WMAL Redskins Analyst Trevor Matich, ABC 7’s Kevin Lewis, Penny Nance and Fox’s Bret Baier joined WMAL on Friday!

Mornings on the Mall

Friday, August 23, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C Congress pumps brakes on Interior push to relocate Bureau of Land Management. (The Hill) – The Interior Department says it is moving ahead with plans to relocate a Washington-based agency to Colorado after getting the green light from Congress, but lawmakers say no such approval has been granted. The Department of the Interior is preparing to move 27 top officials at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to new headquarters in Grand Junction, Colo., while scattering other D.C.-based employees to existing offices out West. The House Appropriations Committee was given 30 days to submit questions to Interior about the move and the reallocation of $5 million to cover related costs.  Lawmakers had a number of questions: What are the benefits to Interior and the American public? What problem will this solve? Why was BLM singled out for this move? The 30-day period ended on Aug. 15, and Interior says it will now proceed with plans to move about 300 employees to Western states after answering all questions from lawmakers. But some lawmakers beg to differ. “The administration’s characterization of Congress having ‘blessed’ BLM’s relocation plan is false,” Amanda Yanchury, spokeswoman for Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), chairwoman of the House Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Interior Department, said in a statement to The Hill. “Interior’s initial relocation plan was significantly lacking in the details necessary for the Committee to evaluate this proposal. That’s why Congress, in a bipartisan and bicameral manner, requested more information — to ensure the transparency and accountability of the administration’s actions,” she added.  BLM argues the move will position its staff closer to the lands the agency manages, but critics contend it will simply move high-level career staff out of D.C. and further away from the corridors of power, following a similar decision to relocate Department of Agriculture (USDA) research staff to a new outpost in the Kansas City area.

5am – D         Just 20 Miles From White House, Illegal Immigrant Rape Cases Keep Piling Up. (Daily Caller/Vince Coglianese) — This last month has been a particularly horrific one for residents of Montgomery County, Maryland — a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants just 20 miles from the White House. In the last month alone, at least four illegal immigrants in the county have been charged with rape. The attacks are a part of a reported 4-year rise in rapes in Montgomery County. Montgomery County Police arrested 28-year-old Carlos Palacios-Amaya on July 25, and 29-year-old Mauricio Barrera-Navidad on July 26. Both men were charged with second-degree rape for repeatedly raping an 11-year-old girl over the course of several months. Both men are illegal immigrants from El Salvador. Barrera-Navidad was reportedly issued a “final order of removal” by a judge in 2016. Palacios-Amaya was deported at least once, in 2014, and ICE considers him a “repeat immigration violator.” WJLA’s Kevin Lewis, who has been particularly dogged in chasing these stories, reported the details of the assaults:

• Kevin Lewis @ABC7Kevin 9h: NEW: Police are investigating an attempted rape along the Matthew Henson Trail in Aspen Hill, Md. The male suspect tried to pull a woman into a wooded area around 4:30p yesterday. The victim said her attacker was a Hispanic male in his 30s, wearing a white hat and red shorts.
• Kevin Lewis @ABC7Kevin 13h: NEW: 28yo Luis Perez-Giron of Montgomery Village, Md. molested + tried to rape a 12yo girl while his wife was in labor at the hospital, police say. The victim fought back. Perez-Giron ultimately gave up, but not before allegedly threatening to rape the girl “when she turned 13.”
• Kevin Lewis @ABC7Kevin: MORE: Perez-Giron reportedly jumped from a closet and pushed the girl to the ground, causing her to slice her hand. Per court docs, Perez-Giron and his wife have three children. The Guatemalan native is being held without bond and faces up to 20 years.
• Kevin Lewis @ABC7Kevin: Aug 20 JUST IN: ICE has confirmed that 26yo Kevin Mendoza is a Honduran national living in the U.S. illegally. Mendoza is at least the fourth undocumented immigrant arrested on rape charges in Montgomery County, Md. in less than one month. Full police press release on the case:
• Kevin Lewis @ABC7Kevin Aug 21: UPDATE: These allegations are among the worst I’ve ever seen. Kevin Mendoza stalked, tackled + strangled the victim before raping her beside a vending machine, cops say. The 26yo reportedly told the woman, “You know you like this.” Security cameras caught the entire incident.

