Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, August 4, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

Charlie James, Cal Thomas, Ryan Lovelace and Matt Schlapp joined WMAL on Wednesday!

5am – A/B/C Did Comey Ruin The FBI’s Reputation?

• JAMES COMEY: Despite two years of Trump’s lies aimed at degrading the FBI, it remains a revered institution made up of good people focused on finding truth and doing justice. Stay true to your mission. America needs you. … What impact did Comey have on the FBI’s reputation?
• Inspector general report reveals more evidence Comey used transition briefings to gather intel on Trump team. James Comey immediately shared details from a post-election briefing for then-President-elect Donald Trump with the FBI’s Russia team, according to the recently released inspector general’s report on the former bureau director’s actions — the latest indication that traditional transition briefings were used to gather intel on the incoming president and his team for the ongoing FBI investigation. The long-awaited report from Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz last Thursday said Comey violated bureau policies by drafting, leaking and retaining his memos documenting private discussions with the president. The report also revealed new details about the FBI director’s actions at that time, including how Comey and his top deputies went to great lengths to confront Trump at a Jan. 6, 2017 meeting at Trump Tower with the salacious and unverified accusations contained in the dossier, which had been funded by Democrats and drafted by British ex-spy Christopher Steele.

5am – D         Interview – CHARLIE JAMES – Radio host at WTMA in Charleston, South Carolina – discussed hurricane preparations for South Carolina.

• TRACKING DORIAN: Dorian lashes east coast of Florida, then heads toward South Carolina. The storm is on track to threaten parts of South Carolina Wednesday and Thursday.
• Hurricane Dorian death toll rises to 7 in the Bahamas, US monitors storm’s path. (Fox News) — As of 2 a.m. ET Wednesday, the storm was moving northwest toward the United States at about 7 mph. The storm was about 140 miles off the coast of  Cape Canaveral, Fla., with winds at a still-dangerous 110 mph. Officials urged over two million people in Florida, Georgia and North and South Carolina to evacuate. Dorian is expected to pass close to Georgia and South Carolina on Thursday or Friday.

5am – E         LABOR DEPT STAFFER RESIGNS AFTER OLD POSTS ARE DUG UP DESPITE MOST PEOPLE REALIZING THEY WERE SARCASTIC: A recently appointed Trump Labor Department official with a history of advancing controversial conservative and faith-based causes in court has resigned after revelations that he wrote a 2016 Facebook post suggesting the Jewish-controlled media “protects their own.” “This article is a joke. The comments in question are so obviously sarcastic it would take willful blindness to miss it,” conservative commentator Ben Shapiro wrote. New York Magazine writer Jonathan Chait called the situation “terribly unfair” and laid out his reasoning in a series of tweets.

6am – A         Book: Kavanaugh accuser’s attack ‘motivated’ by defending Roe v. Wade. (Washington Examiner/Paul Bedard) – Christine Blasey Ford and her feminist attorney were “motivated” in their attack on then-federal judge Brett Kavanaugh by their passion to protect abortion rights, not just their “civic duty” to provide information to senators considering his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to a new investigative book about the hearings last year. In it, she said their goal was to put an “asterisk” on a prediction that Kavanaugh would rule to limit Roe v. Wade, though he had little history of attacking the 1973 decision to protect abortion. In Search and Destroy: Inside the Campaign Against Brett Kavanaugh, National Law Journal’s Ryan Lovelace revealed Ford and attorney Debra Katz leveled charges of sexual misconduct in hopes of eventually tainting decisions by Kavanaugh on abortion. Katz said: “In the aftermath of these hearings, I believe that Christine’s testimony brought about more good than the harm misogynist Republicans caused by allowing Kavanaugh on the court. We were going to have a conservative [justice] … elections have consequences, but he will always have an asterisk next to his name. When he takes a scalpel to Roe v. Wade, we will know who he is, we know his character, and we know what motivates him, and that is important; it is important that we know, and that is part of what motivated Christine.”

