Ed Meese, MD State Senator Richard Madaleno, Susan Ferrechio, Ed Whelan and guest host Hans Von Spakovsky joined WMAL on Wednesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Hans Von Spakovsky

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C   Trump Announces Supreme Court Pick:

• Trump picks conservative judge Gorsuch for U.S. Supreme Court. President Donald Trump on Tuesday nominated Neil Gorsuch for a lifetime job on the U.S. Supreme Court, picking the 49-year-old federal appeals court judge to restore the court’s conservative majority and help shape rulings on divisive issues such as abortion, gun control, the death penalty and religious rights. The Colorado native faces a potentially contentious confirmation battle in the U.S. Senate after Republicans last year refused to consider Democratic President Barack Obama’s nominee to fill the vacancy caused by the February 2016 death of conservative justice Antonin Scalia. The Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, indicated his party would mount a procedural hurdle requiring 60 votes in the 100-seat Senate rather than a simple majority to approve Gorsuch, and expressed “very serious doubts” about the nominee. Liberal groups called for an all-out fight to reject Gorsuch while conservative groups and Republican senators heaped praise on him like “outstanding,” “impressive” and a “home run.”

5am – D         Jeff Sessions grilled Sally Yates on constitutional duty during 2015 hearing. (CNN) Sally Yates had been in the crossfire over her constitutional duty before her ouster Monday night as acting attorney general. Video of Yates’ 2015 confirmation hearing as deputy attorney general shows Sen. Jeff Sessions grilling her about her responsibility to then-President Barack Obama should he require her to execute “unlawful” views. Sessions is now Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department. “You have to watch out because people will be asking you to do things and you need to say no. You think the attorney general has the responsibility to say no to the President if he asks for something that’s improper?” Sessions asks Yates. “A lot of people have defended the Lynch nomination, for example by saying, ‘Well, he appoints somebody who’s going to execute his views, what’s wrong with that?’ ” the GOP senator from Alabama asks, referring to Obama’s 2014 nomination of Loretta Lynch as attorney general. “But if the views the President wants to execute are unlawful, should the attorney general or the deputy attorney general say no?” Yates replies: “Senator, I believe the attorney general or the deputy attorney general has an obligation to follow the law and the Constitution and to give their independent legal advice to the president.”

5am – E         Dems Fighting Trump’s Nominees:

• Democrats block confirmation votes for Sessions, Price and Mnuchin. (Washington Post) — Democrats intensified their opposition to President Trump on Tuesday by further delaying the confirmations of several of his Cabinet nominees, prompting a bitter showdown with Republicans who accused them of paralyzing the formation of a new administration. First, Democrats boycotted a Senate committee scheduled to take two votes, one on Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), Trump’s nominee for secretary of health and human services, and the other on Steve Mnuchin, his choice to lead the treasury.  Then, they blocked a vote on Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Trump’s nominee for attorney general.
• Dems delay committee vote on Sessions AG nomination. Washington (CNN) The Senate Judiciary Committee delayed voting Tuesday morning on the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general, a politically charged pick that’s receiving even more scrutiny in the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration. The panel was expected to approve and advance Sessions for a vote in the full Senate, but Democrats used a procedural move to delay the committee vote until Wednesday, a move to further prevent Trump from getting his full Cabinet in place in a timely manner.
• OTHER VOTES:
  • Elaine Chao Wins Senate Confirmation 93-6
  • Senate panel votes in favor of Betsy DeVos, Trump’s education secretary pick
  • Senate panel approves former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to serve as Energy secretary in Trump administration  
  • The Senate Committee approves Rep. Ryan Zinke for interior secretary.

