Breitbart’s Charlie Spiering, Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton, Washington Examiner’s Alana Goodman, Tom Rogan and guest host Emily Jashinsky joined Tuesday morning!

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Hosts: Vince Coglianese and Emily Jashinsky

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C             AOC’S GREEN NEW DEAL:

• CAMPUS REFORM: Students Love Green New Deal… Until Hearing What’s In It
• NY Times Pounces! Ocasio-Cortez Team Flubs a Green New Deal Summary, and Republicans Pounce
• The ACTUAL Green New Deal DOES Include The Basics From The FAQ:
  • The resolution in Congress from Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) calls for a “10-year national mobilization” that would include:
  • “Guaranteeing a job with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to all people of the United States.”
  • “Providing all people of the United States with — (i) high-quality health care; (ii) affordable, safe, and adequate housing; (iii) economic security; and (iv) access to clean water, clean air, healthy and affordable food, and nature.
  • “Providing resources, training, and high-quality education, including higher education, to all people of the United States.
  • “Meeting 100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources.
  • “Repairing and upgrading the infrastructure in the United States, including . . . by eliminating pollution and greenhouse gas emissions as much as technologically feasible.
  • “Building or upgrading to energy-efficient, distributed, and ‘smart’ power grids, and working to ensure affordable access to electricity.
  • “Upgrading all existing buildings in the United States and building new buildings to achieve maximal energy efficiency, water efficiency, safety, affordability, comfort, and durability, including through electrification.
  • “Overhauling transportation systems in the United States to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector as much as is technologically feasible, including through investment in — (i) zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing; (ii) clean, affordable, and accessible public transportation; and (iii) high-speed rail.
  • “Spurring massive growth in clean manufacturing in the United States and removing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing and industry as much as is technologically feasible.
  • “Working collaboratively with farmers and ranchers in the United States to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector as much as is technologically feasible.”

5am – D         OMAR’S FAKE APOLOGY:

• After pressure from fellow Democrats., Minnesota freshman Representative Ilhan Omar apologized for tweets suggesting the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) pays Congressional members to support Israel. That tweet sparked calls for her removal from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Omar’s statement said “my intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole.” Still, Omar said lobbyists create problems in politics “whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the fossil fuel industry.
• Ilhan Omar Suggests Jews Bribing Politicians to Support Israel… Democrat Ilhan Omar Uses Anti-Jewish Smear About Money: ‘She Might as Well Call Us Hook-Nosed’ Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) launched a new antisemitic volley on Twitter on Sunday, accusing a pro-Israel group of buying influence in Congress, and referring to an offensive Jewish stereotype that even fellow critics of Israel found abhorrent. Omar began by re-tweeting Glenn Greenwald, co-founder of the Intercept, who has long been hostile to Israel. Greenwald had criticized House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (D-CA) for his comments to Breitbart News Saturday and other outlets, accusing Democrats of double standards in their reluctance to punish Omar and other Democrats for antisemitic rhetoric when they had eagerly censured Rep. Steve King (R-IA) for racist language.
• Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy threatens punishment for @IlhanMN and @RashidaTlaib over their criticisms of Israel. It’s stunning how much time US political leaders spend defending a foreign nation even if it means attacking free speech rights of Americans
• Rep. Omar responded, “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” suggesting that politicians had been paid to back Israel.
• …Bipartisan Backlash…  Nadler Denounces Ilhan Omar: ‘Deeply Disturbing’ Antisemitic Tropes — and Not Her First Offense Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) on Monday condemned Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) for implying members of Congress are bribed into supporting Israel, calling her comments “deeply disappointing and disturbing.” “It is deeply disappointing and disturbing to hear Representative Ilhan Omar’s (MN) choice of words in her exchange with a journalist yesterday, wherein she appears to traffic in old anti-Semitic tropes about Jews and money,” Nadler said in a statement. “Her words are deeply hurtful and offensive, particular as they build on previous comments she made about Jews ‘hypnotizing’ the world in support of Israel — another old trope born of hate-filled texts like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”  
• …But Some Dems Defend!… Dem Rep. Kildee on Ilhan Omar Remarks: ‘I Wouldn’t Take It as Antisemitism’ In an appearance on CNN’s “New Day” on Monday, Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) apparently defended his colleague Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) against charges of antisemitism. Kildee told “New Day” co-host John Berman he did not take the Minnesota Democrat’s tweets as “antisemitism.” “I wouldn’t take it as antisemitism,” Kildee said. “When it comes to issues around foreign policy or comes to issues specifically with Israel, there are a lot of interests, a lot of folks who make campaign contributions based on a person’s position on Israel.” “I know Congresswoman Omar, I don’t believe that she would harbor those sorts of views as they’ve been characterized,” he added.
• …House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Calls ‘Unacceptable’… House Foreign Affairs Chair Eliot Engel: Ilhan Omar’s Antisemitic Comments ‘Unacceptable’ Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, condemned Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) for tweeting anti-Semitic tropes Sunday evening, calling the freshman lawmaker’s comments about the role of so-called “Jewish money” in U.S. politics “shocking.” “Anti-Semitism in any form is unacceptable, and it’s shocking to hear a Member of Congress invoke the anti-Semitic trope of ‘Jewish money,’” Engel wrote in a statement Monday. “I fully expect that when we disagree on the Foreign Affairs Committee, we can debate policy on the merits and never question members’ motives or resort to personal attacks. Criticism of American policy toward any country is fair game, but this must be done on policy grounds.”
• Pelosi Won’t Say if She Loses Committee Seat… The House Democrat Leadership issued a statement Monday afternoon condemning Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN), calling her anti-Semitic comments “deeply offensive” and urging the freshman lawmaker to immediately apologize for her “hurtful comments.” “We are and will always be strong supporters of Israel in Congress because we understand that our support is based on shared values and strategic interests. Legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate that the United States and Israel share,” the top House Democrats said in a joint statement. “But Congresswoman Omar’s use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel’s supporters is deeply offensive. We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments.”
• Nancy Pelosi @SpeakerPelosi In our conversation today, Congresswoman Omar and I agreed that we must use this moment to move forward as we reject anti-Semitism in all forms.
• …Omar ‘Apologizes’… While Still Trashing AIPAC Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on Monday apologized for antisemitic remarks in which she implied Republicans are being bribed into supporting Israel — but ended her statement by taking a shot at AIPAC, referring to its role in U.S. politics as “problematic.” “Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes,” Omar said in a statement shared to Twitter. “My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole. We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me for my identity. This is why I unequivocally apologize.”