• Kevin Lewis @ABC7Kevin Aug 21: UPDATE: Prosecutors have filed a formal request for Mendoza to be transported to the Dennis Avenue Health Center in Silver Spring, Md. for a blood draw, sources tell me. The purpose is to determine if the accused rapist has HIV, AIDS, Syphilis, Hepatitis B and/or Hepatitis C.
• Kevin Lewis @ABC7Kevin Aug 20: NEW: A young man was lured to a patch of woods and beaten by a pack of MS-13 members all because he refused to join the street gang, police allege. The attack, which involved baseball bats, happened in the Long Branch neighborhood of Silver Spring, Md.

5am – E         ‘Far More Complicated Than I Expected’: Reporter Tries To Buy Gun At Walmart. Leaves Twice Empty-Handed. (Daily Caller) — A journalist for Business Insider tried her luck at buying a gun in a Walmart store and said it was “far more complicated” than she expected after leaving empty-handed. Twice. Since 22 people were killed in a mass shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, on Aug. 3, there have been at least six more threats of potential mass shootings at Walmarts across the country. More than 134,000 people have signed a petition created by Walmart employees demanding that the store stop selling guns in an effort to “change our company for the better.” But Walmart, which makes up 2% of all gun sales and 20% of ammunition sales in the U.S., isn’t ready to change anything, according to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon. “There’s not been any directive to any stores around the country to change any policy. We’re focused on supporting our associates, customers and the entire El Paso community,” Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove said on Aug. 5, according to a Bloomberg report. Amid the requests to stop the sale of guns at the retail giant, BI reporter Hayley Peterson saw for herself how easy it is to buy a gun at a Walmart “as part of an investigation into the placement, selection, marketing, security and sales of firearms in Walmart’s stores.” Peterson first notes that only half of Walmart’s 4,700 U.S. stores sell guns, none of which include the ten stores near where she lives. After calling over a dozen people, waiting on hold “for a combined 40 minutes” and speaking to a human representative “only three times,” nobody could tell her which stores sold guns in the area. Walmart’s customer service line told her, “When it comes to item availability, they don’t want us to discuss that because of various reasons.”  Someone told her the sporting goods department at a location in Chesterfield, Virginia — “more than 30 minutes away” —  sold guns. Inside the store, there were about 20 rifles on display ranging from $159 to $474. Walmart stopped selling handguns in the 1990s and semiautomatic rifles in 2015, according to Peterson. At Walmart specifically, customers must be 21 or older to purchase a gun and have to pass a background check; it also complies with state-specific background checks.

6am – A/B/C Pew: A Deepening Distrust Of Higher Education And Other American Institutions. (Forbes) — Americans are increasingly skeptical about the impact of their colleges and universities, a trend driven, but not defined, by political partisanship. That’s one of the main takeaways from a just-released Pew Research Center survey of 1,500 adults conducted in early July of this year. According to Pew, only 50% of Americans now believe that colleges and universities are having a positive effect on the way things are going in America, and 38% say they are having a negative effect. Democrats remain much more positive about higher education than Republicans; 67% of Democrats and Democrat-leaning respondents say higher education is having a positive effect on the country compared to only 33% of Republicans and Republican-leaning participants. Virtually the same percentage of Democrats held a positive view of higher ed in 2010 (65%), but the 2019 percentage of Democrats perceiving this positive impact has ticked down from the 72% found in 2016 and 2017 surveys. Meanwhile, the percentage of Republicans attributing a positive effect to higher education has steadily eroded from 58% (2010), 53% (2012), 54% (2015), 43% (2016), and 36% (2017). Among Republicans, 59% now say higher education has a negative effect on the U.S., compared to just 18% of Democrats. This partisan divide is not a new finding, Other Pew surveys as well as those by Gallup have found the same split, and they also confirm that Americans’ overall confidence in higher education has declined in the past decade. Another Pew report underscored just how vast the different views of higher education have become, according to ones political affiliation: as an example, 87% of Democrats and Democrat-leaning individuals believe that colleges and universities are open to a wide range of opinions and viewpoints, double the 44% of Republicans and Republican-leaners who say the same thing. The Pew results may provide a first glance at the public impact of the college admissions scandal that rocked the nation earlier this year. How much was the so-called Varsity Blues operation top-of-mind for respondents, once again stirring the cynicism that was the dominant national response to the revelations? It’s hard to know, but it seems probable it had some negative effect. On the other hand, the results also show that negative views of higher education is not an isolated phenomenon. There’s been a decline in Americans’ endorsements of major institutions in general. When Pew inquired about opinions of technology companies, churches and religious organizations, national news media, banks, large corporations, and labor unions, it found that no more than half of U.S. adults believed any of them were having a positive impact on the country.

