John Lott, Joe diGenova, Mark Krikorian and Steve Moore joined WMAL on Monday!

Mornings on the Mall

Monday, June 3, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand: My national public service plan would give all Americans a path to the middle class

5am – D         Daily Beast accused of ‘doxxing’ alleged creator of ‘Drunk Pelosi’ video. (Fox News) — The Daily Beast faced a heavy backlash on social media Sunday after one of its reporters was accused of doxxing a private citizen who allegedly created a manipulated video that falsely portrays House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. as if she were intoxicated and posted it on Facebook. Daily Beast reporter Kevin Poulsen tweeted Saturday night that he had been “looking for the Russian troll behind the ‘Drunk Pelosi’ viral video hoax. Turns out he’s an itinerant forklift operator from the Bronx who’s been secretly running hard-right ‘news’ outlets across social media for years. Also, not Russian.” The tweet included a link to a story that identified the man by name and detailed his employment history, past relationships and social media footprint. The subheadline of the story described the man as “a sports blogger from the Bronx [who is] currently on probation for domestic battery.” The article initially included a picture of the man, but that had been removed from the story as of Sunday night. The three-minute clip of a May 22 Pelosi speaking event at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, was uploaded on Facebook by a group called “Politics WatchDog.” The video shows her frequently slurring her words and her voice sounding garbled. Copies of the clip had also been found on Twitter and YouTube, which the latter had removed. The man admitted to the Daily Beast that he was an administrator of the “Politics WatchDog” group, but denied posting the Pelosi video, blaming a “female admin.” The Daily Beast report was met with strong criticism from reporters for outlets with varying editorial slants.      

5am – E         Gunman, 12 victims identified in Virginia Beach shooting. (CBS News) — At least 12 people are dead after a city employee went on a shooting rampage inside a municipal building in Virginia Beach. Four others were hospitalized with injuries. Three are in critical condition. The gunman, DeWayne Craddock, a longtime public utilities employee, was killed in a shootout with police. All 12 victims were identified Saturday: 11 of them were city employees and one was a contractor. Craddock used two .45 caliber pistols in the massacre, authorities said. Officials believe the shooter purchased the weapons legally in 2016 and 2018. Armed with a .45-caliber handgun, a disgruntled city employee opened fire inside a municipal building Friday in Virginia Beach, killing 12 and wounding four others, authorities said. The gunman, later identified as Dewayne Craddock, 40, died after a long gun fight with police. Police rushed to the scene shortly after 4 p.m. on Friday. A local police officer was wounded while confronting the gunman. Chief James Cervera said in a news conference Friday that the officer was saved by his bullet-proof vest. Cervera pledged to visit the wounded officer by the end of the night. Cervera said he was a long-time employee of the Public Utilities Department. “There’s no way to describe an incident such as this,” Cervera said. Details emerge about gunman’s service record: In 1996, DeWayne Craddock enlisted in the Virginia National Guard and was assigned to an infantry brigade combat team based in Norfolk, but was not deployed overseas, a National Guard spokesperson told CBS News. He held the rank of specialist before he was discharged in 2002. ​Gunman legally purchased weapons:  Authorities said Craddock used two .45 caliber pistols in the massacre. The shooter purchased one in 2016 and the other in 2018. All indications pointed to the Caddock legally purchasing the firearms, Ashan Benedict, ATF Special Agent in Charge, said in a news conference Saturday.

6am – A         President Trump’s UK Trip:       