5am – E         HILLARY AND FBI

• FBI scrambled to respond to Hillary Clinton lawyer amid Weiner laptop review, newly released emails show
• Hillary Clinton lawyer demanded ‘ASAP’ chat with FBI after James Comey reopened emails investigation. (Washington Examiner) — Emails obtained by a conservative watchdog show the frantic series of events that transpired at the FBI after then-FBI Director James Comey informed Congress in October 2016 that his bureau was reopening an investigation into the former secretary of state’s unauthorized email server. Hours after Comey sent a letter to Congress on Oct. 28 informing lawmakers the probe he shut down that summer was getting news life less than two weeks before the presidential election, Clinton’s lawyer, David Kendall, emailed former FBI General Counsel James Baker to demand a call “ASAP.” Baker told colleagues he spoke to Kendall, who he said complained Comey’s letter was “tantalizingly ambiguous” and made statements that were “inchoate and highly ominous,” according to an email thread released by Judicial Watch. The note was forwarded to several top FBI officials, including Comey. The emails also show soon after a conference call was set up by Peter Strzok, the infamous ex-FBI agent who exchanged anti-Trump text messages with FBI lawyer Lisa Page and has fueled concern among GOP lawmakers that there is rampant bias in the FBI. The FBI closed the inquiry again just days before the election took place, with Comey maintaining the same position he asserted in July 2016: that his agency would not recommend criminal charges against anyone involved with Clinton’s private email network, even after finding that Clinton’s team was “extremely careless” in handling classified emails.

6am – A/B/C GOP/Dem Border Deal: $1.3B for Wall, No Increase in Detention Space. A Republican-Democrat border security deal that is expected to be offered to President Trump funds about $1.3 billion for a United States-Mexico border wall and includes no increase in detention space to control increasing illegal immigration at the border.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have announced that they have reached a deal on border wall funding to avoid a government shutdown. The deal, according to details by the Washington Post, includes about $1.3 billion in border wall funding — a fraction of the $5.7 billion that Trump had requested from Republicans and Democrats.

This funding is set to provide about 55 miles of new border wall along the roughly 2,000-mile long southern border. Much like the 2018 omnibus spending, which prevented Trump from building a border wall out of new materials, the deal is set to tack on stipulations as to what the barrier can be made from and where it can be placed.  

