Mornings on the Mall

Monday, October 14, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

WMAL’s Redskins Analyst Trevor Matich, Joe diGenova, Mary Grabar and Carol Maloney joined WMAL on Monday!

5am – A/B/C HUNTER BIDEN NEWS:

• ‘Where’s Hunter?’ Trump asks, as Biden’s son promises not to work with foreign companies if father wins presidency in 2020. (Fox News) – President Trump targeted Hunter Biden Sunday morning, implying that the son of former Vice President Joe Biden has disappeared — hours after Hunter Biden’s attorney announced his client is stepping down from the board of a Chinese company and vowed that he will not work with foreign companies if his father becomes president. “Where’s Hunter? He has totally disappeared!” Trump tweeted. Trump and his own attorney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, have accused Hunter Biden of improperly benefiting from business dealings in China and Ukraine while Joe Biden was vice president.
• MEET THE PRESS WON’T AIR NEWS ABOUT HUNTER BIDEN: The president held a campaign rally last night and attacked Hunter Biden. We cannot in good conscience show it to you @chucktodd: “Politics ain’t beanbag, but it isn’t supposed to be this either. We all need to play a role in not rewarding this kind of politics”
• Tulsi Gabbard tells The Hill’s Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti that Hunter Biden’s seat on Ukrainian energy company board while father was VP has perception “of concern” and that if she is POTUS it would be a “poor decision” for her VP’s child to make
• Hunter Biden To Step Down From Board Of Chinese Firm. NYT: Hunter Biden to Leave Chinese Company Board, Addressing Appearance of a Conflict. ALTOONA, Iowa — Hunter Biden, whose overseas business dealings have drawn relentless attacks from President Trump and posed a threat to the candidacy of his father, Joseph R. Biden Jr., intends to step down from the board of a Chinese company, BHR, by the end of the month, his lawyer said on Sunday, a move his father later lauded in a forceful defense of his son’s integrity. The lawyer also said in a statement that if Mr. Biden were to be elected president, his son would “agree not to serve on boards of, or work on behalf of, foreign-owned companies.” […] In a brief news conference here Sunday in which he repeatedly pounded the podium, Mr. Biden stressed that the decision to leave the Chinese company’s board had been his son’s alone and suggested he learned of the statement from Hunter Biden’s lawyers. He also took what seemed to be veiled swipes at some of Mr. Trump’s children, who have had their own overseas business dealings. “The statement my son put out today, which I saw when he put it out — I was told it was going to be put out, I did not consult with him about what’s being put out — in fact represents the kind of man of integrity he is,” Mr. Biden said. “And I can tell you now, if I am your president, next president, I’m going to build on the squeaky-clean transparent environment that we had in the Obama-Biden White House, and no one in my family or associated with me will be involved in any foreign operation whatsoever. Period, end of story.” […] Aides say Mr. Biden has been bracing for weeks for questions about his son onstage at Tuesday’s CNN/New York Times debate. His allies and advisers say that any Democrat who broaches the subject is playing into Mr. Trump’s hands and hurting the party’s cause, and some have suggested Mr. Biden is prepared to make that case if he faces skepticism over his son’s Ukraine dealings from either the moderators or rival Democrats.

5am – D         SYRIA NEWS:

• S.-allied Kurds strike deal to bring Syrian troops loyal to Assad back into Kurdish areas. The announcement by the Syrian Democratic Forces further undermines the prospect of any continued U.S. presence along the Turkish border.
• UP TO 1000 TROOPS W/DRAWING FROM SYRIA WHILE KURDS LOOK TO RUSSIA: Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the move came after the US learned that Turkey was pressing further into Syria than had been expected. And the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are seeking a deal with the Syrian regime and Russia to counter-attack against the Turks in the north, Esper added.
• KURDISH GUARDS SAY GUARDING ISIS PRISONERS NO LONGER A PRIORITY: “The protection of ISIS prisons will not remain a priority,” the commander said, using an alternate acronym for the Islamic State. “The defense of our soil will be prioritized if [the] Turkish military continues its attacks.” SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali told Rudaw the prisons contain about 12,000 Islamic State prisoners and camps house about 90,000 members of their families. He said the prisoners are like “bombs.”
• SYRIA REPORTEDLY TARGETING CIVILIANS & JOURNALISTS: Fresh airstrikes from Turkey reportedly targeted civilians and a group of foreign reporters in the Syrian border town of Ras al-Ayn, according to monitoring groups and Syrian Kurdish officials. The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said the airstrike killed at least nine people – including five civilians on Sunday, while other reports claimed that the convoy included foreign journalists, according to Haaretz.

