Mornings on the Mall

Monday, September 16, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

Joe diGenova, Tom Fitton, Chuck Thies, Gen. Jack Keane, Trevor Matich joined WMAL on Monday morning!

5am – A/B/C KAVANAUGH ACCUSATIONS:

• Kamala Harris, Julian Castro Call for Brett Kavanaugh Impeachment.  In a tweet Sunday, Trump said Kavanaugh “should start suing people for libel, or the Justice Department should come to his rescue.”
• Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump  20h20 hours ago Brett Kavanaugh should start suing people for libel, or the Justice Department should come to his rescue. The lies being told about him are unbelievable. False Accusations without recrimination. When does it stop? They are trying to influence his opinions. Can’t let that happen!
• New York Times updates Kavanaugh ‘bombshell’ to note accuser doesn’t recall alleged assault.  (Fox News) – The New York Times suddenly made a major revision to its story late Sunday concerning a resurfaced allegation of sexual assault by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, hours after virtually all 2020 Democratic presidential candidates had cited the original article as a reason to impeach Kavanaugh. The update included the significant detail that several friends of the alleged victim said she did not recall the supposed sexual assault in question at all. The Times also stated for the first time that the alleged victim refused to be interviewed, and has made no comment about the episode. The only first-hand statement concerning the supposed attack in the original piece came from a Clinton-connected lawyer who claimed to have witnessed it. The Times’ revision says: “Editors’ Note: An earlier version of this article, which was adapted from a forthcoming book, did not include one element of the book’s account regarding an assertion by a Yale classmate that friends of Brett Kavanaugh pushed his penis into the hand of a female student at a drunken dorm party. The book reports that the female student declined to be interviewed and friends say that she does not recall the incident. That information has been added to the article.” The update came only after the Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway, who reviewed an advance copy of the book, first flagged the omission on Twitter.

5am – D         More than 49,000 auto workers go on strike against GM. The United Auto Workers went on a nationwide strike against General Motors on Sunday night after contract talks broke off Sunday. It is the first strike against GM in 12 years. Talks will resume Monday morning. Union officials say both sides are far apart in the talks, while GM says it has made significant offers. UAW represents workers at 33 manufacturing sites and 22 parts warehouses across the country.

5am – E         MCCABE / RUSSIA INVESTIGATION:

• McCabe team pressures DOJ to show cards amid grand jury speculation. (Fox News) – A lawyer for Andrew McCabe, the former FBI official facing the possibility of federal charges, is making a fresh attempt to pressure prosecutors to drop the case against him – citing supposed “rumors” that a grand jury has already declined to indict him. Grand jury proceedings are highly secretive, and the status of McCabe’s case remains unclear. Speculation was widespread earlier Thursday that he could soon be facing prosecution as U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu recommended moving forward with charges, and the DOJ rejected a last-ditch appeal from McCabe. But in an unusual email sent Thursday night and obtained by Fox News, McCabe’s legal team sought to pressure the Justice Department to show its cards, citing “rumors from reporters starting this morning that the grand jury considering charges against Mr. McCabe had declined to vote an indictment.”
• DOJ watchdog submits draft report on alleged FISA abuses to Barr. (Fox News) — The Justice Department’s inspector general told lawmakers Friday his team is nearly finished with its long-awaited review of alleged surveillance abuses by the DOJ and FBI during the Russia investigation, saying they have submitted a draft to Attorney General Bill Barr and are “finalizing” the report ahead of its public release. “We have now begun the process of finalizing our report by providing a draft of our factual findings to the department and the FBI for classification determination and marking,” Michael Horowitz wrote in a Friday letter to several House and Senate committees. “This step is consistent with our process for reports such as this one that involve classified material.” Barr has received the draft report from Horowitz and will begin the process of reviewing it, according to a source familiar with the situation. The inspector general said his team has “reviewed over one million records and conducted over 100 interviews, including several of witnesses who only recently agreed to be interviewed.” Horowitz and his investigators have probed how the infamous anti-Trump dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele was used to secure the original Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant for former Trump aide Carter Page in October 2016, as well as for three renewals. Horowitz’s team has questioned why the FBI considered Steele a credible source, and why the bureau seemed to use news reports to bolster Steele’s credibility. In his letter Friday, Horowitz indicated that once the Justice Department and the FBI send back a marked document relating to classified material, his team will “proceed with our usual process for preparing final draft public and classified reports, and ensuring that appropriate reviews occur for accuracy and comment purposes.”

