Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Hosts: Vince Coglianese and Mary Walter

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 Virginia Senator Amanda Chase, Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton and RNC’s Liz Harrington joined WMAL on Thursday!

5am – A/B/C DEM DEBATE IN NEVADA – THE KNIVES ARE OUT IN VEGAS EDITION:

• WARREN GOES AFTER BLOOMBERG’S SEXIST COMMENTS: WARREN comes out of the gate going after BLOOMBERG:  ‘Fat Broads And Horse-Faced Lesbians’: Warren Attacks Bloomberg Over Comments About Women
• WARREN: “I’d like to talk about who we’re running against. A billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse faced lesbians, and no I’m not talking about Donald Trump, I’m talking about mayor Bloomberg.”
• WARREN VS BLOOMBERG – NDAS / WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE: Bloomberg confronted over claims that his company was a hostile workplace for women.
• WARREN calls out Bloomberg on having women signing Non Disclosure Agreements and makes devastating blows to Bloomberg
• Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was booed on stage at Wednesday night’s Democratic presidential debate over his refusal to release former female employees from their non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
• BLOOMBERG ASKED ABOUT STOP AND FRISK / RACIST COMMENTS:  NBC News’ Lester Holt calls out Mike Bloomberg for his record as mayor and his past comments
• Biden hits BLOOMBERG about stop and frisk
• BLOOMBERG AND SANDERS SPAR OVER CAPITALISM & SOCIALISM: Moderator: “Mayor Bloomberg, should you, a billionaire exist? […] Should you have earned that much money?” Bloomberg: “Yes, I worked very hard for it and I’m giving it away.”
• ‘It Was Called Communism, And It Just Didn’t Work’: BLOOMBERG and SANDERS Spar Over Taxes And Wealth
• BLOOMBERG: “What a wonderful country we have. The most well-known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with 3 houses!” SANDERS: “Well, I work in Washington…” BLOOMBERG: “That’s the first problem.”
• MAYOR PETE CALLS BLOOMBERG AND SANDERS POLARIZING: Pete Buttigieg slams Mike Bloomberg, Bernie Sanders as ‘most polarizing figures’ during Democratic debate
• MAYOR PETE: “You got a socialist who thinks capitalism is the root of all evil and a billionaire who thinks money ought to be the root of all power. Let’s put forward someone who’s actually a Democrat.”
• BERNIE SANDERS responds to being called POLARIZING
• KLOBUCHAR ON MEXICAN PRESIDENT NAME FLUB; FLASHBACK: KLOBUCHAR HAS NO IDEA WHO THE MEXICAN PRESIDENT IS             ;

Reporter: do you know who he is? Do you know his name?

AK: Yeah, yeah— I know that he is the Mexican president.

GV: But can you tell me his name?

AK: No.

• KLOBUCHAR is asked about not being able to name the Mexican president’s name. Amy Klobuchar explains forgetting the Mexican president’s name: “I don’t think that that momentary forgetfulness actually reflects what I know about Mexico and how much I care about it.”
• Amy Klobuchar looks down and checks her notes in order to name the presidents of Mexico and Honduras: ahhh, president lopez Obradador (Andrés Manuel López Obrador)
• Pete Buttigieg Suggests Amy Klobuchar Should’ve Known Name of Mexico’s President. KLOBUCHAR: you TRYING SAY I’M DUMB, PETE??
• WARREN jumps into defend KLOBUCHAR: I understand she forgot a name, it happens….
• KLOBUCHAR HITS BLOOMBERG: KLOBUCHAR hits BLOOMBERG for being rich: I don’t think you look at Donald Trump and think we NEED SOMEONE richer in the White House
• BERNIE / RUSSIANS:  Bernie Sanders suggests without evidence that the Russians are behind online attacks against other candidates from the “Bernie Bros”
• DELEGATES: NBC’s Chuck Todd asked a straightforward question of all six candidates on stage: If at the end of all the primaries none of them receive the an outright majority of the delegates needed to clinch the nomination on the first ballot, should the candidate with the most delegates be the nominee? Sanders was the only one on stage who said that he believed the nomination should go to the candidate who wins the most delegates, which signals his increasing level of confidence ahead of another expected win in Nevada that should cement his frontrunner status with Super Tuesday quickly approaching. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, and Pete Buttigieg all said that they would want to let the convention process play itself out. That suggests that none of the candidates are very confident that they will amass more delegates than Sanders. Instead, they are hoping that if enough of them win a sufficient number of delegates, they could at least deny him a majority, and then fight things out on the convention floor.