• President Trump heads to Europe: Pomp, circumstance, turmoil, ‘fake news’ and remembering D-Day. (Fox News) — President Trump is in Europe for a weeklong visit that is both ceremonial and official: It will include a state visit and an audience an lavish dinner with Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family in London, D-Day commemoration ceremonies on both sides of the English Channel and his first presidential visit to Ireland. His visit to the United Kingdom comes days before British Prime Minister Theresa May will step down as head of the Conservative Party on Friday for failing to secure a Brexit deal. Trump has praised her her rival, prime ministerial hopeful Boris Johnson, saying that he thinks he would do “a very good job.” Trump is not expected to meet with London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who called him a “global threat.” Trump has called Khan a “twin” of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, only “shorter.”  Trump stirred controversy when, in an interview with the Sun, he referred to Meghan Markle, the American-born Duchess of Sussex, as “nasty” for her past criticism of him. (Markle, who just gave birth last month, was not expected to meet with Trump this week.) Trump pushed back Sunday against the report, tweeting: “I never called Meghan Markle “nasty.” Made up by the Fake News Media, and they got caught cold!” The Sun posted the audio of the interview on its website.
• ON SKY NEWS: On the eve of Trump’s state visit to the UK, LONDON MAYOR SADIQ KHAN calls Trump’s actions “abhorrent and offensive” on women’s reproductive rights, separating children from their parents, banning Muslim countries, Paris climate accord and Charlottesville.
• Donald Trump launched a Twitter broadside at London Mayor Sadiq Khan as he touched down in the UK for a state visit, calling him a “stone cold loser”
• Sadiq Khan’s spokesman said that “childish insults” should be “beneath the president of the United States” after Donald Trump labelled the London Mayor a “stone cold loser” on Twitter as he arrived in the UK for a state visit
• Ahead of state visit, Trump calls Markle ‘nasty.’ As the president arrives in London for his first UK state visit, he issued tweets about the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, as being ‘nasty’ and in a recent interview he also referred to Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle as ‘nasty’.
• Mass protests have been planned for Pres. Trump’s upcoming state visit to the U.K., just a year after the giant ‘Trump Baby’ blimp sparked controversy in London.

6am – B/C     IRAN NEWS:

• U.N. Atomic Watchdog Reports Iran’s Stockpiles of Low-Enriched Uranium are Growing. (VIENNA) — The U.N. atomic watchdog said Friday that Iran continues to stay within the limitations set by the 2015 nuclear deal with major powers, but reported its stockpiles of low-enriched uranium and heavy water are growing and raised questions for the first time about Iran’s adherence to a key provision intended to limit the country’s use of advanced centrifuges. In a confidential quarterly report distributed to member states and seen by The Associated Press, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran has stayed within key limitations set in the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, for uranium and heavy water stockpiles. But while in past reports the IAEA said Iran’s research and development on enrichment “has been conducted using centrifuges within the limits defined in the JCPOA,” the Friday report instead changed the wording to say it “has been conducted using centrifuges specified in the JCPOA.” In a footnote, the agency said that “up to 33 IR-6 centrifuges have been installed” — which could be a possible violation of the JCPOA — and that “technical discussions in relation to the IR-6 centrifuges are ongoing.”
• Report: Obama Administration Alumni Advising Iranian Regime on Dealing with Trump. The Daily Beast reported Friday that former members of President Barack Obama’s administration are advising the Iranian regime. Betsy Woodruff noted (original quotes): As the Trump administration sent warplanes and an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf, a small group of former Obama administration officials reached out to their contacts in the Iranian government, including Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Their message to Iran: Don’t take Trump’s bait. Stay calm. Conversations between former Obama officials and  Iranian government officials have been ongoing since November 2016. The Obama alumni are also reportedly passing messages from the Iranian regime to congressional Democrats
• Pompeo: Trump admin willing to talk to Iran ‘with no preconditions’ as tensions hit boiling point. (Fox News) – Just weeks after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a renewed “pressure campaign” targeting Iran’s energy sector, America’s top diplomat said Sunday the Trump administration is willing to talk with Iran “with no preconditions” — but he added that debilitating sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy will remain in effect. The U.S. is “prepared to engage in a conversation with no preconditions; we’re ready to sit down” with Iran’s leaders, Pompeo said at a press conference. He warned, however, that “the American effort to fundamentally reverse the malign activity of this Islamic Republic, this revolutionary force, is going to continue.” The dramatic development comes amid rapidly escalating tensions between Iran and the United States. President Trump fired a social media broadside at the Iranian regime in May, vowing that war between Washington and Tehran would result in “the official end of Iran” before warning, “[n]ever threaten the United States again!” Rouhani was quoted by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency as saying that if the U.S. “realizes that the way it chose [to leave the nuclear deal] was incorrect, then we can sit at the negotiating table and solve any problem.” Otherwise, he said, Iran has no choice but resistance. Also Sunday, Zarif dismissed Trump’s invitation last month for Iranian officials to contact him about possible talks. “It’s not very likely because talking is the continuation of the process of pressure. He is imposing pressure. This may work in a real estate market. It does not work in dealing with Iran,” he told ABC’s “This Week.”
• Flashback April 22: Trump: ‘Iran is being given very bad advice by John Kerry’
• Flashback May 9: President Trump on Thursday said former secretary of state John F. Kerry should be prosecuted for discussing the Iran nuclear deal with officials from that country after leaving office. The president raised the issue during a freewheeling exchange with reporters after an event on health care at the White House, accusing Kerry of telling Iranian officials not to speak with members of the Trump administration.
• FLASHBACK May 19: Trump says war will mean ‘official end of Iran,’ warns ‘never threaten the United States again’

