WJLA’s Sam Sweeney, The Hill’s John Solomon, ABC7’s Julie Wright, Raheem Kassam, Baltimore Sun’s Luke Broadwater and film critic Christian Toto joined WMAL on Friday!

Mornings on the Mall

Friday, May 3, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C NY TIMES: F.B.I. Sent Investigator Posing as Assistant to Meet With Trump Aide in 2016

5am – D         INTERVIEW – SAM SWEENEY – WJLA reporter – previewed this weekend’s metro closings and this summer’s metro shutdown.

• DC METRO CLOSINGS THIS WEEKEND: Metro to Close 6 Northern Virginia Stations This Weekend The stations will close May 4-5, ahead of a months-long closure starting May 25. Before Metro shuts down six Northern Virginia stations for the length of summer 2019, commuters will have to cope with closures along the same stretch of the Blue and Yellow lines this weekend. Braddock Road, King Street, Eisenhower Avenue, Van Dorn Street, Franconia-Springfield and Huntington stations will be closed on Saturday, May 4, and Sunday, May 5. Along the Blue Line, buses will replace trains between the National Airport and Franconia-Springfield, Metro says. The shuttle will stop at National Airport, but won’t stop at Braddock Road station. Along the Yellow Line, buses replace trains from Crystal City and Huntington. The replacement shuttle won’t stop at National Airport, Metro says. This closure precedes a months-long effort to replace crumbling platforms in Northern Virginia. On May 25, the same six stations will close. They aren’t slated to reopen until Sept. 8.
• In a dry run for the major 24/7 shutdown that begins in just three weeks, Metro is closing all six Blue and Yellow Line stations south of Reagan National Airport this Saturday and Sunday.
• The “Summer Shutdown” of six Metro stations along the Blue and Yellow Lines begins in 23 day. ABC7 News has a team of reporters monitoring this renovation project that’s sure to cause disruptions.
• Sam Sweeney @SweeneyABC 13h13 hours ago 225 tons of Granite edge is ready to be into place at 6 metro stations on the Blue and Yellow Lines. The holes will house the lights that flash as a train approaches.

5am – E         Ukrainian embassy confirms DNC contractor solicited Trump dirt in 2016. (The Hill/By John Solomon) — The boomerang from the Democratic Party’s failed attempt to connect Donald Trump to Russia’s 2016 election meddling is picking up speed, and its flight path crosses right through Moscow’s pesky neighbor, Ukraine. That is where there is growing evidence a foreign power was asked, and in some cases tried, to help Hillary Clinton. In its most detailed account yet, Ukraine’s embassy in Washington says a Democratic National Committee insider during the 2016 election solicited dirt on Donald Trump’s campaign chairman and even tried to enlist the country’s president to help. In written answers to questions, Ambassador Valeriy Chaly’s office says DNC contractor Alexandra Chalupa sought information from the Ukrainian government on Paul Manafort’s dealings inside the country, in hopes of forcing the issue before Congress. Chalupa later tried to arrange for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to comment on Manafort’s Russian ties on a U.S. visit during the 2016 campaign, the ambassador said. Chaly says that, at the time of the contacts in 2016, the embassy knew Chalupa primarily as a Ukrainian-American activist, and learned only later of her ties to the DNC. He says the embassy considered her requests an inappropriate solicitation of interference in the U.S. election.

6am – A         Alabama rep blasted for abortion stance calls Don Jr. ‘retarded’ (NY Post) – The Alabama state lawmaker being blasted over his bizarre statements on abortion made disturbing comments about Donald Trump Jr. on Thursday, calling the first son “retarded” and saying he should have been aborted. “He’s evidently retarded. Uh, crazy,” embattled Democratic Rep. John Rogers told reporters in Alabama, according to WVTM-TV news. “Donald Trump’s son, I know there’s something wrong with that boy.” The 78-year-old Birmingham pol was responding to Trump Jr. calling his comments on Alabama’s new abortion law “stomach curling.” In voicing opposition to the bill, criminalizing nearly all abortion, even in cases of rape and incest, Rogers had said: “Some kids are unwanted. So you kill them now or you kill them later.” “You bring them into the world unwanted, unloved — you send them to the electric chair,” he added. “So, you kill them now or kill them later.” The remarks were slammed by conservatives, including Trump.

6am – B/C     STEVE MOORE WITHDRAWS FROM NOM:

• STEVE MOORE DROPS HIS NOM FOR FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD. *Stephen Moore, a conservative commentator whom President Trump had tapped for serving on the Federal Reserve board, withdrew from consideration yesterday after losing Republican support in the Senate, largely over his past inflammatory writings about women. Trump tweeted the news of Moore’s withdrawal, only hours after Moore had told two news organizations that he was still seeking the board seat and still had the support of the White House.

