Ray Stagich, Saagar Enjeti, Andrew McCarthy and Bible Museum CEO Ken McKenzie joined WMAL on Tuesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C President Trump tweets support for Bible classes in schools. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Should the Bible be studied in public schools? Several states are pushing Bible literacy bills this year, and President Donald Trump tweeted that he thinks it’s “Great!” Florida, Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia are seeking Bible study classes, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

On Monday morning, President Trump tweeted his support of the bills seeking Bible literacy. “Numerous states introducing Bible Literacy classes, giving students the option of studying the Bible. Starting to make a turn back? Great!”

5am – D         VENEZUELA / SANCTIONS

• US announces new sanctions against Venezuela’s state-owned oil company. The Trump administration on Monday announced new sanctions against Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, ramping up pressure on President Nicolás Maduro to give up power. National security adviser John Bolton told reporters at the White House that the sanctions on Petroleos de Venezuela, A. (PdVSA) will target $7 billion in assets and could result in $11 billion in lost sales over the next year.
• White House not tamping down tensions after Bolton seen holding notepad with words ‘5000 troops to Colombia.’ (CNN)The White House is not tamping down tensions after national security adviser John Bolton was seen Monday holding a yellow legal pad inscribed with the words “5000 troops to Colombia.” “As the President has said, all options are on the table,” a White House spokesman said when asked for an explanation of the notes, which were seen during a briefing with reporters about new sanctions on Venezuela. President Donald Trump has refused to rule out military options in Venezuela as the administration ramps up pressure on the country’s ruler, Nicolás Maduro.

5am – E         INTERVIEW – Weather Channel meteorologist Ray Stagich

• Tuesday’s snow could slow evening rush hour, then roads may freeze overnight.
• Almost 75 percent of the country will face below-freezing temperatures this week.

6am – A/B/C FINANCIAL SECRETS:  Roughly 1 in 5 Americans in a live-in relationship keeps a checking, savings or credit card account hidden from their spouse or partner. That adds up to 29 million people whose financial secrets could plague their love lives, according to a CreditCards.com report. Secret accounts are most common among millennials, 28 percent of whom are currently hiding bank or credit cards from their live-in partners, the study shows. More than half of the people surveyed likened keeping financial secrets to physical infidelity, qualifying it as at least equal in severity to physical cheating.

6am – D/E/F KAMALA’S TOWN HALL: KAMALA HARRIS IS COMING AFTER YOUR HEALTH PLAN: Democratic 2020 presidential hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., raised eyebrows Monday at a town hall when she vowed to eliminate all private health care insurance for approximately 150 million Americans if she is elected president … Asked by CNN host Jake Tapper if people who like their current health care insurance could keep it under her “Medicare for All” plan, Harris, D-Calif., indicated they could not — but that, in turn, they would experience health care without any delays. Her statements appeared to be a full-throated call for single-payer health insurance, as opposed to merely expanding Medicare, and a dramatic embrace of the kind of proposals advocated by Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders.

• Kamala Harris vows to get rid of private health care plans: ‘Let’s eliminate all of that.
• Let’s move Kamala Harris endorses Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal

7am – A         INTERVIEW – SAAGAR ENJETI – White House Correspondent, The Daily Caller – discussed the latest White House news: John Bolton’s notepad / Venezuela sanctions / State of the Union update

• Trump accepts Pelosi’s State of the Union invite. (CNN)President Donald Trump has accepted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s invitation to give his State of the Union address on February 5, the White House announced Monday evening. “When I wrote to you on January 23rd, I stated that we should work together to find a mutually agreeable date when government has reopened to schedule this year’s State of the Union address,” Pelosi stated in a letter provided by her office. “In our conversation today, we agreed on February 5th.”
• WHITE HOUSE BREAKS THE BRIEFING DROUGHT! AND LIB NETWORKS IGNORE….
• WEMPLE: Right now, Fox News is the only outlet carrying @presssec at the podium in WH briefing, while CNN and MSNBC proceed with their regular progamming.
• US announces new sanctions against Venezuela’s state-owned oil company. The Trump administration on Monday announced new sanctions against Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, ramping up pressure on President Nicolás Maduro to give up power. National security adviser John Bolton told reporters at the White House that the sanctions on Petroleos de Venezuela, A. (PdVSA) will target $7 billion in assets and could result in $11 billion in lost sales over the next year.
• White House not tamping down tensions after Bolton seen holding notepad with words ‘5000 troops to Colombia’ (CNN)The White House is not tamping down tensions after national security adviser John Bolton was seen Monday holding a yellow legal pad inscribed with the words “5000 troops to Colombia.” “As the President has said, all options are on the table,” a White House spokesman said when asked for an explanation of the notes, which were seen during a briefing with reporters about new sanctions on Venezuela.