6am – A/B/C RECAP MOCO RALLY: Protesters, Counter-Protesters Demonstrate in Rockville Over Montgomery County’s Immigration Policies. (WMAL) —

ROCKVILLE, MD – Hundreds of demonstrators organized outside the Montgomery County Council building in Rockville, Maryland on Friday morning to respond to a string of rape cases involving at least eight undocumented immigrants in one month, following an executive order by County Executive Marc Elrich that stops any collaboration between federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and the Montgomery County Police Department. Last Friday, Elrich and the county council incited more frustration by vocal opponents to the county’s immigration policies when they released a statement calling critics “xenophobic” and likening them to “neo-Nazi sympathizers.” Montgomery County Stands with Immigrants began their rally at 10:30 Friday morning across the street from the county executive building. Concerned Citizens Coalition of Montgomery County and Help Save Maryland #StandwithICE rally gathered at the steps of the county council building at 11 AM. The police created a divider in the middle of the street to separate the rally on the steps and the counter protest across the street. When radio host Larry O’Connor thanked the police at the beginning of the dueling rallies, the counter protest across the street booed the police. The pro-ICE rally was more than twice the size of the pro-illegal immigration demonstrators. Montgomery County Councilmember At-Large Will Jawando and Evan Glass were among the speakers at the counter protest.

6am – D         SAUDI OIL FACILITY ATTACKED

• Iran denies role in attacks on Saudi oil facilities; Trump says U.S. is ‘locked and loaded’ — (Washington Post) – President Trump said Sunday that the United States was prepared to respond to the devastating attacks on two oil installations in Saudi Arabia that halved the state oil company’s production output, while Iran rejected U.S. accusations that it was responsible. “There is reason to believe that we know the culprit,” Trump said in a tweet Sunday evening. He said the United States was “locked and loaded depending on verification.” Trump did not name Iran, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had on Saturday, or specify whether he was contemplating a military response. He said he was waiting to hear from the Saudis on “who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!”
• Crude prices jump 12% after drone strikes halve Saudi oil output; Trump says U.S. to tap strategic reserves –– Oil prices jumped on global markets Sunday night after a wave of weekend drone attacks instantly erased half of Saudi Arabia’s oil production. Brent crude on Sunday traded at $70.98 per barrel on oil futures markets, an 18 percent surge from Friday’s close of $60.15, before falling back to about a 12 percent increase. U.S. benchmark West Texas intermediate crude opened at $61.27 per barrel, a 12 percent climb, before easing to a 10 percent gain.
• — The attack on two major Saudi oil facilities that knocked out half of the country’s oil production appears to have come from Iran instead of the Yemeni Houthi group that claimed it, a senior US official told Reuters.
• The unnamed official said there were 19 points of impact in the attack on Saudi facilities. The damage signaled the attack came from the direction of Iraq and Iran and not south from Yemen. (via Business Insider)
• Authorities in Tehran denied the accusation as Saudi officials believe cruise missiles were used in the attack, casting doubt on rebel claims that they used drones to wipe out the facilities.
• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on other nations to publicly condemn Iran for the attacks, as the US will work to make sure “Iran is held accountable for its aggression.”
  • Secretary Pompeo ‏@SecPompeo Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while Rouhani and Zarif pretend to engage in diplomacy. Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply.  There is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.
  • Secretary Pompeo ‏@SecPompeo We call on all nations to publicly and unequivocally condemn Iran’s attacks. The United States will work with our partners and allies to ensure that energy markets remain well supplied and Iran is held accountable for its aggression

