Mornings on the Mall

Friday, November 15, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

Gregg Jarrett, Larry Michael, Tom Fitton and Star Parker joined WMAL on Friday!

5am – A/B/C IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY HEARING: Today is another day of public hearings in the House impeachment inquiry. The House will hear from Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. She was allegedly targeted by President Trump’s allies for removal in a smear campaign now central to the probe.

5am – D         SCHOOL SHOOTING IN CA: Investigators are trying to determine why a 16-year-old suspect pulled a gun at a Los Angeles-area high school campus, killing two students and wounding three before turning the gun on himself. The boy is hospitalized in critical condition after Thursday morning’s attack at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita. The attack took place on the boy’s 16th birthday.

5am – E         ‘Unusual restrictions’ spook witnesses in DOJ inspector general investigation into alleged FISA abuses. (Washington Examiner) — With the public release of a Justice Department watchdog report on alleged Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuses forthcoming, witnesses are said to be nervous about the final product. People interviewed about the FBI’s actions during the Russia investigation are concerned the report will portray their words inaccurately and feel as though they are being put in a defenseless position because of “unusual restrictions,” according to the Washington Post. Inspector General Michael Horowitz has invited witnesses and their lawyers to review relevant portions of a draft report, allowing them the opportunity to offer input and objections. The Washington Post report cited sources who said the comments can only be conveyed verbally, not in writing as is the norm, leaving witnesses without the ability to develop a paper trail should they want to contest anything they view as inaccurate or misleading in the final report. But Stephanie Logan, a spokesperson for the inspector general’s office, said they are “clarifying” to witnesses that they have the opportunity to comment in writing. “As part of our factual accuracy review, and consistent with our usual practice, we are providing witnesses with the opportunity to review portions of the report that relate to them,” Logan told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “Also consistent with our practice, we undertake every effort to ensure witnesses can provide their comments and we are clarifying to them that they will be able to provide written comments, consistent with rules to protect classified information.” The Washington Post report also said witnesses were being asked to view these sections of the document, which is marked “Top Secret,” in a secure area, must sign nondisclosure agreements, and have been told they are not allowed to remove any notes they make about the report.

6am – A         WHISTLEBLOWER NEWS:

• HUGE! — ‘Whistleblower” Eric Ciaramella Was Hosting 2016 WH Meeting Where Ukrainian Officials Were Told to Drop Investigation on Hunter Biden! (Gateway Pundit/Jim Hoft) – Anti-Trump CIA whistleblower Eric Ciaramella filed his second-hand “whistleblower” complaint against President Trump after speaking with Adam Schiff’s team in September. Ciaramella claimed he was concerned about President Trump’s discussion of Hunter Biden during his call with Ukrainian President Zelensky. Now we know why Ciaramella was so concerned. According to White House visitor logs Eric Ciaramella was hosting the January 19, 2016 White House meeting where Ukrainian officials were told to drop the investigation into Hunter Biden. Investigative reporter John Solomon at The Hill reported in April on the January 2016 meeting between Ukrainian officials and Obama officials at the White House. The other case raised at the January 2016 meeting, Telizhenko said, involved Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company under investigation in Ukraine for improper foreign transfers of money. At the time, Burisma allegedly was paying then-Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter as both a board member and a consultant. More than $3 million flowed from Ukraine to an American firm tied to Hunter Biden in 2014-15, bank records show. According to Telizhenko, U.S. officials told the Ukrainians they would prefer that Kiev drop the Burisma probe and allow the FBI to take it over. The Ukrainians did not agree. But then Joe Biden pressured Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to fire Ukraine’s chief prosecutor in March 2016, as I previously reported. The Burisma case was transferred to NABU, then shut down. According to Stephen McIntyre the demand that Ukrainian top prosecutor Viktor Shokin be fired as a condition for IMF loan almost certainly originated with Biden staff. The demand was first announced to Ukrainian prosecutors at a January 19, 2016 meeting with US officials hosted by Eric Ciaramella.

