Mornings on the Mall

Friday, October 25, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

WMAL’s Redskins Analyst Trevor Matich, Gen. Jack Keane, DC baseball historian Fred Frommer and Bret Baier joined WMAL on Friday!

5am – A/B/C FOX NEWS: DOJ investigation into possible FBI misconduct is now criminal probe, sources say. U.S. Attorney John Durham’s ongoing probe into potential FBI and Justice Department misconduct in the run-up to the 2016 election through the spring of 2017 has transitioned into a full-fledged criminal investigation, two sources familiar with the investigation told Fox News on Thursday night. One source added that DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s upcoming report on alleged FBI surveillance abuses against the Trump campaign will shed light on why Durham’s probe has become a criminal inquiry. Horowitz announced on Thursday his report would be available to the public soon, with “few” redactions.

5am – D         WeWork Is Not (Entirely) a Laughing Matter. There’s the people losing jobs, and a broader lesson about our precarious times. (Bloomberg) – This one has everything: A corporate leader in the mold of L. Ron Hubbard vaporizes piles of a billionaire’s dollars and still walks away a billionaire himself, while thousands of his former employees angrily wait to be fired, just as soon as the company can scrape the cash together to give them severance — though it did manage to prepare severance packages for the CEOs. And people wonder why socialism is in these days. WeWork, now formally The We Co., yesterday took a bailout offer from its top investor SoftBank, the vehicle of that first billionaire, Masayoshi Son. Softbank has kept throwing money at We even as the commercial real estate startup’s imaginary valuation shrank from $47 billion to $8 billion. Now it owns the bonfire. But through the magic of accounting, SoftBank gets to control WeWork without technically “controlling” it, meaning it keeps the bonfire from lighting up the rest of its balance sheet, write Tim Culpan and Shuli Ren. Son will probably be fine. And aside from the WeWork employees about to lose their jobs, it’s easy to laugh at this wild story because it won’t have much impact on the rest of us. We could even, as Matt Levine does, call We founder Adam Neumann basically a financial hero for spotting a market imbalance, located somewhere in the nexus between Masayoshi Son’s brain and wallet, and profiting from it.

5am – E         GOP reveals new Strzok texts concerning ‘crescendo of leaks,’ demands watchdog investigate. (Fox News) Top Republicans on Wednesday demanded that Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) Michael Atkinson explain why the watchdog hasn’t said if it’s investigating “a number of leaks of highly sensitive information” in recent years — and released several previously unpublished texts and emails from since-fired FBI agent Peter Strzok. The Republicans’ letter came as it emerged Thursday night that U.S. Attorney John Durham’s comprehensive, ongoing probe into potential FBI and DOJ misconduct has transitioned into a full-fledged criminal investigation, enabling Durham to subpoena witnesses and file charges. Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz also announced on Thursday that his separate comprehensive review into possible surveillance abuses will soon be released to the public. Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, specifically asked the ICIG why Strzok texted bureau colleague Lisa Page on Dec. 15, 2016: “Think our sisters have begun leaking like mad. Scorned and worried and political, they’re kicking in to overdrive.” “What are they worried about, and what are they kicking into ‘overdrive?’ Johnson and Grassley wrote. “Who are the ‘sisters,’ and what does it mean to say that the ‘sisters have [been] leaking like mad’?”

6am – A         Texas judge rules father CAN fight to stop his transgender son, 7, transiting to a girl after he argued the child’s mother made him grow up wearing dresses and constantly told him ‘monsters eat little boys’. (Daily Mail) — A judge has ruled that a father fighting to stop his seven-year-old son from transitioning to a girl will be allowed to have a say in future medical decisions related to his child. Jeff Younger has been battling his ex-wife Dr Anne Georgulas in a Dallas family court as part of their bitter custody fight over whether their child James has gender dysphoria.  Judge Kim Cooks ruled on Thursday that the divorced parents will have joint conservatorship over their child.  It means they will have to make joint medical decisions regarding their child, which includes whether James should undergo hormone replacement therapy to transition to a girl.  They will also have to jointly agree on haircuts for the child, as well as dental and psychiatric care.   The decision comes after a jury ruled earlier this week in favor of giving sole managing guardianship of James and twin brother Jude to their mother.