6am – E         Joe Biden’s story of confronting a gang leader named ‘Corn Pop’ while working as a lifeguard in 1962 draws skepticism. (Business Insider) — Presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden has a story he’s repeated a few times about a run-in with a gang leader named “Corn Pop” while he worked as a lifeguard at a black pool in 1962. Biden’s story, which veers toward fantastical, resurfaced on Twitter over the weekend, thanks to a skeptic analysis of whether it actually happened tweeted out by TheRoot.com senior writer Michael Harriot. A video from 2017 circulated of Biden sharing his bizarre tale, which involved him facing off against a straight-razor-wielding Corn Pop while Biden armed himself with a length of chain cut from the pool’s deep end. he pool in question now bears Biden’s name, as the Joseph R. Biden Aquatic Center in Wilmington, Delaware. Twitter gathered round this weekend for a tale from former Vice President Joe Biden about a gang leader named “Corn Pop.” Biden, the Democratic frontrunner candidate for president, has told a story from his days of lifeguarding at a black pool in 1962 multiple times, but it resurfaced on social media thanks to a compelling analysis from TheRoot.com senior writer Michael Harriot. “I’m always astounded by the imaginings of white people as it relates to race,” Harriot wrote on Twitter. “Many of them have this fictionalized jigaboo version that is almost alien-like. And one of the greatest examples of this ever is Joe Biden’s story about Corn Pop the gangsta.”  When telling his story, Biden has said that he worked as the only white lifeguard at the Prices Run swimming pool in Brown-Burton Winchester Park in Wilmington, Delaware. The pool has since been renamed the Joseph R. Biden Aquatic Center – at the dedication ceremony, Biden told the story again, and video of his retelling also circulated on Twitter. In some instances, Harriot wrote that Biden frames his story by explaining that he wanted to work at a black pool “in hopes of learning more about the black community.” Biden also said he was popular among pool-goers, because most of them hadn’t talked to a white person before. This, as Harriot points out, is suspicious, because the census from Wilmington in 1960 shows the town was 73% white. Biden goes on to say that a group of gang members called “The Romans” came to the pool, including the gang leader Corn Pop. Biden says he yelled at Corn Pop to stop bouncing on the diving board, calling him Esther Williams, after the famous 50s female swimmer. After Biden insulted Corn Pop, the gang leader supposedly said he’d meet the future vice president outside his car when he got off work. Biden says Corn Pop showed up with three guys and straight razors, but that a white mechanic working at the pool cut a six-foot length of chain from the line that separated the deep end for Biden to arm himself with. In the video from the pool renaming ceremony, Biden also explains that the straight razors wielded by Corn Pop and his fellow gang members were rusty, since that was apparently a common method of street fighting at the time. Biden says he apologized to Corn Pop for calling him Esther Williams but insisted that he couldn’t mess around on the diving board. And that, apparently, made Corn Pop close his razor and decide to be friends with Biden. Harriot casts plenty of doubt on the story, which he wrote “sounds like some white kid tried to make a gang fairy tale for a sixth-grade play.” He also pointed out that if Biden had really been threatened, he probably would have called the police rather than confront a rusty razor with six feet of pool chain.

6am – F         Ric Ocasek, lead singer for new-wave icons The Cars, found dead at 75. (USA Today) — Ric Ocasek, frontman and lead singer for new-wave icons The Cars, has been found dead in New York.  New York Police Det. Martin Brown confirmed to USA TODAY that police were called to Ocasek’s residence around 4 p.m. EDT Sunday. “Upon arrival, police found a 75-year-old male unresponsive in bed,” Brown said. “He was pronounced dead at the scene.”  Brown said a family member found Ocasek’s body. “It doesn’t appear criminal at this time.” The Cars, a Boston quintet famed for hits like “Drive,” “Shake It Up” and “Just What I Needed,” broke through in 1978, and Ocasek, Elliot Easton, Greg Hawkes, David Robinson and Benjamin Orr were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018. (Orr, the band’s original bassist and singer, died of pancreatic cancer in 2000.) Ocasek never stopped marveling at the spectacle of pop stardom.  “It’s a long way from standing by a phone booth in the rain in Cambridge waiting for a call from L.A. to see if someone listened to our demo,” he told USA TODAY in 1987. “The first time you ever see you name in print, when you have nothing else, you can live on that for months, even if they spelled it wrong. Later, all the successes that mount up are extremely easy to forget. You can’t go back and live on those.” The Cars split up in the late ’80s, then reunited in 2011 with much fanfare, after Ocasek found himself with a new batch of songs and a sense that they required company.