• Stephen Moore slams CNN, NYT for digging through 10-year-old divorce settlement to dig for ‘dirt.’  Stephen Moore, who recently withdrew himself from consideration as President Trump’s pick for the Federal Reserve Board, said on Thursday he was doomed as a candidate from the beginning because of his conservative leaning views on the economy. Moore, appearing on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight, said that he was the subject of personal attacks by left because of his views on economic policy, which he said was never the subject of debate during his consideration. “The left understood from the first couple of days, because they did surveys of the senators and the Republicans senators loved my economic views and so on, and that’s when they launched this character assassination,” he said speaking to host Tucker Carlson. “The most amazing thing, The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN, they got my divorce settlement from 10 years ago unsealed so that they could just put all of this dirt on me that had nothing to do with my qualifications to be on the fed.” Moore came under intense scrutiny last week for his past writings that appeared to disparage women and offensive remarks about the Obamas but on Thursday he seemed to accept responsibility for what he called “stupidity.”

6am – D         JOHN SOLOMON – investigative journalist and the Executive Vice President at The Hill

• Ukrainian embassy confirms DNC contractor solicited Trump dirt in 2016 

6am – E         Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones and other ‘dangerous’ voices banned by Facebook and Instagram. New York (CNN Business)Facebook announced Thursday that it had designated some high-profile people, including Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who’s notorious for using anti-Semitic language, and right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, as “dangerous” and said it will be purging them from its platforms. Jones and his media outlet InfoWars had previously been banned from Facebook (FB) in August 2018, but had maintained a presence on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. On Thursday, Jones and InfoWars will be barred from Instagram as well. Other people banned on Thursday included Paul Nehlen, an anti-Semite who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2016 and 2018, and fringe right-wing media personalities Laura Loomer, Milo Yiannopoulos and Paul Joseph Watson. “We’ve always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement provided to CNN Business. “The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today.” A Facebook spokesperson told CNN Business the company goes through a lengthy process and takes into consideration a number of factors before determining an individual to be “dangerous.”

6am – F         Baltimore Mayor Pugh resigns after month on leave amid investigation into her business deals. (Baltimore Sun) — Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh resigned Thursday, apologizing for the harm she has caused to the city’s image amid a growing scandal over her sales of a self-published children’s book series. It was the latest blow to the leadership of a city that’s seen two mayors resign in scandal in less than a decade and a third one decline to seek another term after a riot over police misconduct and a soaring murder rate. Pugh, a Democrat, submitted a letter of resignation with Thursday’s date filled in by hand. Her resignation is effective immediately, her attorney Steven Silverman said at a 96-second news conference at his offices in downtown Baltimore. Pugh did not attend, Silverman took no questions and there was no indication when she would emerge from the seclusion she’s imposed on herself since her last news conference March 28. “This is a sad day for Mayor Pugh and a sad day for the city of Baltimore,” the lawyer said.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – JULIE WRIGHT – traffic anchor ABC7 News

• Preview this weekend’s metro closings and this summer’s metro shutdown
• In a dry run for the major 24/7 shutdown that begins in just three weeks, Metro is closing all six Blue and Yellow Line stations south of Reagan National Airport this Saturday and Sunday.

7am – B         NADLER / HOUSE JUDICIARY BARR-LESS HEARING

• Attorney General William Barr skipped a House hearing yesterday on special counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia report over a dispute about the format of the hearing. Hours later, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that Barr already lied to Congress in previous testimony and called that a “crime.” The Justice Department issued a rebuke of Pelosi for engaging in what it called a “baseless attack” against Barr.
• Republican Rep. Gaetz gets his mic cut.
• Rep Cohen Brings KFC And Rubber Chicken To Hearing After Barr Declines Invitation
• “Chicken Barr should have shown up today and answered questions,” Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) says, as he holds up a chicken statue.

7am – C         RIP CHEWBACCA: Peter Mayhew, the actor who played Chewbacca in ‘Star Wars,’ has died, his family says. Peter Mayhew, the actor best known for playing the character Chewbacca in the “Star Wars” movie series, died on Tuesday, his family announced on his Twitter page. He was 74 years old. “The family of Peter Mayhew, with deep love and sadness, regrets to share the news that Peter has passed away. He left us the evening of April 30, 2019 with his family by his side in his North Texas home,” the tweet posted on Thursday said. Mayhew’s cause of death is unclear. Accompanying the post was an image of Mayhew and the beloved Wookie character, as well as a longer statement from his family that laid out which “Star Wars” movies the actor appeared in. They included “the original Star Wars trilogy, episode 3 of the prequels, and the New Trilogy.”