6am – D/E     INTERVIEW – JOHN LOTT – President, Crime Prevention Research Center and author of “The War on Guns”

• Virginia shooting gunman De Wayne Craddock resigned hours before mass shooting, officials say. (Washington Post) — VIRGINIA BEACH — After an unremarkable career spent tending the water and sewer systems beneath this city of 450,000, DeWayne Craddock quit on Friday morning. The engineer for Virginia Beach’s municipal government informed his bosses in an email that he was resigning, city officials said. But Craddock made one last visit to the drab brick building where he worked and methodically killed his colleagues. Investigators, Craddock’s former co-workers and residents of this stricken oceanside community on Sunday continued to grasp for clues to what precipitated the deadliest mass shooting in the United States since November. Armed with two .45-caliber pistols, at least one of them equipped with a sound suppressor and extended magazine, Craddock killed 12 people before dying in a gun battle with police. Some killers leave behind manifestos, YouTube videos or social media profiles that display a mind moving inexorably toward violence. What Craddock left was a resignation letter, according to city officials, and a work history that gave no hint of his intentions. “Right now we do not have anything glaring,” Police Chief James A. Cervera said at a news conference Sunday. He cautioned that investigators are still trying to determine a motive. Officials would not discuss what Craddock wrote in his resignation, but a person familiar with the email said it was short and there was “nothing out of the ordinary.”

6am – F         Mark Warner says Barr has “little credibility” to review origins of Russia probe. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat in the Senate Intelligence Committee, questioned Attorney General’s William Barr credibility to oversee a Justice Department probe into the origins of the Russia investigation, accusing him of acting like President Trump’s “personal advocate.” “Mr. Barr has very little credibility with me and I think the vast majority of, candidly, not just Democrats, but many Americans because he time and again is not acting as our attorney general, but as a personal advocate for Donald Trump,” Warner said on “Face the Nation” Sunday.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney to the District of Columbia

• Mark Warner says Barr has “little credibility” to review origins of Russia probe. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat in the Senate Intelligence Committee, questioned Attorney General’s William Barr credibility to oversee a Justice Department probe into the origins of the Russia investigation, accusing him of acting like President Trump’s “personal advocate.” “Mr. Barr has very little credibility with me and I think the vast majority of, candidly, not just Democrats, but many Americans because he time and again is not acting as our attorney general, but as a personal advocate for Donald Trump,” Warner said on “Face the Nation” Sunday.
• William Barr Blasts Media For Ignoring Surveillance Against Trump Campaign. (Daily Caller) — Attorney General William Barr accused the media in a new interview of being uninterested in finding out about the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, and of shirking their duty as watchdogs for the public. “Normally the media would be interested in letting the sunshine in and finding out what the truth is,” Barr said in an interview with CBS News. “And usually the media doesn’t care that much about protecting intelligence sources and methods. But I do and I will.” Barr was discussing his plans for declassification of documents related to the surveillance activities against the Trump campaign during the Russia investigation.
• Schiff: Mueller Still Needs To Testify

7am – B/C     Trump stops by evangelical church to pray for victims of Virginia Beach massacre. (Washington Examiner) — President Trump made an unscheduled visit to an evangelical megachurch in Vienna, Va., to pray for the victims of Friday’s mass shooting in Virginia Beach, Va., where 12 people and the gunman were killed. Trump stopped by McLean Bible Church Sunday, where he stood on the stage, head bowed, and with his hair lacking its customary careful styling. Lead pastor David Platt, holding a Bible in his right hand, placed his left hand on the president’s back and began to pray.  “We stand right now on behalf of our president and we pray for your grace and your mercy and your wisdom upon him,” Platt said. He also prayed to give Trump’s family strength and wisdom and prayed for leaders at the national and state levels. After applause from the congregation, Trump walked back off stage without making any remarks. “President Donald J. Trump is visiting McLean Bible Church in Vienna, VA, to visit with the Pastor and pray for the victims and community of Virginia Beach,” White House Deputy Spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement.