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

• McCabe team pressures DOJ to show cards amid grand jury speculation
• DOJ watchdog submits draft report on alleged FISA abuses to Barr
• In a tweet Sunday, Trump said Kavanaugh “should start suing people for libel, or the Justice Department should come to his rescue.”
• Kamala Harris, Julian Castro Call for Brett Kavanaugh Impeachment.
• New York Times updates Kavanaugh ‘bombshell’ to note accuser doesn’t recall alleged assault.

7am – B/C     GENDER NEWS:

• Caitlyn Jenner On Her Transition: ‘I Didn’t Cut It Off, I Just Retired It’ (Daily Caller) — Former Olympic athlete Caitlyn Jenner announced huge news in regards to her penis. Jenner admitted she never had it “cut off,” in a preview for Comedy Central’s “Roast Of Alec Baldwin” shared Thursday, according to a report published by Page Six. “All of you are making these silly comments and jokes about how I kind of … cut ‘it’ off,” Jenner said. “Let me remind you … ‘It’ made Kylie Jenner … the youngest self-made billionaire in history. ‘It’ made Kendall Jenner … the highest-paid model in the world,” she added. “I didn’t cut it off,” Jenner admitted as the audience laughed. “I just retired it.”
• SAM SMITH: Today is a good day so here goes. I’ve decided I am changing my pronouns to THEY/THEM after a lifetime of being at war with my gender I’ve decided to embrace myself for who I am, inside and out… (THREAD)
• From SAM SMITH’s hit single, ‘Stay With Me’ — ‘Guess it’s true, I’m not good at a one-night stand / But I still need love ’cause I’m just a man’

7am – D/E     INTERVIEW – TOM FITTON – President of Judicial Watch – in studio – discussed the #StandwithICE Montgomery County rally on Friday and his thoughts on the new Kavanaugh accusations.

• Judicial Watch submitted a Public Information Act request to Montgomery County on Friday about Illegal Alien Crimes Committed and Individuals Involved: Judicial Watch, Inc. requests that the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, the Montgomery County Police Department, and the Montgomery County Attorney’s Office produce the following records pursuant to Maryland’s Public Information Act:

1. All police reports, arrest records, applications for statement of charges, charge and disposition information, or any other criminal history records for the following individuals:
2. Carlos Palacios-Amaya, believed to be 28 years old form El Salvador, arrested on or about July 25, 2019 for second degree rape, among other charges;
3. Mauricio Barrera-Navidad, believed to be 29 years old from El Salvador, arrested on or about July 26, 2019 for second degree rape, among other charges;
4. Nelson Saul Reyes-Medrano, believed to be 46 years old from El Salvador, arrested on or about August 13, 2019 for first degree rape, among other charges;
5. Nestor Lopez-Guzman, believed to be 21 years old from El Salvador, arrested on or about August 18, 2019;
6. Kevin Mendoza, believed to be 26 years old from Honduras, arrested on or about August 19, 2019 for first degree rape, among other charges;
7. Rodrigo Castro-Montejo, believed to be 25 years from El Salvador, arrested on or about August 20, 2019 for second degree rape, among other charges;
8. Emilio Carrasco-Hernandez, believed to be 37 years old, from Honduras, arrested on or about August 26, 2019 for second degree rape, among other charges;
9. Oluwakayode Adewole Adebusuyi, believed to be 26 years old, from Nigeria, arrested on or about August 31, 2019 for second degree rape, among other charges;
10. All Immigration Detainers issued by any federal employee or agent engaged in immigration enforcement, including but not limited to all U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Forms I-247D, I-247N, I-247X, and I-247A, for any of the individuals identified in paragraph A, above.
11. Any responses to or communications about the Immigration Detainers identified in response to the request in paragraph B, above.
12. All communications with any federal employee or agent engaged in immigration enforcement, including but not limited to DHS or the U.S. Department of Justice, concerning or relating to any of the individuals identified in paragraph A, above.

The time frame for the records requested in paragraphs A – D is January 1, 2016 to the present.