6am – D         INTERVIEW – WMAL’s Redskins Analyst Trevor Matich analyzed the Redskins win over the Falcons Thursday night. 

• Derrius Guice returns, Jordan Reed is hurt, and the Redskins earn a preseason win over the Falcons. (Washington Post) – ATLANTA — Derrius Guice hopped in place in the end zone, holding both hands in the air to mimic the signal for a touchdown. He was hoping for it, begging for it, but a yellow flag lay on the turf at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The diving score was called back because of a holding penalty on guard Ereck Flowers, but it was the lone pockmark on an otherwise exquisite return for the second-year Washington Redskins running back.Washington beat the Atlanta Falcons, 19-7, on Thursday in its third preseason game, but the result was less important than the return of one of the organization’s key players. In his first game since he tore his ACL in last year’s preseason opener, Guice played the first four series and finished with 44 yards on 11 carries and four receiving yards on one catch while officially announcing his healthy return.

6am – E         CLIMATE NEWS:

• Bernie Sanders unveils his own $16.3 TRILLION climate plan named after AOC’s ‘Green New Deal’ – boldly claiming it will pay for itself AND end unemployment. (Daily Mail) – Bernie Sanders unveiled an ambitious climate change plan Thursday with a $16 trillion price tag that promises to create 20 million new jobs and end unemployment in America.  Billed as the ‘Green New Deal,’ the 2020 presidential candidate’s proposal capitalizes on the notoriety of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s climate change framework of the same name and declares global warming a climate emergency. The document differs significantly from the detailed plans set out by Ocasio-Cortez earlier this year by omitting detailed proposals in favor of broad-brush aspirations. Ocasio-Cortez’s deal became the object of ridicule for suggesting banning farting cows and eliminating all air travel. Instead Sanders’ offers a series of aspirations and little granular detail. ‘Bernie will declare a national emergency on climate change and take immediate, large-scale action to reverse its effects,’ the white paper on the senator’s plan says. ‘This is an existential threat and we will do whatever it takes to confront it.’  The plan will pay for itself over 15 years and make the United States total reliant on renewable energy for electricity and transportation by 2030, an outline boasts. It promises the Green New Deal will be far-reaching and present solutions for other major problems like illegal immigration. He focuses his proposal around an Obama-era plan to build high speed rail system across the entire nation.  Sanders also pledges to invest heavily in an electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
• DNC Nixes Climate Change Debate Despite Pressure from Youth Movement. (Breitbart News) — The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has nixed a Democrat debate focused solely on climate change. A panel at DNC made the decision on Thursday, the Huffington Post reported: At a party conference Thursday in San Francisco, the DNC’s resolutions committee voted 17-8 against a resolution that has become a cause célèbre for activists and for more than a dozen presidential contenders who felt the traditional debate format failed to adequately address the looming threat of catastrophe. The issue could resurface during the full committee’s general session on Saturday. It was a predictable outcome. Top brass at the DNC opposed the climate debate from the get-go, fearing it could sow discord in the base and hamper the eventual nominee in the general election. CNN and MSNBC announced plans last month to host forums on climate change in September. DNC Chair Tom Perez affirmed the forums in a resolution introduced earlier this month, which some activists saw as setting the stage for voting down the climate debate. The Huffington Post reported that a senior advisor for presidential hopeful and former Vice President Joe Biden, Symone Sanders, was among those who were against a climate change debate, calling it “dangerous territory in the middle of a Democratic primary process.” This despite Biden saying on the campaign trail in Iowa that he was “all in” for a climate change debate. The idea for the debate originated with the Sunrise Movement, a radical left group of young people who occupied Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) office on Capitol Hill and have pushed for lawmakers to embrace the Green New Deal.

6am – F         Obamas reportedly buying Martha’s Vineyard mansion. (The Hill) — Former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama are reportedly buying a multimillion-dollar mansion on Martha’s Vineyard. The 29-acre, nearly 7,000-square-foot estate, listed at $14.85 million, is owned by Boston Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck, TMZ reports. It’s been on the market for four years and was initially listed for more than $22 million, according to realtor.com. The Obamas are reportedly paying less than the current listing price, according to “multiple island sources,” but it is unclear how much they will spend, according to the outlet. The presidential family rented Grousbeck’s seven-bedroom, 8 1/2 bathroom property when they vacationed on the island this summer, The Boston Globe reports. The custom home also comes with a pool and boathouse, among several other features, according to a property listing. The report comes after an Obama spokesman in 2017 denied claims that the family was thinking about investing in real estate on the Massachusetts island,  the Globe noted.