6am – A/B/C GOP House chair: Maybe we should cut off part of D.C. and send it back to Md. (Washington Post) — Republicans on a House committee on Tuesday voted to forge ahead with broad plans to review the District’s laws and local spending, signaling a potentially unprecedented level of involvement from Congress into the affairs of the nation’s capital. While some Republicans struck a conciliatory tone with respect to the city, Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform committee, said members are bound by constitutional “duty and obligation” to oversee the minutiae of District affairs. At one point, he suggested exploring the idea of Maryland absorbing the residential areas of the District, sending the committee into a tizzy. “I really would love to explore the idea of retroceding the residential areas into Maryland so that not only do you have a member of Congress, but you have two senators a state legislature, a governor,” Chaffetz said. “If you want full representation, I’m very sympathetic to that. I think there’s actually a way to do that.” Eleanor Holmes Norton, the non-voting delegate representing the District, interjected, “Has the chairman ever asked anyone from the state of Maryland how they feel about that?”

6am – D         INTERVIEW – ED MEESE — Former 75th U.S. Attorney General of the United States (1985–1988) in the President Reagan administration and currently The Heritage Foundation’s Ronald Reagan distinguished fellow emeritus

• BIO: Perhaps best known as U.S. attorney general during Reagan’s second term, Meese’s service to the conservative icon stretched from the California governor’s mansion in 1966 to the White House in 1981 before he went to the Department of Justice four years later.

• His thoughts on President Trump’s Supreme Court nomination
• His thoughts on the Trump administration firing of the Acting Attorney General Sally Yates

6am – E         Spicer takes issue with ‘ban’ label used by Trump. White House press secretary Sean Spicer insisted on Tuesday at his daily briefing that the executive order signed by the president last week does not constitute a “travel ban.” Just over an hour earlier, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said the same. Those statements put both men at odds with their boss, President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly referred to the order he signed Friday as a “ban.” Spicer attempted to explain away that discrepancy Tuesday, telling reporters in the briefing room that the president was merely “using the words the media is using.” During a brief exchange with reporters in the Oval Office last Saturday, Trump said his controversial order implemented a day earlier would put in place a “very, very strict ban.” The president followed that remark with a post to his Twitter account on Monday, defending the abrupt implementation of his order by writing that “if the ban were announced with a one week notice, the ‘bad’ would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad ‘dudes’ out there!”

6am – F         Rob Lowe I’m Looking for an Assistant Who Can Lift 25 lbs and Assumes Nothing!!! (TMZ) — Rob Lowe is in the market for a personal assistant, and the job qualifications are daunting. Rob posted the job description on a website targeting personal assistants. Among the requirements:

— Never assume anything

— Ensure the CLIENT [Rob] is fed and has coffee throughout the day

— Schedule haircuts every episode for the CLIENT

— Ensure that the CLIENT HAS A DINNER PLAN IF ARRIVING HOME LATER THAN 8 PM in the evening

— Make sure you let Estate staff know if the CLIENT wants a Jacuzzi turned on or a massage ordered for his arrival

— Willing to travel on location as requested and serve as the CLIENT’S body man

— Able to lift up to 25 pounds as required to support THE CLIENT

7am – A         INTERVIEW — MARYLAND STATE SENATOR RICHARD MADALENO (Democrat, District 18, Montgomery County)

• Maryland Lawmakers Introduce Bill To Legalize Marijuana. BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A new approach to the question of legalizing marijuana in Maryland: Let the voters decide. Supporters of a plan to regulate and tax marijuana like alcohol in the state want to put the question on the 2018 ballot. This year, you’ll see a two-pronged approach to legalizing marijuana in Maryland. One by way of the lawmakers, while the other is by the voters. “Now is the time to join other states and move towards a sensible system of regulation and taxation,” said Montgomery County Senator Richard Madaleno. Under the lawmakers’ plan, the state would collect $30 an ounce excise tax from the cultivators and a 9 percent sales tax from buyers. Half of the revenue is earmarked for schools, 25 percent for treatment, and the rest for workforce development and public education. Adults 21 or older could lawfully possess up to an ounce and grow up to six plants, while prior convictions for possession of those amounts would be expunged.
• Maryland voters may get to decide whether to legalize marijuana in 2018. (WMAL) — ANNAPOLIS – A new effort to legalize marijuana in Maryland would open up the vote to the entire state. Delegate David Moon (D-Takoma Park) tells WMAL some lawmakers that are wary of an outright legalization seem to be more open to the idea of opening it up to a statewide referendum.

