs, “the more anti-Trump the Times was perceived to be, the more it was mistrusted for being biased. Ochs’s vow to cover the news without fear or favor sounded like an impossible promise in such a polarized environment.” It’s not all a personal vendetta, according to this report from Fox’s Howard Kurtz; Abramson points the finger at the Washington Post, too. (Kurtz makes no mention of what Abramson thinks of Fox News, natch.) Her point goes broader than either or both platforms, however. It’s not just the financial incentive, Abramson argues, but also a generation gap. The younger whippersnappers don’t understand straight news reporting, or at least don’t prioritize it over their political activism: “Abramson describes a generational split at the Times, with younger staffers, many of them in digital jobs, favoring an unrestrained assault on the presidency. “The more ‘woke’ staff thought that urgent times called for urgent measures; the dangers of Trump’s presidency obviated the old standards,” she writes.

6am – F         Mitt Romney rebuked by niece and GOP boss Ronna McDaniel, Trump for scathing op-ed. Senator-elect Mitt Romney is taking heat not only from President Trump but now from his own niece — who happens to lead the Republican Party — after publishing a scathing op-ed about the president. Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman also known as Ronna Romney McDaniel, turned the intra-party fight into a family feud when she scolded her uncle on Twitter for his anti-Trump column.

7am – A         INTERVIEW — SUSAN FERRECHIO – the chief congressional correspondent for the Washington Examiner — discussed latest on the shutdown and preview the new incoming Congress and the GOP reaction to Mitt Romney’s angry Washington Post op-ed

• Trump tells congressional leaders to return Friday, after border security sit-down in Situation Room | Fox News. A source inside the Situation Room told Fox News that it was the consensus of all participants that House Democrats would be able to negotiate once House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi is elected speaker of the House on Thursday, as expected. 60 votes in the Senate are needed to pass a spending bill and reopen the government. A White House official separately told Fox News that Trump began the meeting and then turned it over to Nielsen to provide information on the border. Just five or six seconds into the briefing, the official said, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer leaned over to Pelosi and suggested she interrupt Nielsen.
• New Congress to be sworn in Thursday. WASHINGTON (ABC News) – The 116th Congress convenes on Thursday and Democrats will hold the majority of seats in the House of Representatives. First on the agenda will be the government shutdown, but there are plenty of other weighty items on a long to-do list. When the next class of lawmakers is sworn in Thursday, President Trump will be dealing with a divided Congress for the first time. Democratic lawmakers in control of the House are promising more oversight and investigation into the Trump Administration. But Illinois Senator Dick Durbin has some advice for his Democratic colleagues in the House: “Don’t get mad, don’t get even, get something done. Show what Democrats, if they control the Congress, would do to make life better for people,” said Durbin.

7am – B         Metro to welcome bicycles on trains at rush hour. Starting next week, Metro customers will be able to bring their bikes with them on the train – at any time – as Metro ends a longstanding restriction that prohibited bicycles during rush hours. The policy change, which takes effect Monday, is expected to make Metrorail a more attractive travel option for reverse commuters (i.e. customers traveling outbound in the morning and inbound in the evening) who want to take their bike to travel between the rail station and their workplace.

7am – C         PHOTO: Trash piles grow in park next to White House…

7am – D         INTERVIEW — Rep.-elect MICHAEL WALTZ – elected to serve Florida’s 6th congressional district, former Green Beret; Author of “Warrior Diplomat”

• TOPIC: Welcome him to Washington and what’s on his agenda
• New Congress to be sworn in Thursday.
• ABOUT WALTZ: Michael Waltz was elected to serve Florida’s 6th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives elections, 2018. Waltz earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in International Studies at the Virginia Military Institute and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the US Army Reserve. A retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer, Waltz is a veteran of the War in Afghanistan, a former senior advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney for South Asia and Counterterrorism in the George W. Bush White House., founded and served as CEO for a successful defense firm that provides strategic analysis, intelligence support, and training to U.S. Government customers worldwide, and the first Green Beret ever elected to the United States Congress. Prior to his time in the White House, Waltz served in a senior role at the Pentagon as Director for Afghanistan policy within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He is a member of the Republican Party. Mike is a FOX News contributor, providing expert commentary on foreign policy and defense issues, and has also appeared frequently on CNN, MSNBC, BBC World News, and PBS Frontline

