Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Hosts: Vince Coglianese and Mary Walter

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

Pete Snyder, Newt Gingrich, Bethany Mandel, Hans Von Spakovsky joined WMAL on Tuesday!

5am – A/B/C CALLS FOR MODLY TO RESIGN OVER FIRING USS ROOSEVELT CAPTAIN: There’s a call for the resignation of acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly after he relieved Captain Brett Crozier of the USS Roosevelt for requesting help for 137 crewmembers who had tested positive for the coronavirus. Modly told the crew the captain was “too naïve or stupid” when Crozier didn’t follow standard procedures to report his concern. 17 Democratic senators want an investigation into the dismissal and Adam Smith (D-WA), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee has called for Modly’s dismissal.  https://www.businessinsider.com/lawmakers-say-acting-navy-secretary-should-be-fired-or-resign-2020-4

• FIRST REPORTED BY THE DAILY CALLER… ‘Too Naive Or Too Stupid To Be CO’: Leaked Speech Transcript Shows Acting Navy Secretary Modly Trashing Fired Carrier Captain To Group Of Sailors. Acting Secretary to the Navy Thomas Modly flew to Guam Monday and delivered a fiery speech to the sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt after their captain was fired over a leaked letter pleading for those infected with coronavirus. The speech, a transcript of which was obtained by the Daily Caller, backs the decision to relieve Capt. Brett Crozier of his duties. Modly called the letter, which begged the Navy to send resources and help to at least 100 sailors on board who have the virus, a “betrayal of trust.” “If he [Crozier] didn’t think, in my opinion, that this information [the letter] wasn’t going to get out into the public, in this day and information age that we live in, then he was either A, too naive or too stupid to be a commanding officer of a ship like this. The alternative is that he did this on purpose,” Modly said, adding that the letter had “sensitive information” about the condition of the aircraft carrier. […]
• Recording: When Acting Navy Sec Thomas Modly Called Crozier ‘Stupid,’ Sailors Can Be Heard Shouting ‘What The F***’
• Trump Signals He Will ‘Get Involved’ In Case Of Fired USS Theodore Roosevelt Captain. Trump, speaking at the daily White House coronavirus task force briefing, called Modly’s comments a “rough statement.” “I haven’t heard it exactly,” Trump explained before noting that Cozier not have “sent” and “leaked” his original letter, begging for coronavirus supplies to support the more than 100 positive cases onboard the ship. “I have heard very good things about both gentlemen,” the president continued. “I may look into it only from the standpoint that something should be resolved.” “You have two good people and they were arguing,” he added. “I am good at settling arguments.” Trump further stated that it was “unfair” to the families of the service members for Cozier to send his original letter and that it “shows weakness.” “The letter shouldn’t have been said, but with all that said, his career prior to that was very good,” he explained. “I’m going to get involved and see exactly what’s going on there because I don’t want to destroy someone for having a bad day.”
• THEN… Modly Issues Apology To The Navy, CPT Crozier And USS Roosevelt Crew: “I want to apologize to the Navy for my recent comments to the crew of the TR. Let me be clear, I do not think Captain Brett Crozier is naïve nor stupid. I think, and always believed him to be the opposite. We pick our carrier commanding officers with great care. Captain Crozier is smart and passionate,” Modly began. Modly went on to say that he believed CPT Crozier had intended for his letter to reach the public domain, thus drawing attention to the situation on board the Theodore Roosevelt. “I also want to apologize directly to Captain Crozier, his family, and the entire crew of the Theodore Roosevelt for any pain my remarks may have caused,” Modly concluded. “They, and the entire Navy, have my full commitment that I will continue to help get the TR back to full health and back to sea where we can move forward beyond this unfortunate situation.”
• TRUMP HINTS AT GETTING INVOLVED IN USS ROOSEVELT SPAT. Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly appeared to worsen the situation when he gave a surprise speech to sailors on the USS Theodore Roosevelt and called ousted Captain Brett Cozier “too naïve or too stupid” to be a commanding officer of a ship like this, Reuters reported. Modly later issued an apology to the Navy and Crozier and said, “Let me be clear, I do not think Captain Brett Cozier is naive nor stupid. I think, and always believed him to be the opposite. We pick our carrier commanding officers with great care. Captain Crozier is smart and passionate.”