7am – A/B/C Ex-Overstock CEO says he got ‘fishy’ orders from Strzok; former DOJ boss unsure of claims. (Fox News) — Overstock CEO resigns amid ties to Russia investigation, says he received ‘fishy orders’ from ex-FBI official Strzok. Overstock founder and CEO Patrick Byrne resigned Thursday after 20 years at the company amid his ties to a government investigation related to the 2016 election, and he made a series of controversial allegations in interviews with Fox Business and Fox News. In an interview with Fox Business’ “Varney & Co.,” Byrne said the investigation is “all about political espionage” and that he thinks “we are about to see the biggest scandal in American history.” Then, in an interview with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum on “The Story,” he said he had helped the federal government with investigations twice in the past, including to “help them take down people on Wall Street.” However, several years after his last contact with the government, Byrne said FBI officials – whom he characterized as “the Men in Black” — reached out to him in 2016 and asked him for a “third favor.” “I was given some fishy orders and I carried them out in 2015-2016, thinking I was conducting law enforcement,” he said. “I didn’t know who sent the orders, but I did them. Last summer, watching television and some congressional hearings, I figured out where these orders came from. They came from a guy named Peter Strzok.” Byrne also named other individuals, with MacCallum reminding him those officials or former officials worked at the FBI. Byrne did not describe specific actions he was allegedly told to take, but characterized them as “political espionage.”

7am – D         INTERVIEW – KEVIN LEWIS – News reporter for WJLA ABC 7

• Just 20 Miles From White House, Illegal Immigrant Rape Cases Keep Piling Up. (Daily Caller/Vince Coglianese) — This last month has been a particularly horrific one for residents of Montgomery County, Maryland — a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants just 20 miles from the White House. In the last month alone, at least four illegal immigrants in the county have been charged with rape. The attacks are a part of a reported 4-year rise in rapes in Montgomery County. Montgomery County Police arrested 28-year-old Carlos Palacios-Amaya on July 25, and 29-year-old Mauricio Barrera-Navidad on July 26. Both men were charged with second-degree rape for repeatedly raping an 11-year-old girl over the course of several months. Both men are illegal immigrants from El Salvador. Barrera-Navidad was reportedly issued a “final order of removal” by a judge in 2016. Palacios-Amaya was deported at least once, in 2014, and ICE considers him a “repeat immigration violator.” WJLA’s Kevin Lewis, who has been particularly dogged in chasing these stories, reported the details of the assaults:

• Kevin Lewis @ABC7Kevin 9h: NEW: Police are investigating an attempted rape along the Matthew Henson Trail in Aspen Hill, Md. The male suspect tried to pull a woman into a wooded area around 4:30p yesterday. The victim said her attacker was a Hispanic male in his 30s, wearing a white hat and red shorts.
• Kevin Lewis @ABC7Kevin 13h: NEW: 28yo Luis Perez-Giron of Montgomery Village, Md. molested + tried to rape a 12yo girl while his wife was in labor at the hospital, police say. The victim fought back. Perez-Giron ultimately gave up, but not before allegedly threatening to rape the girl “when she turned 13.”
• Kevin Lewis @ABC7Kevin: MORE: Perez-Giron reportedly jumped from a closet and pushed the girl to the ground, causing her to slice her hand. Per court docs, Perez-Giron and his wife have three children. The Guatemalan native is being held without bond and faces up to 20 years.
• Kevin Lewis @ABC7Kevin: Aug 20 JUST IN: ICE has confirmed that 26yo Kevin Mendoza is a Honduran national living in the U.S. illegally. Mendoza is at least the fourth undocumented immigrant arrested on rape charges in Montgomery County, Md. in less than one month. Full police press release on the case:
• Kevin Lewis @ABC7Kevin Aug 21: UPDATE: These allegations are among the worst I’ve ever seen. Kevin Mendoza stalked, tackled + strangled the victim before raping her beside a vending machine, cops say. The 26yo reportedly told the woman, “You know you like this.” Security cameras caught the entire incident.
• Kevin Lewis @ABC7Kevin Aug 21: UPDATE: Prosecutors have filed a formal request for Mendoza to be transported to the Dennis Avenue Health Center in Silver Spring, Md. for a blood draw, sources tell me. The purpose is to determine if the accused rapist has HIV, AIDS, Syphilis, Hepatitis B and/or Hepatitis C.
• Kevin Lewis @ABC7Kevin Aug 20: NEW: A young man was lured to a patch of woods and beaten by a pack of MS-13 members all because he refused to join the street gang, police allege. The attack, which involved baseball bats, happened in the Long Branch neighborhood of Silver Spring, Md.

