Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton, Caroline Glick, Joe diGenova, Phelim McAleer and The Federalist’s Sean Davis joined WMAL on Thursday!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, May 30, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C/D/E     REACTION TO MUELLER’S STATEMENT

6am – A/B/C INTERVIEW – TOM FITTON – President of Judicial Watch reacted to Mueller’s statement (in studio)

• As Mueller bows out, more Democrats call for Trump’s impeachment. If Robert Mueller thought his only public remarks since being appointed special counsel would put the Russian collusion allegations and Democrats’ calls to impeach President Trump to rest, he was mistaken. If anything, Mueller’s statement Wednesday may have assured that the debate over whether to impeach Trump will be a dominant issue heading into the 2020 president election. Speaking from the Justice Department, Mueller announced the closing of his office and told reporters he did not plan to testify before Congress. He explained that his team did not have the “option” to charge President Trump with a crime, citing longstanding Justice Department policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted. However, Mueller also stressed that there “was not sufficient evidence to charge a conspiracy” with regard to whether members of the Trump campaign coordinated with the Russian government during the 2016 presidential election.
• ‘Turning The Rule Of Law On Its Head’ — Judicial Watch President Calls For Investigation Of Robert Mueller. (Daily Caller) – Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton called for an investigation into Robert Mueller for suggesting “wrongdoing by an innocent person without any foundation.” “Well, I don’t know what reputation he had that deserved any credence until now, but it’s no longer there,” Fitton said. “He’s really destroyed whatever reputation he’s had with this political attack on the president, turning the rule of law on its head, suggesting the president is guilty and, because he can’t prove otherwise, we should conclude that he should be impeached.” Calling it “an abuse of power,” Fitton said that Attorney General Barr has been “too deferential” to Mueller and should have “shut down” the “report before it was even written.” “[I]t’s been abuse piled on top of abuse targeting President Trump,” Fitton said. “And this Mr. Mueller, he needs to be investigated as well. The office of professional responsibility should be asking, ‘Why did this Justice Department prosecutor come out and suggest wrongdoing by an innocent person without any foundation?’ Because there is no foundation. If there was a foundation, there would have been indictments or requests for an indictment while highlighting that. Outrageous.”

6am – D         INTERVIEW – CAROLINE GLICK – veteran Israeli journalist, author of “The Israeli Solution: A One State Plan for Peace in the Middle East” and was a Knesset candidate – discussed the election chaos happening in Israel.

• After Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a new government, the country’s parliament voted to dissolve and Israel will hold a new election in the fall.
• Netanyahu fails to form new government, forcing new election. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could not secure support from far-right lawmakers. TEL AVIV — Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a ruling coalition late Wednesday night, becoming the first elected prime minister in Israeli history to stumble in forging a working government. As the clock struck midnight on Netanyahu, the Israeli Parliament voted to dissolve itself, forcing a Sept. 17 election. The vote was 74 to 45 in favor of dismantling the Knesset. Up until the final moments Wednesday night, Netanyahu seemed to be on the brink of hammering out a deal with ultra-religious parties. But he couldn’t seal the deal amid demands from far-right lawmakers led by Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Beiteinu party on military draft exemptions “We will run an election that is clear in which we will win,” Netanyahu said after the vote. Netanyahu, 69, seemed to be in the clear for a fifth term in April after his conservative Likud party fended off a spirited challenge from centrists led by Benny Gantz. The Likud and the opposition Blue and White each won 35 Knesset seats, which seemed to be more than enough for Netanyahu, who had counted on far-right backing. Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party has only five seats but suddenly became kingmakers in the final moments Wednesday night. Netanyahu’s suddenly precarious hold on power was exemplified by the Labour Party claiming it had been offered a role in a Likud coalition. But the center-left opposition said it rejected the offer, though the Likud refused to confirm the unusual offer.

