Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

Washington Examiner’s Susan Ferrechio, Trump campaign’s Tim Murtaugh and White House’s Tony Sayegh joined WMAL on Thursday!

5am – A/B/C IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY HEARINGS RECAP: Sondland paradox: implicates top officials on Ukraine but says he ‘never heard’ quid pro quo from Trump. Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, tied top officials to the “potential quid pro quo” involving U.S. military aid to Ukraine and investigations desired by President Trump during his highly anticipated impeachment hearing testimony on Wednesday. Still, Sondland testified he never heard the president himself mention any preconditions involving Ukraine. Sondland claimed he kept Secretary of State Mike Pompeo aware of what was going on and said he specifically told Vice President Pence he “had concerns” the military aid to Ukraine “had become tied” to investigations. And he repeatedly lambasted Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s leading role in the administration’s Ukraine dealings. Aides to Pence and Pompeo denied Sondland’s claims Wednesday. Giuliani pushed back on the ambassador’s testimony, tweeting he “came into this” at the request of then-Ukraine envoy Kurt Volker. “Sondland is speculating based on VERY little contact,” Giuliani tweeted. “I never met him and had very few calls with him, mostly with Volker.” One of the key witnesses in the Democrat-led impeachment inquiry against Trump, Sondland was seen as a wild card going into Wednesday’s hearing. He had given testimony behind closed doors that conflicted with others’ and recently offered amended statements that contradicted his previous testimony. Taken in their entirety, Sondland’s statements Wednesday are likely to fuel the narratives of both Democrats and Republicans.

5am – D         Prince Andrew steps down from royal duties following damaging Epstein scandal. Britain’s Prince Andrew is stepping back from his royal duties amid the scandal involving his friendship with deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Duke of York announced Wednesday that he had asked his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, for permission to withdraw from public duties for the “foreseeable future” as the Royal Family has had to deal with a “major disruption” due to the fallout from his association with the late billionaire who died in August while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

5am – E         Jussie Smollett sues city of Chicago for malicious prosecution. Jussie Smollett says the $10,000 he was mandated to pay after the criminal case against him was closed should prevent the city of Chicago from seeking reimbursement for the police investigation following his claim, back in January 2019, that he was a victim of a racist and homophobic attack. Attorneys for the former “Empire” actor filed a response Tuesday to Chicago’s lawsuit in federal court. They also filed a counterclaim against the city, saying Smollett was the victim of a malicious prosecution that caused humiliation and extreme distress. In January, Smollett told police he was attacked by two masked men as he was walking home from a Chicago Subway sandwich shop at approximately 2 a.m. The openly gay actor alleged that the masked men beat him, taunted him with homophobic and racial slurs and yelled, “This is MAGA country.” In February, police determined that Smollett’s masked assailants were brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo, who trained Smollett and worked with him on “Empire.” Authorities also identified the brothers as those on surveillance video purchasing the rope that was reportedly hung around Jussie’s neck during the alleged attack. After an intense investigation, police determined Smollett staged the entire episode with the help of two brothers, whom he paid to take part in the hoax assault, in an elaborate effort to drum up publicity for his middling career. After prosecutors dropped the case in March, Smollett maintained his innocence but agreed to let authorities keep a $10,000 bail.

6am – A         LOL: Trump Campaign Congratulates Joe Biden After DNA Confirms Hunter Biden Fathered Child

• A DNA test revealed Hunter Biden fathered a baby with another woman while he was dating his brother’s widow
• Trump @TeamTrump: Congratulations, Joe Biden!

6am – B/C     FBI reached out to whistleblower’s legal team for interview, source tells Fox News

6am – D/E/F  DEM DEBATE RECAP:

• BIDEN BLUNDERS… FOX NEWS: Buttigieg fends off attacks, takes on far-left flank at debate; Biden stumbles with Harris gaffe:     Reflecting the ever-shifting dynamic in the race, meanwhile, Joe Biden had a mixed performance — projecting foreign policy strength and siding with Buttigieg against the liberal wing on health care, while also suffering some stumbles on the debate stage. Until recently the unrivaled front-runner in the race, Biden competed for attention Wednesday with three other top-tier candidates — Warren, Sanders and Buttigieg — but flubbed when he erroneously stated in front of Sen. Kamala Harris that he had the support of the “only” black woman elected to the Senate. In an odd moment, he also said it’s important to “keep punching at” the problem of domestic violence, noting that it’s “rarely” needed for men to hit women in self-defense. […]     Later, in a somewhat awkward moment, Biden prompted some laughter in the audience when he declared that “we gotta keep punching at” the problem of domestic violence, and that it is only acceptable to hit a woman in “self-defense,” which he said would “rarely” occur. And, Biden asserted that he had the support of “the only African-American woman who’s ever been elected to the United States Senate” — prompting Booker and Harris to dryly remark, “That’s not true.”  Harris noted, “The other one is here.” Biden later corrected himself to say he had the support of the first African-American woman elected to the Senate, referring to former Illinois Democratic Sen. Carol Moseley Braun.
• BIDEN Explains When It’s OK To Hit A Woman… Joe Biden On Violence Against Women: We Have To Keep ‘Punching At It, And Punching At It And Punching At It’ (VIDEO)   “No man has a right to raise a hand to a woman in anger other than in self-defense, and that rarely ever occurs,” Biden said. “So we have to just change the culture, period, and keep punching at it and punching at it and punching at it. No, I really mean it.”
• Booker slams Biden for legal pot opposition: ‘Thought you might have been high’ (VIDEO):  “When I hear him say that ‘I don’t think we should legalize marijuana,’ I thought you might have been high when you said it,” Booker quipped, drawing laughter from the audience.   Booker went on to explain his position, saying “it is already legal for privileged people,” and that it is African Americans who suffer disproportionately for marijuana-related crimes.     Biden responded by clarifying that he thought “we should decriminalize marijuana, period,” but that “we should study what the long term effects are” of marijuana use before legalizing it.
• EARLIER… HOURS BEFORE DEBATE… Biden team accidentally sends post-debate e-mail early, asking “Did I make you proud?”
• Elizabeth Warren Vows To Use Taxpayer Dollars To Tear Down Border Wall (VIDEO):   “If there are parts of the wall that are not useful in our defense, of course we should do it,” Warren declared.
• WARREN Pledges Not To Make Rich Donors Into Ambassadors…. BUT… FLASHBACK: Warren Helped Confirm Clueless Obama Bundlers as Ambassadors.  Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren’s pledge to end the practice of tapping political donors to be ambassadors comes after years of silence during the Barack Obama presidency, when she voted to confirm numerous donors with no diplomatic experience.   Warren’s latest proposal, laid out in a Medium post, points to the Trump administration “selling swanky diplomatic posts to rich buffoons.”
• Gabbard accuses Harris of ‘lies and smears’ in fiery debate clash (VIDEO):     Rep. Tulsi Gabbard accused Sen. Kamala Harris of “lies and smears and innuendos” during a fiery exchange at Wednesday night’s Democratic presidential primary debate, saying a Harris presidency would be more of the “status quo.”
• MARIANNE WILLIAMSON: Miss me?
• DNC Drops Putrid Fundraising Numbers In Middle Of Debate:  The Democratic National Committee (DNC) released its disappointing October fundraising numbers in the middle of the party’s fifth presidential primary debate.    The DNC reported less than $8.7 million cash on hand and over $7 million debt in an FEC report released Wednesday.   The DNC’s poor fundraising numbers come less than a year out from the 2020 presidential election, and at a time when the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the re-election campaign of President Donald Trump continue to blow past fundraising numbers.  The RNC raised nearly three times as much money as the DNC last month, pulling in over $25 million in October, while reporting over $60 million cash on hand. Additionally, the joint fundraising effort between the Trump campaign and the RNC has raised over $300 million in 2019 so far, and reported over $156 million cash on hand last month.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – Susan Ferrechio – the chief congressional correspondent for the Washington Examiner — discussed the impeachment hearing

 

7am – B/C/D RECAP THE IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS

7am– E          DC tops list as most masculine city in the world: Survey. A new survey shows Washington, D.C., tied as the most masculine among major world cities. The survey released by Morning Consult on Tuesday asked respondents whether they see a variety of items as masculine or feminine. The higher the score in the survey, the more feminine the object. The results showed Washington tied for the most masculine city with Houston and Moscow with a score of 4.8. Paris topped the list as the most feminine city with a score of 5.7. Miami and London clocked in as the second and third most feminine cities. The surveyed polled wide-ranging categories, including foods, beverages, activities, and cities to see what consumers view as masculine or feminine. Morning Consult polled 2,200 adults for the survey. The results revealed women see tampons as the “most feminine” item, while men view manicures or pedicures as the “most feminine.” Both women and men agreed that power tools are the “most masculine” items. Whiskey and steak earned the top slots for the most masculine food and drink, while piña coladas and cupcakes were found to be the most feminine drink and food.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – TIM MURTAUGH – Trump 2020 Director of Communications – reacted to the impeachment hearings, Dem debate and the Trump campaign’s hilarious response to Hunter Biden’s love child announcement.

8am – B/C     Recap Dem Debate highlights    

8am – D         INTERVIEW – TONY SAYEGH – White House Senior Advisor for Strategy at The White House — reacted to Wednesday’s impeachment hearings.