5am – D         Detroit rep says hydroxychloroquine, Trump helped save her life amid COVID-19 fight. LANSING – A Democratic state representative from Detroit is crediting hydroxychloroquine — and Republican President Donald Trump who touted the drug — for saving her in her battle with the coronavirus. State Rep. Karen Whitsett, who learned Monday she has tested positive for COVID-19, said she started taking hydroxychloroquine on March 31, prescribed by her doctor, after both she and her husband sought treatment for a range of symptoms on March 18. “It was less than two hours” before she started to feel relief, said Whitsett, who had experienced shortness of breath, swollen lymph nodes, and what felt like a sinus infection. She is still experiencing headaches, she said. […] “It has a lot to do with the president … bringing it up,” Whitsett said. “He is the only person who has the power to make it a priority.” Asked whether she thinks Trump may have saved her life, Whitsett said: “Yes, I do,” and “I do thank him for that.”

• FLASHBACK: LAST WEEK: Michigan Gov. Whitmer reverses course on coronavirus drugs, is now asking feds for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer drew fire from some on the right after the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) sent a letter last week threatening “administrative action” against doctors who prescribed two experimental drugs that could potentially help coronavirus patients. The Whitmer administration has since removed the language threatening doctors from the letter and is now asking the federal government to send shipments of the drugs, Bridge magazine reports. The Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency authorization for the antimalarial drugs hydroxychloroquine sulfate and chloroquine phosphate on Saturday.
• Michigan governor slammed by home-state paper over leadership during crisis. An editorial in The Detroit News slammed Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, accusing her of playing politics during the coronavirus pandemic. “Gov. Gretchen Whitmer must send an unequivocal message to her constituents that Michigan is her priority in this hour of crisis,” the editorial, which was published on Saturday, said. “Her running feud with President Donald Trump calls into question whether she’s acting in the best interests of this state, or on behalf of the Democratic Party.”  “Unfortunately she’s sending conflicting signals about her priorities and motivations,” the article continued. Whitmer, like her counterparts in other states, has seen her profile rise in recent weeks as the nation’s leaders coordinate response efforts to the coronavirus pandemic.

5am – E         Scoop: Inside the epic White House fight over hydroxychloroquine. (Axios/Jonathan Swan) –  The White House coronavirus task force had its biggest fight yet on Saturday, pitting economic adviser Peter Navarro against infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci. At issue: How enthusiastically should the White House tout the prospects of an antimalarial drug to fight COVID-19? Behind the scenes: This drama erupted into an epic Situation Room showdown. Trump’s coronavirus task force gathered in the White House Situation Room on Saturday at about 1:30pm, according to four sources familiar with the conversation. Vice President Mike Pence sat at the head of the table. Numerous government officials were at the table, including Fauci, coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx, Jared Kushner, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, and Commissioner of Food and Drugs Stephen Hahn. Toward the end of the meeting, Hahn began a discussion of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which Trump believes could be a “game-changer” against the coronavirus. Then Navarro got up. He brought over a stack of folders and dropped them on the table. People started passing them around. “And the first words out of his mouth are that the studies that he’s seen, I believe they’re mostly overseas, show ‘clear therapeutic efficacy,'” said a source familiar with the conversation. “Those are the exact words out of his mouth.” Navarro’s comments set off a heated exchange about how the Trump administration and the president ought to talk about the malaria drug, which Fauci and other public health officials stress is unproven to combat COVID-19.  Fauci pushed back against Navarro, saying that there was only anecdotal evidence that hydroxychloroquine works against the coronavirus.