7am – D         AOC NEWS:

• AOC COMPARES BEING A BARTENDER TO INDENTURED SERVITUDE:
  • Ocasio-Cortez compares tipped workers’ jobs to ‘indentured servitude.’ While returning to her bartender days, freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) advocated for increasing wages and compared tipped jobs to “indentured servitude.” At The Queensboro Restaurant in New York City on Friday, Ocasio-Cortez — who previously bartended before taking on Congress — referred to the U.S. federal law that allows restaurants and other tip-related jobs to pay as low as $2.13 as a way to advocate to change the minimum hourly wage across the country to $15. “Any job that pays $2.13 an hour is not a job, it is indentured servitude,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
  • VETS WALK OUT OF MEETING WITH AOC:  Vets walk out of meeting with AOC after she bashes US foreign policy. Two U.S. military veterans criticized Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, saying the way she spoke at a closed-door Bronx community meeting Wednesday night was “BS.” Silvio Mazzella, 74, a Vietnam War veteran and treasurer of Community Board 11, said he walked out of the conference, along with former chairman of the board and Army veteran Anthony Vitaliano, 78, and another individual, reported the New York Post. “She knocks the country, she knocks the president. And that’s not what America is about,” Mazzella said. “I just couldn’t hear her BS anymore. I just got up, got my umbrella in my hand and walked right out,” former chairman of the board and Army veteran, Anthony Vitaliano, 78, said. Ocasio-Cortez’s spokesman Corbin Trent denied there was a walk-out during the conference. “The only person that left the meeting while it was underway was someone who had to go pick up their children,” he said.

7am – E         Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan won’t test Trump in GOP primary. WASHINGTON (AP) — Maryland’s Larry Hogan, the popular Republican governor in a liberal-leaning state, says he won’t challenge President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination in 2020. Hogan, who was elected to his second term last fall, says in a Washington Post Interview that “I’m not going to be a candidate for president in 2020.” Hogan had been seen as potentially the best hope of a small group of so-called Never Trump Republicans who wanted to run a prominent Republican against Trump. Hogan told The Associated Press in February that while he had serious concerns about Trump’s leadership, he had no interest in a “kamikaze mission.” Trump is facing a challenge from former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld. Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Trump rival in 2016, has contemplated a primary challenge.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – MARK KRIKORIAN – Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) – analyzed the Trump administration imposing tariffs on all goods from Mexico.

• Trump ‘deadly serious’ about Mexico tariffs, Mulvaney says. President Donald Trump is “deadly serious” about his threat to impose a 5 percent tariff on all goods from Mexico over his concerns of illegal immigration, Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, said Sunday. “He is absolutely, deadly serious,” Mulvaney said on Fox News Sunday. “I fully expect these tariffs to go on to at least the 5 percent level on June 10.” Trump last week tweeted the United States would impose a 5 percent tariff on all goods from Mexico “until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP.” Mulvaney doubled-down on that timeline Sunday, explaining that the White House “for months” has been talking about an “emergency situation” at the U.S.-Mexico border. “The president is deadly serious about fixing the situation at the southern border,” Mulvaney said. The president tweeted last week the tariff would “gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied.” The White House later clarified the tariff would increase to 10 percent on July 1; 15 percent on Aug. 1; 20 percent on Sept. 1; and 25 percent on Oct. 1. “The reason we’re doing things people don’t expect is that we’re facing things at the border we never experienced before,” Mulvaney said on NBC. “We’re using extraordinary tools because there is extraordinary circumstances that dictate those.” Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan also defended the use of tariffs to deter illegal immigration on Sunday, appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

8am – B/C     Trump UK state visit: The FULL three-day itinerary as Trump heads to London. (UK Express) — US President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, will make a state visit to the UK from June 3 to 5. A state visit is a formal trip to the UK by a nation’s head of state and is normally at the invitation of the Queen, who acts on advice from the Government. State visits are used as ceremonial affairs and to further what is seen as Britain’s national interests.