5am – E         China Emerges With Wins From U.S. Trade Truce. U.S. shelves new tariffs against Beijing while leaving many demands to be worked out later. Trump Reaches ‘Phase 1’ Deal With China and Delays Planned Tariffs. WASHINGTON — President Trump said Friday that the United States had reached an interim deal with China that would forestall a tariff increase slated for next week, providing a temporary détente in a prolonged and economically painful trade war. Mr. Trump, speaking from the Oval Office, said negotiators had reached a “Phase 1” agreement that would take several weeks to write and that both sides could officially sign by November. If completed, the agreement would provide relief to American farmers and businesses that have been battered by the trade war. Mr. Trump said the “substantial” agreement would involve China buying $40 billion to $50 billion worth of American agricultural products annually, along with guidelines on how it manages its currency, the renminbi.

6am – A/B/C SCHIFF AND THE WHISTLEBLOWER:

• Schiff says he should have been ‘much more clear’ about whistleblower contact. (Fox News) – House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said he should have been “much more clear” about the contact his committee had with the whistleblower who spurred an impeachment inquiry into President Trump. Speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, the California Democrat expressed regret for saying his committee hadn’t been in contact with the whistleblower when it actually had. Schiff was given four Pinocchios by the Washington Post fact-checker for saying last month that he and his panel “have not spoken directly” with the unnamed CIA officer. “I should have been much more clear,” Schiff said Sunday. “I was referring to the fact that when the whistleblower filed the complaint, we had not heard from the whistleblower. We wanted to bring the whistleblower in at that time, but I should have been much more clear about that.”
• SCHIFF:  WE DON’T NEED A QUID PRO QUO: Schiff said, “Well, we’re keeping our focus right now on the president’s coercion of an ally, that is Ukraine, to create this sham investigations into his political opponent. We have discovered in very short order not only the contents of that call but also the preparatory work that went into that call. The effort to condition something the Ukrainian president deeply sought, that is, a meeting with the president, to establish this new president to the Ukraine had a powerful patron in the United States that was vital importance to Ukraine, that was being conditioned as digging up dirt on the Bidens…” Anchor: so you see THAT as the QUID PRO QUO?? He added, “There doesn’t need to be a quid pro quo. But it is clear already from the text messaged that this meeting that the Ukraine president sought was being conditioned on their willingness to interfere in the U.S. to help the president. That is a terrible abuse of the president’s power. Whether that abuse goes further, that is the withholding of military aid as leverage. There is certainly strong indication that’s is true as well. We will get to the bottom of it. Here you have a president of the United States abusing his power to the detriment of our national security. And doing so yet to get another foreign country to intervene in our election. It’s hard to imagine more of a corruption of the office than that.”
• Schiff Says Congress May Not Need To Interview Whistleblower After All: “Given that we already have the call record, we don’t need the whistleblower who wasn’t on the call to tell us what took place during the call, we have the best evidence of that,” Schiff said on “Face the Nation.” “It may not be necessary to take steps that might reveal the whistleblower’s identity to do that, and we’re going to make sure we protect that whistleblower.”
• Democrats using Intel Committee to keep impeachment facts hidden from the public, says WSJ’s Kim Strassel | Fox News. Congressional Democrats are skirting the past precedent of using the Judiciary Committee to impeach the president, and are instead relying on the House Intelligence Committee to shroud their work in darkness and keep vital facts hidden from the public, said Wall Street Journal columnist Kim Strassel. “I think the reason they are doing it through House Intelligence is so that they can keep everything secret, keep this whistleblower identity secret and the nature of some of the claims,” she claimed Sunday on “The Journal Editorial Report.” “But that’s not very encouraging to the public,” Strassel continued. “I think the other thing they’re doing is not holding a formal vote to have an impeachment inquiry and setting out the rules — they’ve been denying Republicans the right to take part in some of this. These are all at variance with what past probes have done.”
• Adam Schiff has 2 aides who worked with whistleblower at White House.
• Joe Biden worked with whistleblower when he was vice president, officials reveal
• Ukraine whistleblower wants to testify in writing instead of appearing in person
• Ukraine whistleblower asks to give written testimony to shield identity: report

6am – D         INTERVIEW – TREVOR MATICH – WMAL’s Redskins Analyst –discussed Redskins having their first win of the season.