6am – B/C     AP’s COVERAGE OF CAIR: Short-lived partnership between Census and Muslim group over

6am – D         Interview – Cal Thomas – Syndicated columnist

• Texas shooter bought gun in private sale, after ban due to mental illness: ABC. (Reuters) – The gunman who killed seven people and wounded 23 others in a rampage across West Texas on Saturday obtained the assault-style rifle used through a private sale after he was banned from having a firearm because he was diagnosed with a mental illness, media reported.  Ator bought the assault-style rifle through a private sale after being prohibited by federal law from possessing a firearm because he had been diagnosed with a mental illness by a clinician, ABC news reported, citing federal and local law enforcement.
• CONGRESS PUSH: BRIAN STELTER: .@WashingtonPost is running a full-page editorial in Wednesday’s paper. It’s a message to @senatemajldr: “When the Senate returns from its Labor Day recess, it must act on guns.”
• CONGRESS COMING BACK: It’s now September. The respite started in late July for the House. Early August for the Senate. Congress often reconvenes right after Labor Day. But not this year. Few lawmakers will surface in Washington until September 9. The House and Senate resisted calls to reconvene in August and early September, despite mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton – followed by the melee in Odessa and Midland, TX. The House decided against returning to Washington. Democrats decided instead to ramp up attention on what many Democrats described as “inaction” by the Senate on gun measures. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) declined to summon senators back to Washington to work on firearms issues. McConnell knew it would be a challenge to advance anything on guns.
• Walmart says it will dramatically cut back sales of ammunition and restrict “open carry” in stores. It will also phase out the sale of handguns in Alaska — the only state where it still sells them.
• The NRA was not happy to hear that Walmart had decided to no longer sell ammunition in stores. “It is shameful to see Walmart succumb to the pressure of the anti-gun elites,” the NRA’s statement said.
• TONIGHT IS CNN’S 7 HOUR EVENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE — SNOOZE FEST!!

6am – E         Pete Buttigieg’s husband Chasten attacks Mike Pence’s lunch with openly gay Irish leader, claiming it doesn’t mean the vice president is ‘any less homophobic.’ Chasten Buttigieg attacked Mike Pence’s lunch with an openly-gay Irish leader. The husband of Pete Buttigieg said just because the two shared meal doesn’t mean the vice president is ‘any less homophobic.’ Pence is on a two-day trip to Ireland. He has supported anti-gay legislation in the past and has been criticized for his votes against LGBTQ rights. (Daily Mail) — Chasten Buttigieg attacked Mike Pence’s lunch with an openly-gay Irish leader, saying just because the two shared meal doesn’t mean the vice president is ‘any less homophobic.’ Buttigieg, the husband of Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg, criticized a tweet on Monday from deputy White House press secretary Judd Deere, who wrote anyone who thinks Pence is ‘anti-gay’ should look at his lunch with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his partner. ‘I’ve sat at tables with people who would gladly deny me the right to marry, who openly support conversion therapy, and who adamantly believe being gay is a choice. Doesn’t mean they’re any less homophobic because we shared a meal,’ Buttigieg wrote. Both Buttigiegs have been critical of Pence, who is the former governor of their home state of Indiana, and the anti-gay policies put in place under his administration. The vice president has been criticized for being anti-gay and has a record of voting against LGBTQ rights. As governor, he signed legislation that made it legal for businesses to cite religious freedom when refusing services to gay people. Pence has fought reports that he supports ‘conversion therapy,’ which his staff says he does not. Deere tweeted out Pence’s schedule for his trip to Ireland this week and noted the sit down the vice president and Karen Pence were having with Varadkar and his partner Matthew Barrett.  or all of you who still think our @VP is anti-gay, I point you to his and the @SecondLady’s schedule tomorrow where they will join Taoiseach @LeoVaradkar and his partner Dr. Matthew Barrett for lunch in Ireland,’ Deere wrote. The Pences joined Varadkar and Barrett plus other officials for lunch Tuesday afternoon at Farmleigh House in Dublin.