6am – D         Kamala Harris Wants To Legalize Weed: ‘It Gives A Lot Of People Joy.’ Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) has drawn a line in the sand with other presidential hopefuls: a green one. On Monday, Harris told the hosts of the New York City radio show “The Breakfast Club” that rumors that she didn’t support legalization were completely false.

“That’s not true,” she told the show’s host Charlamagne Tha God. “Half my family is from Jamaica, are you kidding me?” Harris later added: “I think it gives a lot of people joy, We need more joy in the world.”

6am – E         Sen. Kamala Harris directly confronted critics Monday who have questioned her black heritage

“So I was born in Oakland, and raised in the United States except for the years that I was in high school in Montreal, Canada,” Harris responded with a laugh. “And look, this is the same thing they did to Barack (Obama). This is not new to us and so I think that we know what they are trying to do.” “They are trying to do what has been happening over the last two years, which is powerful voices trying to sow hate and division, and so we need to recognize when we’re being played,” Harris said.

6am – F         FAIRFAX STAFFERS RESIGN

• Staffers for Virginia Lieutenant Governor Resign Amid Scandals Facing Top State Democrats. Two staffers for Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D.) resigned in the midst of a series of scandals afflicting the state’s political leaders, including two accusations of sexual assault against Fairfax himself. Fairfax’s policy director Adele McClure and scheduling director Julia Billingsly both stepped down, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. Two employees of Fairfax’s political action committee We Rise Together also resigned: Dave Mills, who was the PAC’s executive director, and Courtney McCargo, a fundraiser. Mills’s wife, state senator Jennifer McClellan, is the vice chair of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus and is considered a possible replacement for Fairfax should the lieutenant governor resign. Asked why four people left their jobs, Fairfax’s spokeswoman Lauren Burke said it “is a part-time office, so it’s not a big staff to begin with.” Lawrence Roberts, Fairfax’s chief of staff, said pressure is impacting staffers. “The pressure of constant incoming press, political and calls — our phones ring every five seconds and just trying to clear your voicemail is impossible,” Roberts said. He added that replacements could be hired “if we have the time and space to make intelligent decisions.”
• Virginia lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax’s law firm puts him ‘on leave’ and two of his three state-office aides QUIT as investigations launch into a pair of rape accusations. Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax has been placed on leave by his Washington D.C. law firm as it investigates the sexual assault allegations against him and most of his state staff have quit in the wake of the accusations. In Virginia, the lieutenant governor’s job is a part-time position and additional outside employment is common.  Fairfax’s employer, Morrison Foerster, ‘has retained outside counsel to conduct an investigation. During the investigation, Justin Fairfax has taken a leave of absence from Morrison & Foerster. Justin has agreed to cooperate with the firm’s investigation,’ chairman Larren Nashelsky told the Washington Examiner in a statement.
• Justin Fairfax accusers want Kavanaugh-style public hearings in Virginia. The two women accusing Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault want the Virginia General Assembly to hold hearings so they can publicly air out their claims much in the same way a hearing for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh played out last year when he faced allegations of sexual misconduct during his confirmation process. A statement from Meredith Watson’s laywer was released Monday evening as Fairfax, a Democrat, refuses to resign and has called for “due process for everyone involved” after Watson and California professor Vanessa Tyson came out in recent days to accuse him of sexual misconduct.
• NORTHAM LISTENING TOUR: Ralph Northam Will Launch A “Listening Tour” About Race Amid Blackface Scandal. Plans to recalibrate the governor’s legislative agenda to focus on race are coming into focus As Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam continues to resist calls to step down over the racist photo on his medical school yearbook page, he and his advisers are close to finalizing plans for a statewide “listening tour” to engage different communities in conversations about race. Additionally, a source close to the governor said Northam is telling people privately that if the commonwealth’s legislature puts a bill on his desk that provides the authority to bring down Confederate statues that he would sign it.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – CHARLIE SPIERING – White House Correspondent for Breitbart News

• Lawmakers say they have reached an ‘agreement in principle’ to avoid government shutdown: The deal includes $1.375 billion for 55 miles of fences along the border, compared with $5.7 billion Trump had sought for more than 200 miles of walls. The deal omits a strict new cap Democrats had sought on immigrants detained within the United States — as opposed to at the border. At the same time, it limits overall levels of detention beds maintained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, although GOP aides said ICE would have enough money and flexibility to maintain its current detention levels and add more when needed.
• Trump, O’Rourke face off at border as 2020 campaign gears up. Hours before the president arrived, thousands of his supporters — many of them wearing red campaign hats — lined up outside the El Paso County Coliseum, where they were entertained by live music. The early crowd was heavily Hispanic — perhaps the most diverse group the president has ever attracted to a rally.