• McLaurin helps Redskins earn 1st win against Dolphins, 17-16. MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — It’s no surprise a matchup between winless teams was decided by a dropped pass. Running back Kenyan Drake couldn’t handle Ryan Fitzpatrick’s quick throw in the flat on a 2-point conversion try with 6 seconds left Sunday, allowing the Washington Redskins to escape with their first victory of the year by beating the Miami Dolphins 17-16.

6am – E         North Carolina assisted living facility workers accused of running dementia resident fight club. (Fox News) – Three employees at a North Carolina assisted living facility were arrested after police said they ran a fight club with elderly residents with dementia battling it out against each other.  The women were accused in court documents of watching, filming and even encouraging a fight between a 70-year-old woman and a 73-year-old woman at the Danby House assisted living and memory-care facility in Winston-Salem, Fox 8 High Point and other local media reported. Marilyn Latish McKey, 32, Tonacia Yvonne Tyson, 20, and Taneshia Deshawn Jordan, 26, were each charged with assaulting disabled persons, according to the reports. Winston-Salem police announced their arrests Friday following an investigation into a June complaint of elder abuse at the facility. “When you’re talking about someone who can’t take care of themselves, we’ve got to give specific attention to that,” Lt. Gregory Dorn told Fox 8. Documents from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services show that during the filming of the fight one of the combatants was heard yelling “let go, help me, help me, let go” as McKey, Tyson, and Jordan continued to watch, the Winston-Salem Journal reported. According to the documents at some point one of the staffers told the resident to “stop screaming (expletive),” the paper reported.

6am – F         Boy stabbed on Metro train near Capitol Hill dies. (Fox5DC) — WASHINGTON – Police say the 15-year-old boy stabbed Friday inside an Orange Line Metro train near the Capitol has died. 15-year-old Jaquar McNair of Southeast D.C. succumbed to his injuries Saturday.  A 15-year-old girl is in custody after the stabbing Friday afternoon. She now faces a First Degree Murder charge after being initially charged with assault with intent to kill.  Police say they found McNair unconscious and suffering from a stab wound at 12:37 p.m. Friday inside the Capitol South Metro station at 355 1st Street Southeast. Investigators determined that the stabbing took place inside an Orange Line rail car. Police say they found the suspect a few blocks from the Metro station.  The boy was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died.

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

• Schiff admits he should have been ‘much more clear’ about contact with whistleblower
• Adam Schiff: ‘There Doesn’t Need to Be a Quid Pro Quo’ to Impeach Trump
• Schiff Says Congress May Not Need To Interview Whistleblower After All
• Democrats using Intel Committee to keep impeachment facts hidden from the public, says WSJ’s Kim Strassel | Fox News
• Adam Schiff has 2 aides who worked with whistleblower at White House
• Joe Biden worked with whistleblower when he was vice president, officials reveal
• Ukraine whistleblower wants to testify in writing instead of appearing in person
• MEET THE PRESS WON’T AIR NEWS ABOUT HUNTER: Chuck Todd: “Politics ain’t beanbag, but it isn’t supposed to be this either. We all need to play a role in not rewarding this kind of politics”
• NYT: Hunter Biden to Leave Chinese Company Board, Addressing Appearance of a Conflict. ALTOONA, Iowa — Hunter Biden, whose overseas business dealings have drawn relentless attacks from President Trump and posed a threat to the candidacy of his father, Joseph R. Biden Jr., intends to step down from the board of a Chinese company, BHR, by the end of the month, his lawyer said on Sunday, a move his father later lauded in a forceful defense of his son’s integrity.
• IG REPORT DUE OUT FRIDAY: Maria Bartiromo: DOJ inspector general report due out Friday and covers ‘more than just FISA abuse’ (Washington Examiner) – Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo says her sources are telling her an extensive report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz on alleged Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuses by the Justice Department and the FBI will be released by the end of next week. Bartiromo, who is the first journalist to report an exact release date, discussed what she had learned on her Fox News show, Sunday Morning Futures, with two Republican congressmen who deduced former high-ranking government officials are bracing for a scathing critique. “I’m hearing the IG report will be out this upcoming Friday, Oct. 18, and my sources say it’s as thick as a telephone book,” Bartiromo said, adding that it covers “more than just FISA abuse.”