6am – E         Mystery over USS John S. McCain ‘out of sight’ directive as Meghan McCain blasts Trump. A mystery continues to surround a reported U.S. military email that called for the USS John S. McCain to be “out of sight” during President Trump’s recent visit to U.S. troops stationed in Japan, where the ship was docked. On Wednesday, both President Trump and acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan denied any knowledge of the order, which led to the ship’s name first being covered with a tarp and then being obscured by a paint barge prior to Trump’s visit over Memorial Day weekend. The Wall Street Journal, which reported the story, directly contradicts Shanahan. The Journal cites an unnamed U.S. official as saying that Shanahan was aware and approved measures to ensure the ship did not interfere with the president’s trip. The ship is named for the father and grandfather of the late U.S. Sen. John S. McCain III, with whom Trump had feuded prior to the Arizona Republican’s death from cancer last year at age 81. The Journal feature apparently infuriated Meghan McCain, daughter of the late senator, who tweeted, in part, the following: “Trump is a child who will always be deeply threatened by the greatness of my dads [sic] incredible life … Trump won’t let him RIP. So I have to stand up for him.”

6am – F         MOCO FUNDS FOR IMMIGRANTS:

• FLASHBACK: EARLIER IN MAY: Fairfax County votes to approve budget for legal fund for illegal immigrants fighting deportation. FAIRFAX, Va. (FOX 5 DC) – Fairfax County has approved a budget item that will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to help illegal immigrants fight deportation by the federal government. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the pilot program to be included in its budget, which will come at a cost of $200,000 for taxpayers.
• CASA de Maryland and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Greater Washington will receive $1.3 million from the MoCo Council. (Bethesda Magazine) — Montgomery County Allocates Grants For Immigration Assistance. CASA de Maryland, Catholic Charities receiving $1.3 million. The Montgomery County Council, in approving a $5.8 billion operating budget last week, allocated $14.5 million for 335 individual grants to community nonprofits. The largest share of funding will go toward immigration assistance programs. The Latino immigrant advocacy organization CASA de Maryland received $673,830, which will be used for eight separate grants for programs such as legal assistance for immigrants, vocational training and capital improvements to the Rockville Welcome Center, which is one of three job training sites the organization runs in Montgomery County. Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Greater Washington received $652,196 from the council, some of which will go toward pro-bono legal assistance for immigrants that have survived domestic violence as well as education programs for low-income immigrants. Other grants for the organization will go toward its Community Companions program, which provides child care to children with disabilities. Hispanics and Latinos made up nearly 20% of the county’s population in 2018, according to the Census Bureau.

7am – A/B/C INTERVIEW – JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney to the District of Columbia — react to Mueller’s statement

• Special Counsel Robert Mueller made a 10-minute statement at the Justice Department about his 22-month investigation of the Trump campaign and Russia, saying, “If we had confidence that the President did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” Mueller says he’s retiring and will have no further comments in public or to Congress about the report. President Trump tweeted, “There is insufficient evidence and therefore, in our country, a person is innocent.”
• As Mueller bows out, more Democrats call for Trump’s impeachment. (Fox News) — If Robert Mueller thought his only public remarks since being appointed special counsel would put the Russian collusion allegations and Democrats’ calls to impeach President Trump to rest, he was mistaken. If anything, Mueller’s statement Wednesday may have assured that the debate over whether to impeach Trump will be a dominant issue heading into the 2020 president election. Speaking from the Justice Department, Mueller announced the closing of his office and told reporters he did not plan to testify before Congress. He explained that his team did not have the “option” to charge President Trump with a crime, citing longstanding Justice Department policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted. However, Mueller also stressed that there “was not sufficient evidence to charge a conspiracy” with regard to whether members of the Trump campaign coordinated with the Russian government during the 2016 presidential election. On the question of obstruction, Mueller said, “If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that. We did not determine whether the president did commit a crime.” Prominent Democrats seized on Mueller’s words to call for Trump’s impeachment. House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said that all options were “on the table” and that it was up to Congress to hold Trump accountable for any alleged crimes. 2020 Democratic presidential candidates such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Beto O’Rourke all called for impeachment proceedings to begin.