6am – F         Hong Kong’s Lam will formally withdraw extradition bill: reports. (Fox News) — Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s embattled chief executive, will formally withdraw the controversial extradition bill that sparked months of tense protests that played out on an international stage, according to reports.  The bill allowing Hong Kong residents to be sent to mainland China for trials sparked massive protests that have rocked the city since June. Lam has suspended the bill, but protesters want it entirely withdrawn.  Pro-government lawmaker Michael Tien confirmed he was notified on Tuesday of the meeting, which includes members of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. He said he has no details of the agenda.

7am – A         OMAR’S AFFAIR UPDATE:

• ILHAN OMAR Dismisses Questions About Affair From Fox Affiliate Reporter As ‘Stupid’
• Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) husband wants a divorce after learning that Ilhan Omar is an alleged homewrecker. (NY Post) — MINNEAPOLIS — Rep. Ilhan Omar’s marriage appears to be headed for the rocks, a longtime friend of the couple told The Post. The congresswoman’s husband, Ahmed Hirsi, the source said, is poised to file for divorce after the revelation in a bombshell court filing that she allegedly had an affair with DC political consultant Tim Mynett. The Minnesota congresswoman and her husband allegedly separated in March, and Omar asked Hirsi to divorce her around that time because she didn’t want to file the papers — but Hirsi refused, telling her if she wanted a divorce she should do it herself, said the source, who has known both parties for 20 years. The husband allegedly changed his mind after Tim Mynett’s wife last week filed bombshell divorce papers claiming her spouse was having an affair with the Somali-born US representative — with Hirsi said to be angry he had been made to look the fool by the allegations of an extramarital affair. “I’m surprised he hasn’t filed already,” the source told The Post, adding that Hirsi was “very confused” in the wake of the bombshell allegations but still loved his wife and was reluctant to expose their three children to a public divorce battle.
• Ilhan Omar’s alleged lover Tim Mynett denies having affair (NY Post) – Rep. Ilhan Omar’s alleged lover Tim Mynett has denied bombshell allegations that he left his wife for the Somali-born representative — accusing wife Beth Mynett in a counterclaim of waging a campaign to “ruin his career” after he left their unhappy marriage. The DC political consultant, who has been working for Omar, denied accusations leveled by his physician wife in her divorce filing that he was having a love affair with Omar and said he hadn’t been in a relationship with any other woman during their six-year marriage, according to the counterclaim filed in DC Superior Court. “Since the time of Mr. Mynett’s departure from the marital home, Ms. Mynett began a negative campaign against Mr. Mynett, seemingly in an effort to ruin his career and permanently damage his relationship with William and his step-daughter,” read the court papers.

7am – B/C     WHOOPI CLAPS BACK AT THE ‘WILL & GRACE’ CAST OVER BLACKLISTING RHETORIC:

• Whoopi Goldberg slams Debra Messing’s ‘list’ idea for Trump backers: ‘We don’t go after people.’ Whoopi Goldberg’s return to ABC’s airwaves on Tuesday started off with a warning to actress Debra Messing over her desired “list” of President Trump’s Hollywood supporters. “We had something called a blacklist, and a lot of really good people were accused of stuff,” Ms. Golberg told “The View” colleagues. “Nobody cared whether it was true or not. They were accused. And they lost their right to work.” At issue is Ms. Messing’s response to an Aug. 29 piece by The Hollywood Reporter detailing an upcoming fundraiser in Beverly Hills for the president. “Please print a list of all attendees please,” the “Will & Grace” star tweeted. “The public has a right to know.” “This is not a good idea, okay?” Ms. Goldberg said, Mediaite reported. “Your idea of who you don’t want to work with is your personal business. Do not encourage people to print out lists because the next list that comes out, your name will be on, and then people will be coming after you! … You don’t have to like it, but we don’t go after people because we don’t like who they voted for. We don’t go after them that way. We can talk about issues and stuff, but we don’t print out lists.”
• ‘Will & Grace’ star backtracks, says he doesn’t support ‘blacklists’ after calling to out Trump donors. (Fox News) – “Will & Grace” star Eric McCormack is walking back his comments after he and his co-star Debra Messing were widely criticized after calling for Trump donors in Hollywood to be outed. Last week, McCormack responded to a report about an upcoming fundraiser being held in Beverly Hills in honor of President Trump’s reelection campaign by requesting a follow-up of all the attendees. “Hey, @THR, kindly report on everyone attending this event,” he wrote, “so the rest of us can be clear about who we don’t want to work with. Thx,” McCormack tweeted. On Tuesday, however, McCormack attempted to clarify his stance, telling his followers on Instagram that he doesn’t support “blacklists.” Messing agreed with the sentiment.
• FLASHBACK: Debra Messing demanded a Hollywood trade magazine publish a list of Trump supporters who attend this month’s re-election campaign fundraiser in LA.  As the White House prepared a government-wide response to Hurricane Dorian and tried to avoid public discussion of a mass-shooting in Texas, Donald Trump succumbed to a distraction on Sunday by Twitter-venting at actress Debra Messing for trying to blacklist the quiet ranks of his Hollywood supporters.  Messing, 51, of the gay-themed TV comedy ‘Will & Grace,’ and her Canadian-born co-star Eric MacCormack, 56, both tweeted this weekend about Trump’s planned September 17 Los Angeles fundraiser. ‘Please print a list of all attendees please. The public has a right to know,’ she tweeted Saturday, responding to a Hollywood Reporter story about the president’s upcoming West coast political swing.  McCormack had already asked the trade magazine to ‘[k]indly report on everyone attending this event, so the rest of us can be clear about who we don’t wanna work with. Thx.’