7am – D         KANYE WEST WAS AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY THIS WEEKEND

• Kanye West and Kim Kardashian made an impromptu visit at Howard University’s homecoming Oct. 12 where the rapper brought his worship-style concert “Sunday Service” to the school.
• Kanye West brought his Sunday Service pop-up to Howard University — but not everyone supported it. (CNN) Kanye West — a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump who once called slavery a choice — brought his Sunday Service performances to one of the country’s most prestigious historically black colleges Saturday. And the faculty and students were kind of here for it, kind of not. West pulled up to Howard University around 8 a.m., pretty early for most college students. He still drew an appreciative crowd, judging from the videos the university posted. But not everyone was impressed by the performance. Greg Carr, an associate professor at Howard’s Department of Afro-American Studies, asked his followers to send Kanye to the library after the performance. “I have some books for him,” he wrote, followed by the hashtag #TheMiseducationOfTheNegro. Another professor at the school, Keneshia Grant, also tweeted her opinion about the performance. “This Kayne [sic] church thing makes me uncomfortable. There, I said it,” she wrote.

7am – E         CLIMATE CHANGE NEWS:

• AOC gets choked up at climate forum: ‘My dreams of motherhood are now bittersweet’ (Fox News) – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., got emotional on Friday as she discussed how climate change affected her own personal outlook on life. “I speak to you not as an elected official or a public figure, but I speak to you as a human being,” the freshman congresswoman told a climate summit in Copenhagen. “A woman whose dreams of motherhood now taste bittersweet, because of what I know about our children’s future,” she added, apparently choking back tears. She was giving her keynote address at the C40 World Mayors Summit which recently approved a global version of her “Green New Deal.” Ocasio-Cortez went on to decry the impacts of climate change and indicating that Puerto Ricans died because they lived “under colonial rule.” “I speak to you as daughter and descendant of colonized peoples who have already begun to suffer. Just two years ago one of the deadliest disasters in the United States struck in the form of Hurricane Maria,” she said.
• Jane Fonda is arrested at a climate change rally on Capitol Hill after moving to Washington DC and vowing to protest ‘every Friday’ in echoes of her 1970s Vietnam protests.  (Daily Mail) – The 81-year-old actress’s hands appeared to be zip-tied as she was taken away by police on the steps in front of the Capitol Building in the US capital. She was filmed standing beside Oil Change International protesters, who started a chant demanding for ‘climate justice now’. The actress previously took a stand against the Vietnam War, for which some nicknamed ‘Hanoi Jane’.  As Fonda was led away yesterday the crowds applauded her and shouted, ‘We lov e you Jane!’  The Los Angeles Times claimed that it was her mission to get arrested. The actress has vowed to protest each week ‘rain or shine’. Fonda claimed to have been ‘inspired and emboldened by the incredible movement’ spearheaded by young activists including Sweden’s Greta Thunberg. She wrote on her website: ‘I can no longer stand by and let our elected officials ignore – and even worse – empower – the industries that are destroying our planet for profit.
• Ban air miles rewards because they encourage people to fly more, Government’s climate advisers suggest. Committee on Climate Change report suggests ban on air mile reward schemes. (Daily Mail) –  Air miles reward schemes should be banned because they ‘stimulate demand’ for excessive flying, according to a report commissioned by the Government’s climate change advisers. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) commissioned report says that frequent flyers should also be hit by an ‘escalating air miles levy’ to put them off flying too much, but measures should not raise prices for people taking an annual holiday. There is approximately 220 frequent flyer clubs with an estimated total membership of 200 million across the world, many of whom take additional flights to ‘maintain their privileged traveller status’. The new suggestions are aimed at reducing air travel for the 15 per cent of the UK population estimated to be responsible for 70 per cent of all flights.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – MARY GRABAR – author of “Debunking Howard Zinn”