7am – B/C     Chris Pratt puts an end to ‘infamously anti-LGBTQ’ church comments made by Ellen Page with lengthy Instagram post denouncing hateful rhetoric. ‘It has recently been suggested that i belong to a church which ‘hates a certain group of people’ and is ‘infamously anti-LGBTQ.’ Nothing could be further from the truth,’ he wrote. ‘I go to a church that opens their doors to absolutely everyone.’ He added that his place of worship ‘helped me tremendously’ during his divorce to Anna Faris ‘despite with the Bible says’ about the ending of marriages. ‘It is what I have seen them do for other on countless occasions regardless of sexual orientation, race or gender,’ he added.

7am – D/E     INTERVIEW – TOM FITTON – President, Judicial Watch (in studio)

• Judicial Watch has its eyes on the border: Lawmakers say they have reached an ‘agreement in principle’ to avoid government shutdown: The deal includes $1.375 billion for 55 miles of fences along the border, compared with $5.7 billion Trump had sought for more than 200 miles of walls. The deal omits a strict new cap Democrats had sought on immigrants detained within the United States — as opposed to at the border. At the same time, it limits overall levels of detention beds maintained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, although GOP aides said ICE would have enough money and flexibility to maintain its current detention levels and add more when needed.
• HILLARY AND FBI: FBI scrambled to respond to Hillary Clinton lawyer amid Weiner laptop review, newly released emails show. Hillary Clinton lawyer demanded ‘ASAP’ chat with FBI after James Comey reopened emails investigation. (Washington Examiner) — Emails obtained by a conservative watchdog show the frantic series of events that transpired at the FBI after then-FBI Director James Comey informed Congress in October 2016 that his bureau was reopening an investigation into the former secretary of state’s unauthorized email server. Hours after Comey sent a letter to Congress on Oct. 28 informing lawmakers the probe he shut down that summer was getting news life less than two weeks before the presidential election, Clinton’s lawyer, David Kendall, emailed former FBI General Counsel James Baker to demand a call “ASAP.” Baker told colleagues he spoke to Kendall, who he said complained Comey’s letter was “tantalizingly ambiguous” and made statements that were “inchoate and highly ominous,” according to an email thread released by Judicial Watch. The note was forwarded to several top FBI officials, including Comey. The emails also show soon after a conference call was set up by Peter Strzok, the infamous ex-FBI agent who exchanged anti-Trump text messages with FBI lawyer Lisa Page and has fueled concern among GOP lawmakers that there is rampant bias in the FBI.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – ALANA GOODMAN – Investigative political reporter, Washington Examiner

• Joe Biden embraced segregation in 1975, claiming it was a matter of ‘black pride’ 
• Joe Biden once said Democrats needed ‘a liberal George Wallace’ 

8am – B/C     TRUMP VS BETO RALLIES / NEGOTIATIONS:

• Lawmakers say they have reached an ‘agreement in principle’ to avoid government shutdown: The deal includes $1.375 billion for 55 miles of fences along the border, compared with $5.7 billion Trump had sought for more than 200 miles of walls. The deal omits a strict new cap Democrats had sought on immigrants detained within the United States — as opposed to at the border. At the same time, it limits overall levels of detention beds maintained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, although GOP aides said ICE would have enough money and flexibility to maintain its current detention levels and add more when needed.
• CONTAST OF TWO RALLIES:
  • Trump rally: Crowd chants, “USA! USA! USA!”
  • Beto had a female mariachi band singing in Spanish
  • Beto O’Rourke: “We know that walls do not save lives. Walls end lives. In the last 10 years, more than 4,000 children, women, and men have died trying to come to this country to work jobs that no one will take.”

8am – D         INTERVIEW – TOM ROGAN – commentary writer for the Washington Examiner and a senior fellow with the Steamboat Institute

• OMAR’S FAKE APOLOGY:  After pressure from fellow Democrats., Minnesota freshman Representative Ilhan Omar apologized for tweets suggesting the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) pays Congressional members to support Israel. That tweet sparked calls for her removal from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Omar’s statement said “my intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole.” Still, Omar said lobbyists create problems in politics “whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the fossil fuel industry.