7am – D/E     INTERVIEW – RYAN LOVELACE – author of “Search and Destroy: Inside the Campaign Against Brett Kavanaugh” — IN STUDIO

• ABOUT BOOK: Ryan Lovelace, author of Search and Destroy: Inside the Campaign Against Brett Kavanaugh. Lovelace covers legal news in Washington as the D.C. Business of Law Reporter at The National Law Journal, American Lawyer, and ALM Media. In this deeply researched account, one of Washington’s top legal reporters reveals the massive funding, sophisticated organization, and fanatical zeal behind the campaign to stop Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the nation’s highest court. Trump had promised to nominate only Scalia-style “originalists” to the Court—a promise he backed up with a list of potential nominees. The left took him at his word, setting up a titanic political clash when Justice Anthony Kennedy—the decisive vote on abortion—announced his retirement in June 2018. The nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh—until that moment universally respected—sent Democratic senators racing to the cameras to announce their opposition, while an armada of activist groups, fueled by “dark money,” launched a coordinated public relations assault of unprecedented scope and fury. Kavanaugh was nevertheless on the brink of confirmation when the Democrats, in desperation, disclosed an allegation of teenaged sexual assault against the stunned nominee, turning Christine Blasey Ford into a #MeToo icon. Ryan Lovelace reports how Kavanaugh’s opponents, unable to produce a shred of corroboration, resorted to the court of public opinion, where the rules of evidence and standards of fairness favor the prosecution. Under the skillful direction of a Clinton henchman and a savvy lawyer, they conducted a show trial in which the compliant media arrived at the desired verdict. Kavanaugh owed his eventual confirmation to the pro-choice Republican senator Susan Collins, whose vote rejected her steel spine and commitment to fairness—“the allegations fail to meet the more-likely-than- not standard”—as well as her conclusion that Roe v. Wade was safe with him on the Court. Lovelace concludes with a thought-provoking assessment of the unexpected consequences of the Kavanaugh controversy and of the cost to the judicial system of a search-and-destroy confirmation process.
• BIO: Ryan Lovelace covers legal news in Washington as the D.C. Business of Law Reporter at The National Law Journal, American Lawyer, and ALM Media. He previously worked as the Washington Examiner’s Supreme Court Reporter and has covered national political news as a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow at The Fund for American Studies, as a William F. Buckley Jr. Fellow in Political Journalism at National Review, and as a Student Free Press Association Fellow at The Weekly Standard. He is an Investigative Reporters and Editors award-winner. TWITTER: @LovelaceRyanD

8am – A         INTERVIEW – MATT SCHLAPP – American Conservative Union (ACU) Chairman – shared his trip to Hong Kong.