• Monday is Columbus Day (in some places). Last week, Washington, D.C. and Prince George’s County, Maryland voted to do away with Columbus Day. 
• Mary discussed the real legacy of Christopher Columbus.
• IN HER BOOK, SHE DISCUSSES: How Columbus was not a genocidal maniac, and was, in fact, a defender of Indians
• Prince George’s County replaces Columbus Day with Native American Day. PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. – Prince George’s County Council is replacing Columbus Day with Native American Day beginning in 2020. The council noted that Oct. 14, 2019 will be the county’s final official Columbus Day. The bill arrives on the heels of a similar measure passed by the D.C. Council, which voted Tuesday to rename the day traditionally reserved for Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day.
• EARLIER LAST WEEK: DC Council approves emergency legislation to rename Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the District. The District will celebrate “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” next Monday instead of Columbus Day after the D.C. Council approved emergency legislation to rename the federal holiday in an effort to “honor Indigenous People and their rich history and cultural contributions.”

8am – B/C     TRUMP SUPPORTER BACKLASH:

• Protester Spits on Trump Supporter During Interview at Minneapolis Rally. It wasn’t exactly Minnesota nice. (Vice) – Minnesota nice turned into Minnesota nasty quickly Thursday during a VICE News interview outside of President Trump’s rally in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dave Carlson, a salesman in Minnesota, was sharing why he donates to President Trump’s campaign when a protestor openly spat in his face and kept walking by. Carlson kept his cool and wiped off his face, saying, “I’m fine, I’m fine.” Two other protestors who were not the perpetrator apologized to Carlson.
• Maryland officer punched in fight over pro-Trump clothes. (Washington Post) — GLEN BURNIE, Md. — Authorities in Maryland say an officer was assaulted after a fight broke out at a high school football game over clothing supportive of President Donald Trump. The Capital Gazette reported Sunday the officer with the Anne Arundel County Police Department received treatment for a concussion. Police Sgt. Jackie Davis says the fight happened Sept. 27 in Glen Burnie during a game between Old Mill and North County high schools. A juvenile has been charged. Davis says spectators hurled insults at each other over the clothing. The newspaper reports the officer was punched twice in the head as people were being escorted out of the stadium. Bob Mosier with Anne Arundel County Public Schools says top school administrators have begun attending some games to keep an eye out for potential problems.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – Carol Maloney – host of Carol Maloney Show on ESPN 630 (in studio) – discussed the latest on the WINNING WEEKEND IN WASHINGTON:

• NATS WIN! St. Louis Cardinals at Washington Nationals — tonight at 7:38 PM
• Stephen Strasburg tries to keep Washington Nationals’ roll going in NLCS Game 3 with St. Louis Cardinals. Stephen Strasburg is going to take the mound tonight for the first NLCS game in D.C. in franchise history.

8am – E         California Goes Too Far With New Red Flag Law. California adopts broadest US rules for seizing guns. SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed a law that will make the state the first to allow employers, co-workers and teachers to seek gun violence restraining orders against other people. The bill was vetoed twice by former governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, and goes beyond a measure that he signed allowing only law enforcement officers and immediate family members to ask judges to temporarily take away peoples’ guns when they are deemed a danger to themselves or others. Newsom is also a Democrat and signed a companion bill allowing the gun violence restraining orders to last one and five years, although the gun owners could petition to end those restrictions earlier. The new laws are were among 15 gun-related laws that Newsom approved as the state strengthens what the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence calls the nation’s toughest restrictions. “California has outperformed the rest of the nation, because of our gun safety laws, in reducing the gun murder rate substantially compared to the national reduction,” Newsom said as he signed the measures surrounded by state lawmakers. “No state does it as well or comprehensively as the state of California, and we still have a long way to go.” Between 1993 and 2017, there was a 62% decline in the gun murder rate in California, nearly double the 34% nationally, he said.