6am – B/C     NATS IN THE WORLD SERIES:

• Trump says he’ll attend Game 5 of the World Series at Nationals Park
• The Nats are coming home today for Game 3 of the World Series.
• The Nationals’ Ticket System Got Hacked and Somebody Stole a Bunch of World Series Tickets. But! The team says it was able to void the ill-gotten tickets.

6am – D         INTERVIEW – TREVOR MATICH – WMAL’s Redskins Analyst

• Redskins at Vikings final score, takeaways: Dwayne Haskins replaces Keenum, Minnesota’s defense takes over. (CBS Sports) — It wasn’t pretty. It certainly wasn’t dominant. They settled for far too many field goals when touchdowns would’ve turned a close game into an easy win. But the end result on Thursday night was a Vikings win over a hapless Washington Redskins team that pushed Minnesota’s record to 6-2, extended their unbeaten run to four games, and further diminished the memory of that disastrous loss to the Bears four weeks ago that preceded their winning streak.  On Thursday night, the Vikings rode Dalvin Cook and Stefon Diggs to a 19-9 win over the Redskins. Cook racked up 171 yards from scrimmage. Diggs caught all seven of his targets for 143 yards. And in a revenge game against the team that for so many years refused to commit to him as their franchise quarterback, Kirk Cousins continued his run with a 23 of 26 for 285 yards and a 112.3 passer rating performance. Even though the Vikings only managed to score 19 points, it’s worth noting they didn’t punt once. They had their issues in the red zone, but they mostly controlled this game against an already bad Redskins team that lost its starting quarterback, Case Keenum, after halftime to a concussion. The Vikings’ defense never really felt threatened by Dwayne Haskins, limiting the Redskins to three points in the second half.  Dwayne Haskins had a chance to lead the Redskins on an epic comeback upset victory over the Vikings, but he struggled again, and now Washington has an interesting quarterback situation brewing

6am – E         KANYE NEWS:

• Kanye West Discusses His Porn Addiction And Presidential Aspirations
• Kanye West Admits He Asked People Working on His New Album to Not Have Premarital Sex
• Kanye West Says Yeezys Will be Made in America

6am – F         KATIE HILL UPDATE:

• DAILY MAIL: Shocking photos of Congresswoman Katie Hill are revealed showing off Nazi-era tattoo while smoking a bong, kissing her female staffer and posing nude on ‘wife sharing’ sites
• Katie Hill Accuses Daily Mail Of Libel In Cease-And-Desist Letter. Attorneys for Democratic Rep. Katie Hill of California demanded that the Daily Mail remove nude photos allegedly of the congresswoman in a cease-and-desist letter to the British publication Thursday evening. The letter also accused the Daily Mail of libeling Hill by describing a tattoo in one of the photos it published Thursday as being a “Nazi-era Iron Cross.”
• Another House Democrat Is Under Investigation For Allegedly Sleeping With Staffer. Another freshman Democrat in the House is under investigation for allegedly sleeping with a staffer, among other possible violations of House ethics rules. The House Ethics Committee is investigating Michael San Nicolas, Guam’s non-voting delegate to Congress, who allegedly “engaged in a sexual relationship with an individual on his congressional staff, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted improper or excessive campaign contributions,” the committee announced Thursday.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – GEN. JACK KEANE – retired 4 star General, Chairman of the Institute for the Study of War and Fox News Senior Strategic Analyst.