5am – D/E     Roger Stone sentencing still on for Thursday. Roger Stone’s sentencing will go forward as planned on Thursday, despite the longtime Donald Trump associate’s Hail Mary attempt to get a new trial and ongoing presidential haranguing about a miscarriage of justice. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson decided during a brief teleconference Tuesday that there was no reason to continue delaying sentencing for the convicted GOP operative while she considers holding a hearing on a new-trial motion. Stone faces up to 50 years in prison after being convicted last November on seven felony charges, including lying to Congress and obstructing House and FBI investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. “I think that delaying the sentencing would not be a prudent thing to do under all the circumstances, unless I’m required to do so,” Jackson said. Jackson did assure Stone, though, that he would not be sent to prison immediately while she considers the defendant’s latest demands. Stone’s defense team has pleaded for a brief delay on the sentencing, while newly assigned federal prosecutors said they favored proceeding with Thursday’s hearing.

6am – A/B/C More Dem Debate Highlights

6am – D         GRENELL TO GO TO DNI:

• Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 11h: I am pleased to announce that our highly respected Ambassador to Germany,  @RichardGrenell, will become the Acting Director of National Intelligence. Rick has represented our Country exceedingly well and I look forward to working with him. I would like to thank Joe Maguire…. ….for the wonderful job he has done, and we look forward to working with him closely, perhaps in another capacity within the Administration!
• ON CNN LAST NIGHT:  former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper: “This constant turnover is not good for continuity and stability… It’s a bad message.”
• Senate staffer John Noonan @noonanjo: @RichardGrenell is sharp and competent. Harvard Kennedy School grad, senior UN official, ambassador to one of the most important US partners. Susan Rice went from UN Ambassador to National Security Advisor but Ambassador to Germany to ODNI is somehow out of bounds? Ok.
• Ambassador To Germany Richard Grenell Expected To Start Thursday As Trump’s Acting Director Of National Intelligence. President Donald Trump has named United States Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell to be the next acting director of national intelligence. New York Times first reported Trump’s intent to have Grenell join the White House team, and officials familiar with the process told the Daily Caller that Grenell is expected to assume his duties Thursday. CNN claims he is not expected to be nominated beyond acting status as, “there is no way he could get confirmed” by the Senate.

6am – E         Newly Minted CNN Contributor Andrew Yang Claims Bloomberg Is Actively Asking Major Dem Donors to Sit Out Primary. (Mediaite) — Former Democratic primary competitor Andrew Yang, now a CNN contributor, told a post-debate panel that self-funding billionaire candidate Mike Bloomberg is calling major party donors and asking them sit out the 2020 primary, in order to starve his rivals of much-needed campaign cash. Yang made his startling claim in the aftermath of the Nevada debate, attributing the claim to one of his own previous donors who he said heard Bloomberg’s plea first-hand. “People don’t have any money. You’re shaking your head. You know the story,” CNN’s Gloria Borger pointed out, addressing Yang. “And who has the money to compete other than Bernie Sanders right now and Michael Bloomberg?” “That’s the great question: Is, could Elizabeth [Warren] or Joe [Biden] or Amy [Klobuchar] or Pete [Buttigieg] have a break-out night that leads to tens of millions of dollars of donations,” Yang noted. He then dropped a bombshell, explaining that major Democratic donors are, “frankly, getting phone calls from Mike Bloomberg right now saying ‘Sit this one out, I got this.’” “If you’re a donor, not donating is a pretty appealing pitch,” Yang added, laughing.