7am – E         Chris Cuomo attacks Trump for not aging as fast as past presidents: ‘Care more, sleep less’ (Washington Times) – CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time” host Chris Cuomo dedicated his closing monologue Tuesday night to attacking President Trump’s consistent appearance over the past few years, arguing that the president hasn’t aged as quickly as his predecessors because he doesn’t care as much. Blaring the chyron, “Trump should care more, sleep less,” Mr. Cuomo began his monologue by playing a clip of Mr. Trump recently telling reporters that “nothing keeps me up at night,” and compared it with a clip of former President Barack Obama telling Barbara Walters in 2008 that “there are a lot of things that keep me up at night.” Mr. Cuomo stated, “Presidents should have a lot of heavy burdens that weigh on them, and yes, keep them up at night.” The host then showed photos of former Presidents Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton before and after they left the White House and how rapidly they had physically aged during that time. “It’s been almost three years since Trump won the presidency,” Mr. Cuomo said, according to a clip flagged by the Washington Free Beacon. “He looks exactly the same. His hair is — I don’t know what’s going on with that. But he may do things that presidents in the past haven’t done to augment their physical reality, but it could also be that he doesn’t care the way others have.” Mr. Cuomo said Mr. Trump, compared with past presidents, occupies his time by “sowing the seeds of discord and division” instead of dealing with the “trying business of compromise.”

8am – A         INTERVIEW – PENNY NANCE, President and CEO of Concerned Women for America

• Nance published an op-ed in the Federalist about the indoctrination of political correctness at Virginia Tech that she personally experienced when she went to freshman orientation with her son a few days ago. As she recounts, it began from the opening moment of the welcome with people introducing themselves and their preferred pronouns. Other parents there were a bit shell-shocked too and have supported Virginia Tech with tax dollars for many years. Now Penny and her son are experiencing threats and backlash (see below) because of this piece she wrote. She has asked for a meeting with the president of the university, so far all Virginia Tech has offered is a phone call with lower level administrators.
• My Son’s Freshman Orientation At Virginia Tech Was Full Of Leftist Propaganda. Now that I have witnessed college propaganda firsthand, I refuse to ignore the indefensible and discriminatory behavior of the liberal campus bullies anymore. (The Federalist/By Penny Nance) — Are taxpayers funding academic institutions to indoctrinate our kids? That disturbing and irresistible question plagued me during the long drive home last week from college orientation. I doubt I am alone in this wake-up call.  Like many other women, I just sent my youngest child to college. I am so proud of him and his decision to join the Army ROTC and study engineering. He will be attending a revered Virginia institution known for its military Corps of Cadets program.  The centerpiece of the campus is the military parade field featuring beautiful pylons bearing the school’s founding principles: words such as “honor,” “duty,” “brotherhood,” and “ut prosim” (that I may serve). The war memorial also bears the names of all known cadets who have given their lives for our nation since World War I. Established in 1872, Virginia Tech has an honorable and proud tradition in my home state, and its graduates are some of the most accomplished and wonderful people I know. Hokies shine around our nation as leaders and as a great credit to their school. I know many to be people of faith, and many, many are conservative. Because of this, I was shocked to experience what I can only describe as extreme and overtly leftist propaganda spewed at our children’s orientation. The opening “University Welcome” event for students and parents separated families immediately in the auditorium. Nobody expected the event to begin with prayer or the Pledge of Allegiance — heavens, no! But one might expect to remember the names of fallen cadets on the pylons or the 32 dead and 17 injured in the 2007 shooting on Virginia Tech’s campus, the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. Nope. Instead, the administration made the stunning choice to open orientation by recognizing two Native American tribes on whose land the college was built (with the implication that it was stolen).  What followed went from slightly bothersome to downright alarming. The college filled the next two hours with speaker after speaker who introduced themselves with not just their names and titles but also preferred pronouns — as in, “Hi my name is Penny Nance, and I identify as she and her.” At first, parents were slightly surprised; by the end, they were mad. Every person on the stage looked exactly as you would expect them to identify. At that point, I noticed all the new students’ badges contained not just their names but also their preferred pronouns because the school had made it part of registration. The heavy-handed diversity lecture that followed seemed rather tame in comparison. Parents left the venue in shock.