‘I’m a SOCIAL scientist!’ White House adviser boasts about his credentials after shouting at Anthony Fauci that there was ‘scientific’ proof of unproven malaria drug as a coronavirus ‘cure.’ (Daily Mail) – Peter Navarro, Donald Trump’s economic adviser, said Monday that he is qualified to weigh in on the effectiveness of malaria drug hydroxychloroquine on coronavirus because he is a social scientist. ‘Doctors disagree about things all the time,’ Navarro said when asked on CNN Monday morning why he is better qualified to talk about the drug’s effectiveness on COVID-19 than Dr. Anthony Fauci. ‘My qualifications in terms of looking at the science is that I’m a social scientist,’ he continued. ‘I have a PhD, and I understand how to read statistical studies, whether it’s in medicine, the law, economics or whatever.’  Navarro, 70, earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1972, a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1979 and went on to obtain a PhD in Economics from Harvard in 1986.

6am – A/B/C CNN’s Anderson Cooper accuses Trump of ‘hijacking’ White House presser, trashes his response to outbreak. (Fox News) – CNN anchor Anderson Cooper had some harsh words for President Trump on Monday night, accusing him of “hijacking” his own White House coronavirus task force press briefing. “If you tuned into it hoping you were going to hear from the country’s top scientists, you were likely disappointed,” Cooper began. “What you mostly heard was the president. And what you saw was a hijacking. A hijacking of the task force press conference by a president determined to rewrite the history of his early and reprehensibly irresponsible response to this virus. What the president showed us today is what the nation’s top scientists have to deal with every day- a president who now uses these briefings as a reelection platform, an opportunity to lie, to deflect, to attack, to bully, and cover-up his own deadly dismissals of the virus for crucial weeks.” The CNN anchor condemned Trump for his treatment of reporters who were “attacked and belittled” and defended the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General Christi Grimm, an Obama-era government official who released a report documenting widespread medical supply and testing availability shortages among hospitals. “I just have to point out that this is not normal and it matters because this is life or death,” Cooper scolded the president.

6am – D         INTERVIEW – PETE SNYDER – Virginia entrepreneur / va30dayfund.com

• Entrepreneur starts fund to help Va. businesses until federal aid arrives. RICHMOND — A Northern Virginia technology entrepreneur and potential contender for governor has created a fund to help small businesses weather the coronavirus crisis until federal funds arrive. Pete Snyder and his wife, Burson, have donated $100,000 in “seed money” to create the nonprofit Virginia 30 Day Fund, which is intended to help businesses meet payroll, preserve health-care coverage for workers and avoid layoffs while awaiting the federal aid expected to arrive in about a month. The fund will provide up to $3,000 to each approved small business. Recipients do not have to repay the money, but if they eventually are in a position to do so, it will be directed to another qualified business. Snyder said business and philanthropic leaders also are planning donations to the fund, which will “greatly expand” its reach. “While the small-business assistance on its way from the Trump administration is crucial, it is clear that many need help to survive and retain their employees while they await that relief,” Snyder said. Snyder, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in 2013, has been publicly considering a run for governor in 2021. He said the fund has no connection to any political plans. “This is a time for us to be helping each other,” he said. “There are other days for politics, but today is not one.”  To apply to Snyder’s fund, a business must fill out a one-page form at va30dayfund.com and submit a video no more than three minutes long about the enterprise and its employees. Applications will be evaluated by volunteers with MBAs from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, as well as “some of the top business minds from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,” Snyder said. Businesses will get an answer in three days, he said, and those approved “can expect an immediate transfer of funds.” Qualifying businesses must be based in Virginia, have operated for at least a year, employ three to 30 people and be owned and operated by a Virginia resident.