7am – D         INTERVIEW — PHELIM McALEER – writer and filmmaker  www.fbilovebirds.com

• D.C. Theater Backs Out of Hosting Phelim McAleer’s FBI Play Over “Threats of Violence.” The conservative journalist-turned filmmaker set the performance of ‘FBI Lovebirds: Undercovers’ in mid-June at the Mead Theatre in Washington and was intending to film it before a live audience of 218 people. Seven days after it was announced that a stage play about two FBI agents making disparaging remarks about President Donald Trump was in the works, the theater set to host the production canceled, citing “threats of violence.” The play is dubbed FBI Lovebirds: Undercovers and is based on verbatim texts between FBI lawyer Lisa Page and former agent Peter Strzok. Example: “He’s not going to become president, right, Right?!” Page texted in reference to Trump. “No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,” Strzok replied. Conservative journalist-turned filmmaker Phelim McAleer scheduled the performance, starring Dean Cain and Kristy Swanson, in mid-June at the Mead Theatre in Washington and was intending to film it before a live audience of 218 people and release the production digitally. In an email obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, a representative of Studio Theatre, a group of four venues that includes the Mead, acknowledged accepting a 25 percent deposit from McAleer but says it will nonetheless be canceling the performance. “Media reports have made us aware of undisclosed details about the event and Studio has become aware of the threats of violence made surrounding it which raise legitimate safety and security concerns,” reads the email. THR reached out to a Studio representative to determine the nature of the threat, the steps it took before deeming it serious and whether it was made known to authorities, but the rep was unavailable for comment. Theatre Planners, a firm that helped book the venue, referred all questions to McAleer. Studio’s mention of “media reports” appear to indicate that the threats come from a Twitter user who tweeted: “lock the doors, and set the theater on fire.” Swanson, who plays Page in the production, forwarded the tweet to Twitter and it has since been deleted.

7am – E         Man Lights Self on Fire Near White House Ellipse. (NBC Washington) — The Secret Service says the man is getting first aid. A man set himself ablaze Wednesday on the grounds of the White House Ellipse, the U.S. Secret Service says. Passersby expressed alarm on social media after seeing a large plume of smoke billowing from a grassy area at 15th and Constitution Avenue Northwest, near a security checkpoint. Police say the man lit himself on fire about 12:20 p.m. Secret Service, National Park Service and U.S. Park Police personnel responded to the scene. “Like a torch, his whole body was on fire,” said witness X. “He was just walking like he was a zombie or something. Just straight, he wasn’t running and screaming or anything. He was walking straight. Then they put the extinguisher on him and put his [fire] out and that’s it.” The man was taken to a local hospital for treatment, U.S. Park Police said. No information on his condition or motive has been released. Alina Berzins, 17, said she and her family were sightseeing when they saw the man running and covered in flames. “We were just looking at the White House to take pictures and he just came out of nowhere,” she said. The White House and surrounding grounds often see security-related disturbances. In April, a man sitting in an electric scooter lit his jacket on fire in front of the White House.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – SEAN DAVIS – co-founder of The Federalist and former chief investigator for Sen. Tom Coburn

• SEAN DAVIS: Mueller Just Proved His Entire Operation Was A Political Hit Job That Trampled The Rule Of Law

8am – B/C  NBC WASHINGTON’S ADAM TUSS: NEW: Metro’s largest union accuses the transit agency of pulling experienced Metrobus operators “off their normal routes” to service the Blue and Yellow Line shutdown – leaving passengers stranded and dealing with inexperienced contracted drivers #wmata

8am – D         CNN’s Chris Cuomo faces backlash for appearing to mock armed rape survivor. CNN anchor Chris Cuomo responded to several critics who slammed him Wednesday over a tweet they said appeared to mock a National Rifle Association (NRA) member and rape survivor. Kimberly Corban appeared in an NRA ad advocating her Second Amendment right after going into detail how she survived a rape when she was 20 years old. “I’m a mother of two, and if a predator or anyone else tries to harm me or my family, they have to come through my firearm first,” Corban said. Cuomo reacted to the ad, tweeting “Only in America.”

Meghan McCain attacks Chris Cuomo over comments on rape victim in NRA ad. “Kim Corban is a rape survivor who is now choosing to tell her story & arm and protect herself. I think a real question is why so many men in the media always treat conservative women like our values, life experiences and perspective is some kind of joke. Like we are valued less,” McCain tweeted at Cuomo Wednesday after he criticized an NRA ad on Twitter.

8am – E         President Trump goes off on Mueller’s comments while on the White House lawn.