• DAY 1: MONDAY, JUNE 3:
  • The President will be met with a ceremonial welcome attended by the Queen, Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall in the Buckingham Palace garden.
  • After the welcome, the Duke of Sussex will join the group for a private lunch at the palace.
  • The Duchess of Sussex – who gave birth to their son Archie at the beginning of May – will not attend.
  • Accompanied by the Duke of York, Mr and Mrs Trump will visit Westminster Abbey for a tour.
  • They will also meet Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall for tea at Clarence House.
  • Then in the evening, a state banquet will take place in the palace’s ballroom.
  • Mr Trump, the Queen, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall will be joined by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, along with other UK public figures and prominent Americans living in Britain.
• DAY 2: TUESDAY, JUNE 4:
  • On Tuesday, Mr Trump and Prime Minister Theresa May will host a business breakfast attended by the Duke of York at St James’s Palace.
  • Business leaders understood to be attending include Barclays CEO Jes Staley, GlaxoSmithKline chief executive Emma Walmsley, BAE Systems chairman Sir Roger Carr and the National Grid’s John Pettigrew.
  • Mr Trump will then visit Downing Street for talks with Theresa May, followed by a joint press conference.
  • In the evening, the Trumps will host a dinner at the residence of the US ambassador in Regent’s Park attended by Charles and Camilla on behalf of the Queen.
• DAY 3: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5
  • The trip will culminate on the third day, with Mr Trump, the Queen and Prince Charles attending the national commemorative event in Portsmouth for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
  • Following the D-Day event, Mr Trump will travel to his hotel and golf resort in Doonbeg, in the Republic of Ireland.
  • He will hold a meeting with Irish premier Leo Varadkar at Shannon Airport.
  • A visiting leader will sometimes speak at the Houses of Parliament during a state visit, but Commons Speaker John Bercow said on Tuesday he had not received a request for Mr Trump to do so.
  • The president has suggested he “may” meet Conservative MP Boris Johnson and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage during his visit – both of whom he described as “friends” and “good guys”, but nothing has been officially confirmed.

8am – D         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”

• Reeling from tariff threat, Mexico begins immigration talks in Washington. MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Fighting to stave off punitive tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, a senior Mexican delegation was set to begin high level talks on Monday in Washington, where it will be pushed to do more to hold back Central American migrants. Trump says he will apply tariffs of 5% on all Mexican goods on June 10, and increase the rate in coming months to 25% if Mexico does not substantially halt illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexican border, which is at a decade high this year. Global equities tumbled after Trump’s unexpected threat last week against the United States biggest trade partner, as investors feared his aggressive trade diplomacy could tip the United States and other major economies into recession. With just a week until the first tariffs bite, the delegation led by Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard may have a hard time convincing U.S. officials that Mexico is doing enough on immigration to avoid punishment, despite having signaled in recent days it was prepared to further tighten security. The U.S.-Mexican talks begin on Monday with a meeting between Mexican Economy Secretary Graciela Marquez and U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. On Wednesday, Ebrard meets U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Trump on Sunday called Mexico an “abuser” of the United States and said he wanted action, not talk. Mexico has signaled it would retaliate to the tariffs, with targets likely to include farm products on Trump supporting states.
• Kevin Hassett, President Trump’s top economist, to leave White House. Kevin Hassett, the White House’s top economist, will leave the administration, President Trump announced on Twitter late Sunday, on the eve of his trip to Europe. Hassett, 57, who has served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers since September 2017, is leaving as Trump confronts an increasingly hostile trade war on two fronts — with China and with Mexico, the latter of which Trump threatened with tariffs last week if it doesn’t do more to stem illegal migration. A longtime conservative economist, Hassett helped shape the 2017 Republican tax law and has been a staunch defender of the president’s policies on other issues. Historically, he has been an advocate of open trade policies, although in recent months he has been put in the position of defending Trump’s most confrontational approach.