6am – B/C     Jeffrey Epstein case: Sasse warns prison bureau director to ‘come prepared’ for Senate grilling. (Fox News) – Days before the Bureau of Prisons [BOP] is set to face its first public grilling about the death of Jeffrey Epstein, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., sent a heated letter to the department’s director warning her to “come prepared” to give “substantial answers” about the Epstein case during her testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee this coming Tuesday. “To pretend like this issue, which is by far the public’s top concern with your agency, won’t be a significant focus of attention at this hearing is naïve – to the point of being laughable,” Sasse wrote to BOP Director Dr. Kathleen Hawk Sawyer. “While there may be particular details that you cannot yet answer, deflecting difficult questions won’t cut it.” The letter was sent Monday, a week before the annual BOP oversight hearing because, according to Sasse’s office, the Justice Department indicated its  “unwillingness to provide substance” on the Epstein death investigation during questioning. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has been under fire since Epstein was found dead in his jail cell on Aug. 10 at the Metropolitan Correctional Center [MCC] in Manhattan. The Medical Examiner in New York classified Epstein’s death as a suicide by hanging, but Epstein’s brother, Mark, said he could have been murdered. “There are a whole lot of people out there who breathed a sigh of relief who believe their secrets died in that jail cell with him,” Sasse told Fox News in a phone interview about Epstein, who was accused of operating a child sex trafficking network. “It’s unconscionable that the guy that had all this information on co-conspirators was not guarded each and every minute.”

6am – D         US-born Alabama woman who joined ISIS is not an American citizen, judge rules. (Fox News) — A federal judge ruled Thursday that an American-born woman who traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State (ISIS) group and now wants to return to her family in Alabama is not a U.S. citizen. U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton dismissed a lawsuit brought by the family of Hoda Muthana to force the federal government to let her in the country. Muthana, 25, currently lives with her 2-year-old son in a refugee camp in Syria and has since repudiated the terrorist group. A court motion said she and child, identified only as John Doe, were moved from the Roj refugee camp after receiving death threats from ISIS supporters and that their lives are in danger, The New York Times reported. “The citizenship status of minor John Doe depends upon the status of Ms. Muthana; accordingly, regardless of the choices made by his mother, the health and survival of a young U.S. citizen depends upon the expeditious resolution of Ms. Muthana’s civil case,” the claim said. In addition to dismissing a lawsuit, Walton also ruled that Muthana’s father, Ahmed Ali Muthana, could not provide financial support to his daughter or grandson without being subject to charges of providing material support of terrorism. Walton ruled that Ali Muthana, who formerly represented Yemen in the United Nations, is still a diplomat. Children born to diplomats are not granted automatic citizenship in the U.S.

6am – E         ‘Inexcusable’: Browns’ Myles Garrett denounced for helmet attack on Steelers’ QB. An otherwise unremarkable game between the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers descended into chaos Thursday night when, with the game long decided, the Browns’ Myles Garrett ripped the helmet off Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph and hit him in the head with it. “It’s inexcusable,” Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield — Garrett’s own teammate — told Fox Sports after the game, which the Browns won, 21-7, in Cleveland. “I don’t care, rivalry or not. We can’t do that.” Garrett and two other players, Cleveland defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi and Pittsburgh center Maurkice Pouncey, were ejected — Ogunjobi and Pouncey for their roles in the melee that ensued upon Garrett’s attack, which came with just eight seconds left in the game. During the brawl, Pouncey appeared to throw at least two punches and to kick Garrett in the helmet while he was on the ground.

6am – F         KAVANAUGH’S FIRST PUBLIC SPEECH:

• Brett Kavanaugh makes his first public speaking appearance as a justice with a speech to the conservative legal organization instrumental to his nomination.
• Protesters hound Brett Kavanaugh with Christine Blasey Ford video outside DC event. Protesters hounded Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday night outside an event in Washington, greeting him with shouts of “Impeach Kavanaugh” and a large screen replaying accuser Christine Blasey Ford’s congressional testimony. The demonstration outside the annual Federalist Society gala, where Kavanaugh was a featured speaker, continued a string of public harassment against conservatives in recent years. The screen playing Ford’s testimony — in which she accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were teenagers — was on a truck rolled up to the event by liberal activist group Demand Justice, The Washington Post reported. Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied the allegations and was confirmed to the Supreme Court by a narrow margin in the Senate in October 2018, shortly after Ford gave her testimony to Congress.
• The Federalist’s Sean Davis @seanmdav: At the Federalist Society annual gala tonight, Rod Rosenstein refused to stand when Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the keynote speaker, was introduced. Recall that Rosenstein allegedly offered to wear a wire against Trump and refused to testify under oath about it.
• Brett Kavanaugh calls Ruth Bader Ginsburg an ‘inspiration,’ heaps gratitude on allies. (ABC News) — In his first public speech as justice, one year after a polarizing Supreme Court confirmation, Brett Kavanaugh heaped gratitude on his supporters and extended an olive branch to critics with praise for the court’s liberal wing. “They are patriots,” Kavanaugh said of his eight colleagues on the bench, adding the conservative Federalist Society on Thursday night. “They love our court and love our country.” They are “collegial, gracious and respectful,” he added. “A team of nine.” Kavanaugh notably singled out Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — a celebrated feminist icon reviled by some right-wing activists — as an “inspiration.” “I’m grateful for Justice Ginsburg for being so generous to me,” he said of her repeated praise and public recognition of Kavanaugh being the first justice in history to hire a staff of all-women clerks. “Ruth Ginsburg is an inspiration,” he said. “Thank you, Ruth Ginsburg.” Kavanaugh also highlighted the spirit of decency shown by two of the court’s ideological opposites: Justices Clarence Thomas and Ginsburg. “Very different people. Very different judges. But two dedicated, hardworking, generous souls,” he said. “I think the collegiality of our court today is perhaps best represented after every oral argument when Justice Thomas and Justice Ginsburg walk arm-and-arm down the steps in back of the bench.”

7am – A         INTERVIEW – GREGG JARRETT – author of Witch Hunt: The Story of the Greatest Mass Delusion in American Political History” – shared his analysis of the impeachment inquiry hearings this week.

• Former US ambassador to Ukraine expected to face grilling in second day of public Trump impeachment hearings. A former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who was abruptly recalled from her post is scheduled to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Friday as Democrats cap off the first week of public hearings in their impeachment inquiry of President Trump. Republicans are set to hammer Marie Yovanovitch, a longtime diplomat who served under six presidential administrations over 33 years, with an aggressive cross-examination related to her previous statements under oath, as well as her reported role in shielding a George Soros-linked nonprofit allegedly connected to documented Ukrainian election interference efforts.

7am – B/C     INTERVIEW – LARRY MICHAEL – Voice of the Redskins – previewed this weekend’s game: NEW YORK JETS (2-7) at WASHINGTON (1-8) — Sunday, 1 p.m. EST.  Also, discussed Redskins cooperating with investigation regarding Montae Nicholson.

7am – D/E     INTERVIEW – TOM FITTON – president of Judicial Watch – discussed this week’s impeachment inquiry hearings.

8am – A/B/C INTERVIEW – STAR PARKER –  President of Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE) and author of new book “Necessary Noise: How Donald Trump Inflames the Culture War and Why This Is Good News for America”

• ABOUT BOOK: Necessary Noise: How Donald Trump Inflames the Culture War and Why This Is Good News for America (Hardcover – November 12, 2019) Popular FOX commentator Star Parker explains why today’s noisy political rhetoric is good for you and provides specifics on why Trump’s presidency is vital for America’s future. Star Parker was among the many reeling and confused as Donald Trump became the 45th president of the United States. But, she argues, a silver lining to this outcome is the debate that has since ruled our media and private conversations. The ongoing noise of debate can seem overwhelming, but our country needs the authentic and candid dialogue of its people. And Trump’s presidency provides us with an opportunity like never before to engage and work to preserve the values upon which America was built. Necessary Noise honestly examines the crossroads where we find ourselves and suggests ways of moving toward resolution and restoration. Tackling a wide range of topics on which citizens should get noisy–from immigration, to education, to abortion, to welfare–Necessary Noise provides the framework for how to take part in this important time in history using our voices.

8am – D         DEMS WAVERING ON IMPEACHMENT VOTE: Nancy Pelosi said Trump committed “bribery,” an impeachable offense, by trying to force Ukraine into tarnishing a political rival to help him in the 2020 election. Still, she cautioned, she isn’t yet ready to say whether the House will vote to impeach.