7am – B/C     INTERVIEW – ANDREW MCCARTHY – Former Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, contributing editor of National Review and host of “The McCarthy Report” podcast

• Mueller investigation nearly finished, acting attorney general says

7am – D         HOWARD SCHULTZ NEWS

• FLASHBACK: Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz tells 60 Minutes that he’s “seriously thinking” about an independent run for president
• Democrats to Howard Schultz: Don’t do it
• Heckler to Schultz: “Don’t help elect Trump, you egotistical, billionaire asshole” (The Hill) — Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said Monday that he doesn’t plan to respond to remarks President Trump made on Twitter saying Schultz doesn’t have the “guts” to run for president. Schultz, during an interview with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin at a Barnes & Noble in New York, called Trump’s tweet “childish.” “I’m not going to respond to that. It’s childish. I’m not trying to win the Twitter primary,” Schultz said. A heckler shouted at him during the event, urging Schultz not to run. “Don’t help elect Trump, you egotistical, billionaire asshole,” the person could be heard saying.
• TRUMP SLAMS SCHULTZ: Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump: Howard Schultz doesn’t have the “guts” to run for President! Watched him on @60Minutes last night and I agree with him that he is not the “smartest person.” Besides, America already has that! I only hope that Starbucks is still paying me their rent in Trump Tower! 5:41 AM – 28 Jan 2019
• HOWARD SCHULTZ: The question I think we all should be asking ourselves is: at this time in America when there’s so much evidence that our political system is broken – that both parties at the extreme are not representing the silent majority of the American people – isn’t there a better way? (VIDEO)
• Mike Bloomberg responds to Schultz: “The data was very clear and very consistent. Given the strong pull of partisanship and the realities of the electoral college system, there is no way an independent can win. That is truer today than ever before.”
• Bloomberg rebukes Howard Schultz and says Americans ‘can’t afford’ to let an independent candidate help re-elect Trump as rattled Democrats threaten a Starbucks BOYCOTT if he runs STEVE PEOPLES: Seconds into Howard Schultz’s remarks here at Barnes & Noble in Manhattan, a heckler yells: “Don’t help elect Trump. You egotistical billionaire asshole.”

7am – E         INTERVIEW – Weather Channel meteorologist Ray Stagich

• Tuesday’s snow could slow evening rush hour, then roads may freeze overnight.
• Almost 75 percent of the country will face below-freezing temperatures this week.

8am – A/B/C KAMALA’S TOWN HALL: KAMALA HARRIS IS COMING AFTER YOUR HEALTH PLAN: Democratic 2020 presidential hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., raised eyebrows Monday at a town hall when she vowed to eliminate all private health care insurance for approximately 150 million Americans if she is elected president … Asked by CNN host Jake Tapper if people who like their current health care insurance could keep it under her “Medicare for All” plan, Harris, D-Calif., indicated they could not — but that, in turn, they would experience health care without any delays. Her statements appeared to be a full-throated call for single-payer health insurance, as opposed to merely expanding Medicare, and a dramatic embrace of the kind of proposals advocated by Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders.

• Kamala Harris vows to get rid of private health care plans: ‘Let’s eliminate all of that.
• Let’s move Kamala Harris endorses Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal

8am – D         INTERVIEW – Ken McKenzie – CEO of The Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C.

• TOPIC: President Trump tweets support for Bible classes in schools
• TRUMP: Numerous states introducing Bible Literacy classes, giving students the option of studying the Bible. Starting to make a turn back? Great!
• Growing number of states pushing ‘Bible literacy’ classes in public schools. (Fox News) — A growing number of states are considering bringing the Bible back to the classroom. At least six states — Florida, Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Virginia, and West Virginia — have introduced legislation this year pushing for public schools to offer Bible literacy classes. Supporters say learning the basics of the Bible is an important part of American history — and students should not be denied learning its tenets just because someone might be offended. The laws being proposed do not make Bible classes mandatory, but they will be offered as electives.

8am – E         CHRISTIE / MUELLER:

• Mueller investigation near completion, acting AG Whitaker says. It remains unclear whether the special counsel’s finding about Trump and his campaign will be made public. Special counsel Robert Mueller has almost finished up his nearly two-year investigation into collusion and Russian interference in the 2016 election, the acting attorney general said Monday.
• CHRIS CHRISTIE SAYS THERE’S A DEEPER REASON WHY TRUMP FIRED MIKE FLYNN (Daily Caller) –– Former Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie alleges in a new book that both President Donald Trump and senior adviser Jared Kushner believed firing Michael Flynn would put an end to the “Russia” Christie — the former two-term Republican governor who led Trump’s transition team before getting canned himself — dishes out details about the inner workings of the Trump campaign and early days of his presidency in an upcoming book, “Let Me Finish.” The memoir paints a picture of a son-in-law ill-equipped to work in the White House. In the book, Christie recounted a lunch conversation he had with Trump and Kushner on February 14, 2017 — a day after the administration fired National Security adviser Michael Flynn for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about his contact with a Russian ambassador. “This Russia thing is all over now, because I fired Flynn,” Trump said during the conversation, according to The New York Times. The response drew laughter from Christie, who told him that the Russia controversy was far from over. “What do you mean? Flynn met with the Russians. That was the problem. I fired Flynn. It’s over,” Trump responded. The exchange drew commentary from Kushner, who added, “That’s right, firing Flynn ends the whole Russia thing.”