“Sorry, but could you say that again?” CNN reporter Dana Bash pressed. “Mike Bloomberg is calling donors saying ‘Don’t give to my opponents?’”

“Mike Bloomberg is calling donors, saying: ‘Hey, just sit this out, I got this, I’ll bankroll the whole thing. Just don’t donate to anybody.”

“You heard this or know this?” Chris Cuomo said, jumping in. “I heard it from a major donor,” Yang replied.

6am – F         A Facebook employee reportedly blow-dried Mark Zuckerberg’s armpits before he gave speeches to get rid of his anxiety sweat. (BusinessInsider) — A new book by Wired’s Steven Levy claims Zuckerberg is obsessed with his public image and that a Facebook employee blow dried his sweaty armpits before big events, according to a review of the book by Bloomberg’s Austin Carr. Members of Facebook’s communications team reportedly blow-dry Mark Zuckerberg’s armpits before big speeches to get rid of his anxiety-induced sweat.  The anecdote comes from “Facebook: the Inside Story,” a new book coming out this month by Wired’s Steven Levy, according to a review by Bloomberg’s Austin Carr.  Notably, there’s some historical context here that supports the notion that Zuckerberg sweats under pressure: Famously, Zuckerberg visibly sweated in an on-stage interview with tech journalist Kara Swisher at an event in 2010. “I doubt this is true and if so it would have been at our communications team’s request, but surely anyone who has ever worn a grey t-shirt can relate,” Facebook spokesperson Liz Bourgeois told Business Insider in an email in response to the blow dryer claims. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg is portrayed in the book as somewhere “between naive genius and robotic robber baron,” according to Carr, who added that Zuckerberg “is consumed by his public image.” The book also reportedly describes COO Sheryl Sandberg as obsessed with her public image, with Carr saying she’s depicted as a “micromanager” who would pretend to be nervous in interviews in an effort to get easier questions from journalists.

7am – A         More Dem Debate Highlights

7am – B/C     INTERVIEW – VIRGINIA SENATOR AMANDA CHASE – member of the Virginia Senate for the 11th District, representing Amelia County, the city of Colonial Heights, and part of Chesterfield County

• Trump supporter and state Sen. Amanda Chase announces bid for Virginia governor
• State senator lashes out at Bloomberg’s Virginia gun control push: We don’t ‘want his money’
• Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s push to ban the sale of assault weapons has failed after members of his own party balked at the proposal.
• Virginia lawmakers reject assault weapon ban

7am – D/E     INTERVIEW – TOM FITTON – president of Judicial Watch 

• TOM RETWEETED CHUCK ROSS’ TWEET OF KT MCFARLAND’S INTERVIEW: Tom Fitton @TomFitton 9h: AG Barr should order a full audit of Mueller’s get-@realDonaldTrump operation.
• GRENELL: Tom Fitton @TomFitton 10h Great news.  @RichardGrenell  has a lot of work to do. ODNI is a mess and obsessed with defending the Obama/Clinton gang while pushing the Russiagate smears against Trump.
• PARDONS: Tom Fitton @TomFitton 14h @RealDonaldTrump ‘s pardon of Michael Milken is one that should have been issued long ago by previous presidents.
• Roger Stone sentencing still on for Thursday. Roger Stone’s sentencing will go forward as planned on Thursday, despite the longtime Donald Trump associate’s Hail Mary attempt to get a new trial and ongoing presidential haranguing about a miscarriage of justice.
• BARR: Trump declares himself the ‘chief law-enforcement officer of the United States’ and admits he makes Attorney General Barr’s job harder. President Donald Trump designated himself the “chief law-enforcement officer of the United States” while speaking with reporters on Tuesday.

 8am – A         INTERVIEW – LIZ HARRINGTON – Spokeswoman for the RNC – reacted to the Dem Debate in Vegas last night.

 8am – B/C/D/E         More Dem Debate Highlights