8am – B/C     Drag Queen Challenges Rep. Adam Schiff For His Seat In Congress. (Daily Caller) — A drag queen is challenging Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff for his seat in Congress. Maebe A. Girl became the first drag queen elected to local government, winning a seat in Silver Lake Neighborhood Council earlier this year. Now the drag queen is attempting to win a seat in the House of Representatives and become the first congressional trans person and first drag queen, according to Route Fifty. Girl will face Schiff in an open primary.  “While I appreciate his allyship, I think someone that is actually a part of the queer community, that understands the day-to-day struggles, would be a better representative than an ally,” Girl said of Schiff. “I want people to know that there are more progressive people on the ballot.” Girl believes it is “essential” for more queer representation in public office, according to Route Fifty. “We need more everyday people in Congress—its overwhelmingly older, white, wealthy men, and that’s just not representative of America, or my district.” The drag queen identifies as transgender and gender fluid, likening the name change to Lady Gaga and congressional struggles to that of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “I respect her courage for facing people who said she couldn’t do it,” Girl said of Ocasio-Cortez. “People will say ‘I can’t take her seriously with that name, but it’s really just a statement about gender norms,” Girl said. “I don’t feel like there’s a difference between Maebe A. Girl and me.”

8am – D         INTERVIEW – BRET BAIER – Anchor of Special Report, Fox News Channel

• RECESSION TALK:
  • “How bad would a recession be for Trump in 2020? 8 experts weigh in,” wrote Vox in its headline. “An economic slowdown could hurt Trump’s re-election chances, but partisanship might soften its impact,” read the subhead.
  • “Trump’s Riskiest Bet,” read the headline on Peter Nicholas’ story at The Atlantic. “That old truism of American politics – ‘It’s the economy, stupid’ – could come back to haunt the money-minded president in 2020,” read the subhead.
  • “Trump 2020 can’t afford a recession,” flatly stated CNN in the headline on Harry Enten’s story.
  • “Wall Street hoisted another hurricane warning on the economy on Wednesday as fear continues to rise that a recession could arrive by next year, potentially crashing into President Donald Trump’s attempt to win a second term,” wrote Ben White of Politico under “Trump’s recession risk rises” – subhead: “A closely watched gauge in the bond market suggests the economy is headed into recession soon.”
  • ON WEDNESDAY: Democrat John Delaney: “It feels like some Democrats are cheering on a recession because they want to stick it to Trump.”
  • LAST WEEK: President Donald Trump on Thursday accused the press of trying to tank the American economy, shrugging off any blame for a prospective economic slowdown and possible recession heading into his reelection next year. “The Fake News Media is doing everything they can to crash the economy because they think that will be bad for me and my re-election,” he said in a tweet. “The problem they have is that the economy is way too strong and we will soon be winning big on Trade, and everyone knows that, including China!”
• SARAH SANDERS JOINS FOX: Sarah Huckabee Sanders @SarahHuckabee 18h18 hours ago: Excited to join @FoxNews as a contributor, looking forward to being with the @foxandfriends team for my first hit on September 6th.
• Joe Concha: Sarah Sanders becomes the latest former press secy to join cable news. Here’s a list: Clinton-Lockhart (CNN), Bush 43-Fleischer (CNN, later Fox), Snow (Fox, later CNN), Perino (Fox), Obama-Gibbs (MSNBC), Carney (CNN), Earnest (MSNBC), Trump-Sanders (Fox)

8am – E         Hickenlooper announces Senate bid after dropping out of 2020 presidential race. Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), who last week ended his 2020 presidential campaign, announced on Thursday that he will seek a seat in the U.S. Senate. “I’m not done fighting for the people of Colorado,” he said in a video attacking Washington over pre-existing conditions, prescription prices and the opening of public land to developers. “I don’t think Cory Gardner understands that the games he’s playing with Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell are hurting the people of Colorado,” he said, referring to Colorado’s incumbent Republican senator, the president and the Senate majority leader, respectively.