2019. All Immigration Detainers, including but not limited to all DHS Forms I-247D, I-247N, I-247X, and I-247A, received by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department in 2019.
2020. Any responses to or communications about the Immigration Detainers identified in response to the request in paragraph E, above.
2021. Any records identifying the “exceptional circumstances” in which Montgomery County law enforcement officers may detain or arrest an individual based on known or suspected civil immigration violations. See Montgomery County Executive Order 135-19 at pg. 1, para. 5.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – CHUCK THIES – DC political analyst

• DC flies flags with 51 stars ahead of statehood parade. (The Hill) — Dozens of American flags with 51 stars were hung in downtown Washington, D.C., on Friday ahead of a statehood hearing next week. About 140 of these flags were seen on Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the U.S. Capitol, WTOP reported. The flags were put up days before the House Oversight and Reform Committee will hold a hearing next Thursday on a bill to make the District of Columbia the U.S.’s 51st state. It’s the first House hearing on D.C. statehood since 1993, WTOP noted. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) will testify at the hearing. The bill was introduced in January by D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) and has 219 co-sponsors. Its companion Senate bill has more than 30 co-sponsors. The flags were also installed ahead of a downtown parade on Monday morning called the 51 Star Flag Salute to D.C. Statehood. The parade, which will take place along Pennsylvania Avenue, moves to urge Congress to give voting rights and representation to the District’s nearly 700,000 residents.

8am – B/C     INTERVIEW – GEN. JACK KEANE – a retired 4 star general, former Vice Chief of Staff of the US Army, the chairman of the Institute for the Study of War and Fox News Senior Strategic Analyst.

• Trump: US ‘locked and loaded’ against attackers of Saudi oil facility ‘depending on verification’; Iran denies involvement. (Fox News) — President Trump on Sunday suggested U.S. investigators had “reason to believe” they knew who launched crippling attacks against a key Saudi oil facility, and vowed that America was “locked and loaded depending on verification.” While he did not specify in his tweet who he believed was responsible for Saturday’s drone attacks, U.S. investigators previously have pointed the finger at Iran. For its part, Iran has denied the allegations. Earlier Sunday, Trump authorized the use of emergency oil reserves in Texas and other states after Saudi oil processing facilities were attacked, sparking fears of a spike in oil prices when markets reopen Monday.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – TREVOR MATICH – WMAL’S Redskins Analyst

• Redskins drop home opener to Cowboys.  (Fox4DC) – LANDOVER, Md. – A late rally by the Redskins wasn’t enough to come back against their archrival Dallas Cowboys on Sunday at FedEx Field.   The Burgundy and Gold lost their home opener 31-21. The Redskins started off the game strong for the second week in a row. An early interception by Montae Nicholson set up a touchdown run by Adrian Peterson. The score moved Peterson into 5th all-time for rushing touchdowns, his 107th. He passed Hall of Famer Jim Brown.  The ‘Skins lost control of the game though, and gave up 20 unanswered points to the Cowboys. Late scores by receivers Paul Richardson Jr. and Terry McLaurin kept the score close, but it wasn’t enough.  The Redskins now move on to Week 3, when they will host the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football.

8am – E         ‘I Was Floored:: Kindergartner’s Salute to Flag Caught on Camera. (NBC Washington) — A few weeks ago, Mike Satterthwaithe stepped outside of his home with his 5-year-old son and discovered his newly hung American flag had been ripped out of its mount. “The flag was laying down on the front steps and he saw that and he was upset,” Satterthwaithe said. “It was touching the ground and we had taught him that it can’t touch the ground.” On Sept. 6, Satterthwaithe installed a new Ring doorbell camera to find the culprit and re-hung his flag the next day. Instead of catching the criminal, however, Satterthwaithe caught a much more heartwarming sight. A video recorded by his Ring doorbell shows his son, 5-year-old Preston, standing in front of the flag and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance when his dad wasn’t looking. “I was putting his bike away in the garage and I turned around and he wasn’t there,” Satterthwaithe said. “I started screaming for him and he came running back.” It wasn’t until several hours later that Satterthwaithe saw on the Ring video where Preston had gone. “That’s why you hear him say, ‘I’m coming, I’m coming,'” Satterthwaithe said. The Chantilly, Virginia, resident said he had no idea his son had even learned the Pledge of Allegiance. “I was floored,” Satterthwaithe said. “The thoughtfulness of him to go and do that on his own is pretty cool.” For Satterthwaithe, the cute moment shows his son took lessons from his parents to heart. “We’ve taught him the significance of America and why people want to move here and our freedoms and he wanted to learn about that,” Satterthwaithe said. “It’s a pretty neat little moment.”