• Syrian Kurds accuse Turkey of violations, Russia says peace plan on track
• Kurdish fighters allege Turkey used chemical weapons during cease-fire in Syria. Disturbing video has emerged of severely burned Kurdish fighters who accused Turkish forces of launching an airstrike at them with munitions containing white phosphorus during a cease-fire.
• US plans to send tanks to Syria oil fields, reversing Trump troop withdrawal – reports. Tanks to come from units already in Middle East, report says. Trump has said US ‘secured oil’ despite withdrawal. The US is reportedly planning to deploy tanks and other heavy military hardware to protect oil fields in eastern Syria, in a reversal of Donald Trump’s earlier order to withdraw all troops from the country.

7am – B/C     Pence blasts Nike for pushing its ‘social-justice champion’ reputation while ‘checking its social conscience at the door’ by ignoring China’s actions in Hong Kong. (Businessinsider) – Vice President Mike Pence slammed Nike in a speech about China on Thursday. “Nike promotes itself as a so-called ‘social-justice champion,’ but when it comes to Hong Kong, it prefers checking its social conscience at the door,” Pence said in a speech bashing China on a number of issues, from Hong Kong protests to the country’s economic relationship with the US.  Pence said that Nike stores in China removed Houston Rockets merchandise in response to a general manager’s “seven-word tweet.” In October, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted to support protests in Hong Kong. The vice president also criticized high-profile figures in the NBA for losing “their voices when it comes to the freedom and rights of the people of China.” Pence said such behavior was “not just wrong, it’s un-American.”

Charles Barkley: ‘Vice President Pence needs to shut the hell up.’  NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley said that Vice President Pence “needs to shut the hell up” in response to Pence’s comments blasting the NBA for being accommodating to China.  “First of all, Vice President Pence needs to shut the hell up,” Barkley said during an NBA pregame show on TNT. “All American companies are doing business in China.”

7am – D         INTERVIEW – FRED FROMMER – author of ‘You Gotta Have Heart,’ a history of Washington baseball – previewed the Nats games this weekend and discussed the history of DC baseball.

7am – E         BRIT HUME SCHOOLS JUDGE NAP:

• DAILY BEAST: Judge Napolitano Schools ‘Fox & Friends’ on Impeachment: Schiff Just ‘Following the Rules’ Written by GOP: “I read the House rules,” Napolitano said. “And as frustrating as it may be to have these hearings going on behind closed doors—the hearings over which Congressman Schiff is presiding—they are consistent with the rules.” “They can make up any rules they want?!” Brian Kilmeade replied.  Speaking more slowly, Napolitano told him, “Well, they can’t change the rules, they follow the rules.” He went to explain that those rules were last written in January 2015 when Republicans held the majority and the Speaker of the House was John Boehner. “The rules say that this level of inquiry, this initial level of inquiry, can be done in secret,” Napolitano said, effectively dismantling the primary talking point of both Fox News and the Trump White House. “Secret evidence doesn’t work in this world, so eventually there will be a public presentation of this,” he added, “at which lawyers for the president can cross-examine these people and challenge them.”
• BUT WAIT! … BRIT HUME: I just spoke to John Boehner who told me that the only rules change he made was to allow committee chairmen to issue subpoenas on their own authority without committee votes. He says he made no changes to rules governing conduct of impeachment hearings.

8am – A         FOX NEWS: DOJ investigation into possible FBI misconduct is now criminal probe, sources say. U.S. Attorney John Durham’s ongoing probe into potential FBI and Justice Department misconduct in the run-up to the 2016 election through the spring of 2017 has transitioned into a full-fledged criminal investigation, two sources familiar with the investigation told Fox News on Thursday night. One source added that DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s upcoming report on alleged FBI surveillance abuses against the Trump campaign will shed light on why Durham’s probe has become a criminal inquiry. Horowitz announced on Thursday his report would be available to the public soon, with “few” redactions.

8am – B/C     When asked about Shep Smith’s departure from Fox, CNN President Jeff Zucker says that Fox News “are not truth-tellers,” “is not a news organization,” and “is akin to state-run TV.”

8am – D         INTERVIEW – BRET BAIER – Anchor of Special Report on Fox News Channel and author of new book “Three Days At The Brink” — discussed his new book, Durham’s criminal probe and the Nats World Series games this weekend.