7am – D         INTERVIEW – RAHEEM KASSAM – Editor-in-Chief of Human Events

• Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones and other ‘dangerous’ voices banned by Facebook and Instagram
• Day of the Long Knives. Right wingers have been unceremoniously banned from Facebook. Now what? (By Raheem Kassam/Human Events) — Alex Jones, Paul Joseph Watson, Laura Loomer and Milo Yiannopoulos have been unpersonned by the digital tech giant Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram. They’re coming for you, next. Or more likely, for us.

7am – E         Eric Swalwell roasted after flunking basics of Constitution, getting outraged ‘woman’ not mentioned in founding document. (Fox News) — Democratic presidential candidate Eric Swalwell has been roasted after stumbling over his knowledge of the Constitution in a bid to score political points. Swalwell, a California lawmaker who launched his bid to become the president last month, has been struggling to get a footing in the crowded Democratic primary, with 19 other Democrats overshadowing him in both the money raised and policy ideas.   But the Congressman remains unabated and has repeatedly courted progressives as his supporters, promising to select a woman as his running mate because he’s a “white man” who knows “where I can’t speak to someone else’s experience.” On Tuesday, Swalwell ramped up the effort, issuing a tweet reading: “Do you know how many times the word ‘Woman’ is mentioned in the Constitution? Zero.”  “That is unacceptable. Women must be equally represented and equally protected,” he added, advocating for the Equal Right Amendment, a suggested amendment to the Constitution that would guarantee equal legal rights to everyone no matter their sex. Swalwell’s tweet shortly caused a backlash after many pointed that the word “man” also doesn’t appear in the Constitution. “Do you know how many times the word ‘Man’ is mentioned in the Constitution? Zero,” fired back the co-founder of the Federalist. “There’s dumb and then there’s ‘can’t read or use CTRL+F before tweeting’ dumb.” 

8am – A         INTERVIEW – LUKE BROADWATER – Reporter, Baltimore Sun

• Luke is the reporter who broke the “Healthy Holly” scandal
• Baltimore Mayor Pugh resigns after month on leave amid investigation into her business deals  (Baltimore Sun) — Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh resigned Thursday, apologizing for the harm she has caused to the city’s image amid a growing scandal over her sales of a self-published children’s book series.

8am – B         WHITE HOUSE RIPS MUELLER REPORT

• White House lawyer Emmet Flood is objecting to what he calls the “political” report by special counsel Robert Mueller. In a letter to Attorney General William Barr last month, Flood wrote President Trump will retain the right to invoke executive privilege in the face of congressional inquiries. In the April letter, Flood blasted the Mueller report as a defective “prosecutorial curiosity – part `truth commission’ report and part law school exam paper.”
• TRUMP TWEET: OK, so after two years of hard work and each party trying their best to make the other party look as bad as possible, it’s time to get back to business. The Mueller Report strongly stated that there was No Collusion with Russia (of course) and, in fact, they were rebuffed at every turn in attempts to gain access. But now Republicans and Democrats must come together for the good of the American people. No more costly & time consuming investigations. Lets do Immigration (Border), Infrastructure, much lower drug prices & much more – and do it now!

8am – C         Bill Clinton Is Starting A Podcast Called ‘Why Am I Telling You This’ (Daily Caller) — Former President Bill Clinton launched a podcast Thursday with his daughter Chelsea called “Why Am I Telling You This.” The title “Why am I telling you this” harkens back to a phrase Clinton leaned on during his presidency while he told stories during speeches.  The podcast, produced by the Clinton Foundation and At Will Media, will feature stories from the former president, Chelsea Clinton, The Clinton Foundation staff, and various guests in efforts to highlight The Clinton Foundation, according to CNN. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reportedly will not be formally involved in the podcast, but she may appear at some point to support the Clinton Foundation.  Chelsea Clinton said in the podcast’s teaser that the series will focus on the “people, issues and events that have shaped our work and our world,” CNN reports.

8am – D         INTERVIEW —  CHRISTIAN TOTO – Film Critic, HollywoodInToto.com and Host of “The Hollywood in Toto” podcast  (available on iTunes) @HollywoodInToto – reflected on the passing of Peter Mayhew, the actor behind the iconic Star Wars character CHEWBACCA.

8am – E         INTERVIEW — STEVE MOORE – former campaign economic advisor to President Trump, economist at The Heritage Foundation and author of book “Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy”

• STEVE MOORE DROPS HIS NOM FOR FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD: Stephen Moore, a conservative commentator whom President Trump had tapped for serving on the Federal Reserve board, withdrew from consideration yesterday after losing Republican support in the Senate, largely over his past inflammatory writings about women. Trump tweeted the news of Moore’s withdrawal, only hours after Moore had told two news organizations that he was still seeking the board seat and still had the support of the White House.