7am – E         Warren was drinking Michelob Ultra during that live stream. Warren reveals she was drinking ‘the club soda of beers’ during New Year’s Eve Instagram live. (Washington Times) — Sen. Elizabeth Warren watches her carbs and calories even when hitting the sauce. The Massachusetts Democrat and progressive champion revealed Wednesday what kind of beer was in the widely-remarked-upon Instagram video in which she discussed her steps toward the 2020 presidential race. “I drink Michelob Ultra — the club soda of beers,” she told reporters Wednesday. In the livestream video taken at her home Monday night, she took a break telling her watchers “hold on a sec. I’m gonna get me a beer,” leaving the frame, rattling about in her icebox, and then taking a big gulp from the bottle once she was back onscreen. The former Harvard professor’s hand had covered the beer’s label during the video, although she continued to sip at it during the filming.

 

8am – A         INTERVIEW – SAAGAR ENJETI – White House Correspondent, Daily Caller – discussed the latest on the shutdown / recap Trump’s press event Wednesday afternoon.

• Trump tells congressional leaders to return Friday, after border security sit-down in Situation Room
• Saagar Enjeti @esaagar: Leader McCarthy tells reporters that after Secretary Nielsen started speaking that Senator Schumer interrupted her
• TRUMP: “I wish Mitt could be more of a team player. I’m surprised he did it this quickly. I was expecting something. I was surprised. Look, I endorsed him. He thanked me profusely.”

8am – B/C   INTERVIEW – Sen-elect Mike Braun – discussed what’s on his agenda in Washington.

• BIO: Michael Braun is a businessman and politician who represented the 63rd district in the Indiana House of Representatives from 2014 to 2017. A Republican, Braun defeated Democratic incumbent Joe Donnelly in 2018 to win a seat in the United States Senate

8am – D         INTERVIEW — TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL KEN PAXTON

• TOPIC: The current Obamacare lawsuit (ken and fellow AGs just had it declared unconstitutional, now it goes on to the 5th circuit).
• DEC 14TH: Federal judge rules Obamacare unconstitutional, handing Texas an early win. Fort Worth S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that the individual mandate — a critical component of Obamacare — is unconstitutional, rendering the rest of the law invalid as well.
• DEC 30TH: Texas judge lets Obamacare stand while court challenge continues. The federal judge in Texas who ruled the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional said today that the law can stand while his judgment is under appeal. In his order issuing a stay and final partial judgment in the controversial case, S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor reiterated that he believes the entire ACA cannot stand without its individual mandate penalty, which Congress zeroed out last year. O’Connor argued that appellate judges will agree with his judgment, but said it should not take effect while the case is being appealed. “[M]any everyday Americans would otherwise face great uncertainty,” he wrote.

8am – E         PELOSI GOES ON NBC ABOUT THE SHUTDOWN AND BORDER WALL FUNDING FIGHT

• Nancy Pelosi Defends Vacation During Shutdown: Trump May Not Know ‘Hawaii is Part of the United States’
• PELOSI: NOTHING FOR THE WALL: “Are you willing to come up and give him some of this money for the wall?” -Savannah Guthrie… “No.” – Nancy Pelosi “Because apparently that’s the sticking point.” –Guthrie… “No, no. Nothing for the wall.” –Pelosi
• “We’re talking about border security. There is no amount of persuasion he [Trump] can do to say to us we want you to do something that is not effective – that costs billions of dollars that sends the wrong message about who we are as a country.”