• ACU Chairman Matt met with student protest leader Andy Chan, business leaders, and attorneys for many of the protestors who have been detained.
• ACU Hosts “Pop-UP” CPAC Alongside Hong Kong Student Protestors. At the request of the student leaders of the freedom movement in Hong Kong, ACU Chairman Matt Schlapp and Executive Director Dan Schneider are in Hong Kong to see firsthand what is happening and to stand in solidarity with the students.  A continued crackdown is underway. “ACU and CPAC have a long history of fighting communism and socialism and bringing students together,” said Schlapp. “We are disheartened that these skills are now needed desperately in Hong Kong.” Earlier today the ACU/CPAC delegation—including our partners from CPAC Australia (LibertyWorks) and CPAC Japan (Japanese Conservative Union)—travelled to Hong Kong to meet with student leader Andy Chan who was detained by the government to prevent his delivering remarks in Tokyo.
• Hong Kong’s government is planning to formally withdraw the incendiary extradition bill which has sparked months of violent protests, reports say. Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s embattled chief executive, will formally withdraw the controversial extradition bill that sparked months of tense protests that played out on an international stage, according to reports.  The bill allowing Hong Kong residents to be sent to mainland China for trials sparked massive protests that have rocked the city since June. Lam has suspended the bill, but protesters want it entirely withdrawn. Pro-government lawmaker Michael Tien confirmed he was notified on Tuesday of the meeting, which includes members of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. He said he has no details of the agenda.

8am – B/C     GUN CONTROL TALK:

• Meghan McCain mocked after explaining her pro-gun stance on ‘The View.’ (Fox News) – “The View” host Meghan McCain received a wave of backlash on Tuesday after she attempted to defend gun rights to her co-hosts. The liberal gabfest, making its return from a summer break, was discussing President Trump’s position on background checks and the types of reforms they’d like to see. During the discussion, McCain warned that taking guns away from people would lead to more violence. After co-host Joy Behar interjected, McCain flatly said: “I’m not living without guns.” McCain appeared annoyed as the audience reacted to her saying she felt “safe” with firearms in her home. Things seemed to get even more heated when co-host Sunny Hostin said she wanted to ban “assault weapons that are killing our children.” “All right, I love being virtue-signaled at 20 minutes into the first show back,” she said. She and the co-hosts had just returned for the premiere of the show’s 23rd season. On Twitter, McCain, the daughter of late-Sen. John McCain, received plenty of criticism, with one user suggesting she should be removed from the show.
• Walmart ends all handgun ammunition sales and asks customers not to carry guns into stores.

8am – D         Montgomery County Police And Prosecutors ‘Furious At Their Own Leadership’ (Daily Caller) – Washington D.C. radio host and Daily Caller editorial director Vince Coglianese discussed a recently revealed illegal immigrant crime spree in Montgomery County, Maryland, on Tuesday night’s edition of “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” Following news of Honduran national Emilio Carrasco-Hernandez becoming the seventh illegal alien to be arrested for a sex crime in the county after allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl, Coglianese told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that “rank and file police officers and prosecutors are furious at their own leadership” for allowing the situation to continue by refusing to work with federal officials. “Why are we just learning about this now?” asked Carlson. “Is there some reason that seven of these stories have come to light in such a short time?” After noting that such criminal behavior by illegal aliens, many of which involved “sexual rape or abuse of a minor,” is not “a new phenomenon,” Coglianese told Carlson that we’re finding out about them now because “rank and file police officers and prosecutors in Montgomery county are furious at their own leadership for allowing this problem to continue to fester as long as it has. These stories haven’t been public before because they have been trying to deal with them. But now they are done dealing with them.”

8am – E         Facebook is considering a test to hide likes on News Feed posts. The company already tested a similar move on Instagram in August as a way to help break users’ fixation with getting likes on their pictures.  Data miner Jane Manchun Wong discovered that Facebook is experimenting with the change in its Android app Monday. The company said Monday it’s considering testing the removal of likes on posts to its social media platform, confirming an earlier report by TechCrunch.