6am – E         ELECTION NEWS:

• WISCONSIN PRIMARY STILL A GO TODAY: Wisconsin’s primary election will take place on Tuesday after the state supreme court overruled Governor Tony Evers’ effort to delay the election out of concern about spreading the coronavirus with voters at the polls. Evers had the backing from mayors of ten large Wisconsin cities to postpone the election to June 9. The U.S. Supreme Court weighed in Monday night saying absentee ballots must be submitted in person or postmarked by Tuesday to be counted. That ruling overturns a lower court decision to extend the deadline for six days as a result of the coronavirus. 15 states have delayed primary elections as a result of COVID-19.
• DEMS PUSH FOR ALL-MAIL ELECTION: RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel: Democrats’ coronavirus voting plan – this is the way to undermine democracy. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and former Vice President Joe Biden say we must throw election integrity to the wayside in favor of an all-mail election, fundamentally changing how Americans vote in eight months. The overhaul would vastly expand opportunities for fraud and weaken confidence in our elections, but all Washington Democrats see is a potential benefit for their party. Pelosi says she needs $4 billion, at the height of the pandemic, to “really democratize our whole system.” Pardon those of us who thought we already had democratic elections.
• Flashback in March: Trump says mail-in ballot measures meant ‘you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again’  PUBLISHED: 13:13 EDT, 30 March 2020. Donald Trump admitted that if the nation adhered to Democrat’s proposed mail-in voting then Republican candidates would never be elected again. ‘They had things – levels of voting that if you ever agreed to it you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again,’ Trump said, referencing measures Democrats tried to get included in the coronavirus economic relief package. ‘They had things in there about election days, and what you do, and all sorts of clawbacks and they had things that were just totally crazy, and had nothing to do with workers that lost their jobs, & companies that we have to save,’ the president continued during a phone-in interview with Fox & Friends Monday morning.       

7am – A         INTERVIEW – NEWT GINGRICH – Former Speaker of the House, host of “Newt’s World” podcast and author of book “Trump Vs. China: Facing America’s Greatest Threat” and author of new book “Shakedown” (a novel)

• Italy unveils plans for ENDING lockdown: Health minister announces ‘phase two’ will involve more testing and continued social distancing – as nation records its lowest daily death toll for two weeks

7am – B/C     BIDEN NEWS:

• Donald Trump says he had ‘really wonderful and warm’ talks with Joe Biden on the coronavirus crisis after 2020 Democrat slammed his  administration’s response
• Alyssa Milano Says Joe Biden Deserves ‘Due Process’ In Sexual Assault Allegation. Actress Alyssa Milano defended former Vice President Joe Biden amid accusations of sexual misconduct, saying that he deserves due process. Milano supported independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2016 and has since endorsed Biden in the 2020 Democratic primary. She shared a video Monday — from her recent interview on “Andy Cohen Live” — explaining why, despite the accusations and her activism in the #metoo movement, she still supports Biden and will not be withdrawing her endorsement. […] And Milano did appear to have a very different approach to “due process” when it came to the nomination — and eventual confirmation — of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

7am – D         SPORTS NEWS:

• Sports continues to change schedules as a result of COVID-19 concerns, although the April 23-25 NFL draft will take place as planned, only it will be done online with team executives making bids from their homes and offices, rather than gathering in Las Vegas. The British Open, golf’s oldest championship, is being delayed for a year with a July, 2021 match set for the UK’s Royal St. Georges. The cancelation hasn’t occurred since 1945. 
• MLB talks May return, hosting all games in Arizona without fans amid coronavirus: reports. Major League Baseball has discussed a plan on Monday that would have the season start as early as May, with all games played in the state of Arizona at empty ballparks amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to multiple reports. The plan — still in its early stages — reportedly has the support of high-ranking federal public health officials who believe it can safely operate during the coronavirus pandemic. It’s embraced as the most likely option so far by the MLB and Players Association leadership, who started discussing it in multiple phone calls on Monday, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Although it reportedly still has many obstacles to overcome.
• 2020 NFL Draft will proceed in fully virtual format. Commissioner Roger Goodell informed all 32 NFL clubs that the 2020 NFL Draft would proceed in a fully virtual format in a memo sent out Monday obtained by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. League and club facilities are set to remain closed indefinitely, to ensure the NFL is in compliance with current regulations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and therefore clubs were advised to prepare to conduct the draft outside of their facilities. Team personnel were furthermore advised to be in separate locations, using phone and the internet to communicate. Pelissero reported, per sources, the league informed a group of general managers it was proceeding with plans for a virtual draft during a conference call Friday.