7am – B         Q & A with HANS VON SPAKOVSKY

• His thoughts on President Trump’s Supreme Court nomination
• Trump picks conservative judge Gorsuch for U.S. Supreme Court. President Donald Trump on Tuesday nominated Neil Gorsuch for a lifetime job on the U.S. Supreme Court, picking the 49-year-old federal appeals court judge to restore the court’s conservative majority and help shape rulings on divisive issues such as abortion, gun control, the death penalty and religious rights.

7am – C         Spotted! National Zoo says missing 25 lb female bobcat named Ollie spotted in Woodley, Cleveland Park neighborhoods. Bobcat sighting reported near National Zoo. WASHINGTON — The National Zoo has received calls from the public that the bobcat that escaped Monday may be in an area adjacent to the zoo. The calls indicated that the 25-pound female bobcat Ollie may be in the Woodley Park or Cleveland Park neighborhoods. Meanwhile, D.C. schools have canceled recess at 13 schools near the National Zoo, even though zoo officials say the animal poses no danger to humans. School system spokeswoman Michelle Lerner says the decision to not let students outside on Tuesday was made “out of an abundance of caution.” She declined to comment on how long the policy would stay in place.

7am – D         INTERVIEW — SUSAN FERRECHIO – Chief Congressional Correspondent for the Washington Examiner – discussed the latest on the Trump confirmations in the Senate and what’s next on the SCOTUS nomination in the Senate.

• Democrats block confirmation votes for Sessions, Price and Mnuchin. (Washington Post) — Democrats intensified their opposition to President Trump on Tuesday by further delaying the confirmations of several of his Cabinet nominees, prompting a bitter showdown with Republicans who accused them of paralyzing the formation of a new administration. First, Democrats boycotted a Senate committee scheduled to take two votes, one on Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), Trump’s nominee for secretary of health and human services, and the other on Steve Mnuchin, his choice to lead the treasury.  Then, they blocked a vote on Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Trump’s nominee for attorney general.
• Dems delay committee vote on Sessions AG nomination. Washington (CNN)The Senate Judiciary Committee delayed voting Tuesday morning on the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general, a politically charged pick that’s receiving even more scrutiny in the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration. The panel was expected to approve and advance Sessions for a vote in the full Senate, but Democrats used a procedural move to delay the committee vote until Wednesday, a move to further prevent Trump from getting his full Cabinet in place in a timely manner.
• Neil Gorsuch To Visit Capitol Hill Following Supreme Court Nomination. WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork/AP) — Supreme court nominee Neil Gorsuch goes to Capitol Hill today to meet with lawmakers he hopes will confirm him. President Donald Trump announced his choice of the Colorado appeals court judge at the White House on Tuesday night. If Democrats decide to filibuster Gorsuch’s nomination, his fate could rest in the hands of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Trump has encouraged McConnell to change the rules of the Senate and make it impossible to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee — a change known in the Senate as the “nuclear option.”

7am – E         Va. Senate takes another run at dropping jail time for some speeding violations. WASHINGTON — The threat of jail time for going 11 mph over the speed limit on some stretches of Virginia highway would be lifted under a bill overwhelmingly approved Tuesday by the Virginia Senate. Current law sets either 20 mph over the posted speed limit or 80 mph — whichever is lower, as an automatic trigger for a reckless driving charge. That applies even on parts of highways such as Interstate 95 where the speed limit is 70 mph. “If you drive 11 miles over that speed limit, you are classified as reckless driving which … can be punished by a year in jail and/or a $2,500 fine, and I don’t think that any of us really believe that going 11 miles over the speed limit should be punishable by that,” the bill’s patron David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke, said before the bill passed 34-6.

8am – A         INTERVIEW — ED WHELAN –  the President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He directs EPPC’s program on The Constitution, the Courts, and the Culture. His areas of expertise include constitutional law and the judicial confirmation process. Mr. Whelan, a lawyer and a former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, has served in positions of responsibility in all three branches of the federal government.

• Shared His thoughts on President Trump’s Supreme Court nomination

8am – B/C/D/E         Calls on listener reaction to President Trump’s Supreme Court pick.