7am – E         BORIS JOHNSON IN THE ICU:

• Hospitalized with the coronavirus on Sunday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved to the intensive care unit as his condition has worsened. His office says Johnson has deputized Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to handle duties where necessary. Johnson was diagnosed with the coronavirus on March 27.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – BETHANY MANDEL – local journalist and founder of Kosher-19

• Local Journalist Bethany Mandel has started an organization called Kosher-19, which raises money and sends Kosher pizza and meals to hospitals so Jewish health care professionals can keep kosher while working through the Covid-19 pandemic. The food that is sent is meant for all but allows kosher keeping Jews to partake as well. Bethany started this as a way to not only provide kosher meals but to also support kosher restaurants. She is based in Maryland. Www.kosher19.com is the website. https://www.gofundme.com/f/kosher19-feed-our-healthcare-workers

8am – B/C     DEM GOVS IN HOT SPOTS PRAISE TRUMP:

• President Trump has agreed to York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s request to begin using the 1,000-bed hospital ship USNS Comfort for treatment of COVID-19 patients as a way to ease the strain on New York hospitals. Cuomo says there’s not a lot of non-coronavirus patients in the hospital system. During a Monday news conference Cuomo says the apex of coronavirus cases could be occurring due to a leveling off in the number of reported deaths (599 on Monday, 594 on Sunday and 630 on Saturday).
• “They’re very happy, every one of them” — Trump on how all of the state governors are loving the job he’s doing
• Cuomo: ‘Good signs’ suggest ‘possible flattening of curve’ in NY
• CUOMO: ‘We Don’t Need Any Additional Ventilators Right Now’. Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that the state does not need additional ventilators “right now.” In a change from his pleas for ventilators for New York coronavirus patients, Cuomo told members of the press on Monday that “we don’t need any additional ventilators right now.”
• HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE WORKING??: Thousands of NY COVID patients are being treated with anti-malarial drug
• CUOMO: asking federal government to increase hydroxychloroquine supply because there is some evidence that it appears to be working

8am – D         INTERVIEW – HANS VON SPAKOVSKY – senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, Manager, Election Law Reform Initiative and former commissioner for the Federal Election Commission from 2006 to 2007

• WISCONSIN PRIMARY STILL A GO TODAY: Wisconsin’s primary election will take place on Tuesday after the state supreme court overruled Governor Tony Evers’ effort to delay the election out of concern about spreading the coronavirus with voters at the polls. Evers had the backing from mayors of ten large Wisconsin cities to postpone the election to June 9. The U.S. Supreme Court weighed in Monday night saying absentee ballots must be submitted in person or postmarked by Tuesday to be counted. That ruling overturns a lower court decision to extend the deadline for six days as a result of the coronavirus. 15 states have delayed primary elections as a result of COVID-19.
• DEMS PUSH FOR ALL-MAIL ELECTION: RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel: Democrats’ coronavirus voting plan – this is the way to undermine democracy House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and former Vice President Joe Biden say we must throw election integrity to the wayside in favor of an all-mail election, fundamentally changing how Americans vote in eight months. The overhaul would vastly expand opportunities for fraud and weaken confidence in our elections, but all Washington Democrats see is a potential benefit for their party. Pelosi says she needs $4 billion, at the height of the pandemic, to “really democratize our whole system.” Pardon those of us who thought we already had democratic elections.